He finished with a passer rating of 122.6. Jones had nine games previous year where he exceeded the century mark. The third-year player caught five passes for 99 yards and a touchdown.
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Penalties played a large role in the Falcons loss.
Ryan was 27-of-39 for 334 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bucs scored 21 unanswered points on three touchdown passes from Jameis Winston. If not for a costly pass interference call, the Bucs likely wouldn’t have gotten on the board at all in the first quarter.
Free agent signee Mohamed Sanu will be counted upon heavily, and Justin Hardy is a good No. 3 receiver.
After Jameis Winston was intercepted by Desmond Trufant, Falcons QB Matt Ryan led the Falcons to their first touchdown. He had a 59-yard catch and a 5-yard scoring catch in the first quarter.
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. They went with a three-receiver set consisting of Mike Evans, Vincent Jackson and Adam Humphries on the majority of the snaps, with those players lining up on 86%, 80% and 77% of plays, respectively.
Matt Bryant was 3-for-3 on field goals, and he kicked one with under five minutes to go to put the Falcons within a touchdown.
Kwon Alexander: 17 tackles, 1 sack.
Winston was the star, but the Buccaneers displayed balance.
Jameis Winston was very impressive as a rookie.
Tampa Bay held Atlanta to only 52 yards rushing, including 20 yards on 11 carries by Devonta Freeman.
The Falcons struggled in the red zone last season.
Winston has 268 yards and 4 TDs. Reed left the field again in the fourth quarter.
He led Tampa bay in both receptions in yards and was involved in the team’s longest play of the game, a 45-yard completion from Winston for the Bucs final score of the game that at the time stretched the lead to 18 points, at 31-13.
“We didn’t get the stop right away on defense”, Quinn said.
Koetter continues to work closely with Winston.
Asked how he regrouped from the slow start, Winston said “I think it’s just I’ve got tremendous faith in my teammates to help me”. That’s the main thing.
“You always face former coaches and former teammates, week in and week out”.
Jones had just four catches for 66 yards against the Buccaneers, including a 25-yard touchdown.
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Atlanta Falcons All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones left the game in the midst of the rally with an ankle injury, but he returned.
