“We just shot ourselves in the foot”, Jones said. The starters at LB were all new for the Falcons, with 2015 first-round pick Vic Beasley moving from DE to be joined by rookies Deion Jones and De’Vondre Campbell.
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Jones tweaked his ankle running a deep route in the fourth quarter. He had a 59-yard catch and a 5-yard scoring catch in the first quarter. Former Falcons head coach Mike Smith made his debut as Tampa Bay’s defensive coordinator and Jones was his number target to take away from the Falcons.
Over a 16-game National Football League regular season schedule, no loss on the opening weekend is catastrophic unless you lose a key player in the process.
Winston converted on third-and-10 with an 11-yard pass to Jackson.
Winston completed 23 of 33 passes for 281 yards with four touchdowns – the second-most of his career. It was set up by a big 26-yard gain by Humphries on a screen pass, with three Falcons defenders diving at him and missing. He overthrew Mike Evans for what would have been a touchdown pass on the Buccaneers’ first possession.
Ryan was able to find Jones for a 25-yard touchdown earlier in the game, and then connected with Sanu for the two-point conversion to make it a 10-point game late in the third quarter.
Matt Bryant continued his solid day, nailing another 34-yard field with over a minute left in the half to give the Falcons the lead again but it would be Tampa Bay who would have the last laugh. If he continues to develop a rapport with Mohamed Sanu and Jacob Tamme, Ryan could be back to being a Pro Bowl level passer. He threw dimes to Seferian-Jenkins (30 yards) and Evans (45 yards) for scores, but both catches were better than the throws.
“We definitely have some things to clean up”, said Quinn, whose team committed three penalties that allowed the Bucs first downs. All week long, the Bucs tried to simulate the noise of the Georgia Dome.
“Last year in Atlanta I missed him early on a pump”.
“It’s weird to see the people on the other side”, Koetter said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for plenty of people in that organization but that’s the nature of the National Football League”.
It’s the first winning record for the Bucs since they started the 2012 season with a 6-4 mark.
“They had good defense”, Freeman said.
Tampa Bay backup linebacker Jacquies Smith was carted to the locker room with a right knee injury and didn’t return.
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It was something Winston utilized the entire game against the Browns but couldn’t rely on until the end of the first half against the Falcons because of the noise and field position. The third-year player was injured while covering a punt in the first quarter.
