As the Falcons struggled to move the ball on the ground, Ryan stepped up and put Tampa’s defense on its heels. With star Doug Martin averaging under three yards per attempt on his seven carries, I wonder if Sims will start to get involved more in the running game in the second half.
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Jameis Winston expected Vincent Jackson to zig, and instead, Jackson zagged.
ATLANTA (AP) – Jameis Winston bounced back from an early interception to throw four touchdown passes, and Tampa Bay opened the season with a 31-24 victory at the Atlanta Falcons Sunday.
“Good guys win”, quipped Koetter, still dripping with Gatorade after a victory splashing.
A bounce back was hoped for this year, but instead the Bucs and Winston beat them for a third straight time in Koetter’s first game as a replacement for Lovie Smith.
Koetter was presented a game ball by one of the stars of the game in the locker room.
Seferian-Jenkins said Winston is the league’s “best quarterback and I’m happy to have him”.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Brandon Myers, left, celebrates his touchdown reception with Ali Marpet during the first half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016. After that, however, he completed 25-of-33 passes (76 percent) for 323 yards with four passing touchdowns. Jackson broke outside on the route, while Winston’s throw went to the inside. If not for a costly pass interference call, the Bucs likely wouldn’t have gotten on the board at all in the first quarter. “I understand your point on it, but we felt like we were in a good spot with the plays that we had against them”.
The Buccaneers received the kickoff to begin the second half and never looked back as Winston continued his superb performance on the first drive.
To their credit, the Falcons didn’t quit in their final season opener at the Georgia Dome before moving next door to $1.4 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Beyond that, that pick not only erased a 10-6 Titans lead, it took away a chance to build on that lead with a field goal because it occurred at the Minnesota 23-yard-line. Mike Evans had 99 receiving yards on five catches, one of them being a touchdown. “But that’s the nature of the National Football League”.
But it just shows that even after the first game of the season, the pressure is on the Falcons to produce quickly; and like it or not, next week’s trip to Oakland has all of a sudden turned into a huge game, with the goal avoiding an 0-2 start. That was followed by two straight losing seasons and his firing. The third-year player was injured while covering a punt in the first quarter.
Some big penalties cost the home team in the third quarter.
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It seemed as though the visitors were aiming to get into field goal range before the end of the half, but a dump off by Winston to Charles Sims saw the running back break tackles left and right to rumble in for the score with 14 seconds left.
