Tampa Bay Buccaneers Embarrassed by Atlanta Falcons

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were embarrassed in primetime television Thursday night as the Atlanta Falcons cruised to a 56-14 win at the Georgia Dome.

The Falcons (2-1) built a 56-0 lead in the third quarter before the Bucs (0-3) got on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter.

Mike Glennon, who replaced an injured Josh McCown in the second quarter, connected with Vincent Jackson on a 3-yard score before Danny Lansanah picked off Falcons quarterback T.J. Yates and returned it 27-yards for a touchdown.

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Atlanta built a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and it was 35-0 at half time. The Bucs didn’t collect their first 1st down until halfway through the second quarter.

The Atlanta lead hit 56-0 with 1:47 left in third quarter as Antone Smith broke off a 38-yard touchdown run.

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was 21-of-24 for 286 yards and three touchdowns while Steven Jackson ran for 56 yards and a score. Devin Hester, who had a punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter, also had a rushing touchdown. Julio Jones collected 161 receiving yards and two touchdowns on nine catches.

For the Bucs, everything was a disaster. McCown left injured after hurting his right hand after his follow through on a pass hit the helmet of a Falcons player but not before he threw a pick six to Kemal Ishmael in the first quarter.

Glennon replaced him and was steady but had some errant passes mixed in too. He finished 17-of-24 for 124 yards and a touchdown.

Bobby Rainey started for the Bucs in place of the injured Doug Martin but had a night to forget. He fumbled twice and was benched for periods of time. He finished with 41 rushing yards and led the team with 64 receiving yards. Mike Evans had four catches for 52 yards.

On the defensive side, the Bucs gave up 488 yards of offense and 26 first downs. Atlanta went 8-of-11 on third down. The Bucs did create four turnovers though as they stripped Atlanta runners.

Gerald McCoy and Mason Foster were inactive after the injuries they suffered at the weekend. Lavonte David had a team high eight tackles while Mark Barron had seven. Dane Fletcher, who started in place of Foster, and Akeem Spence combined for the Bucs’ lone sack.

Tamapa Bay had 11 penalties for 110 yards, a number of which came on personal penalties, one that included center Evan Dietrich-Smith head-butting an opponent.

The Bucs have the next 10 days off before they face the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on Sept. 28.