Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons: Full Report Card Grades for Atlanta
Atlanta dominated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night in a 56-14 victory at the Georgia Dome for their second win of the season and second win in the NFC South. The Falcons have been looking for that spark and confidence on defense this year, and they finally got it.
They also got their mojo back on offense with a massive game that showed they could score at will on any team they wanted to. They also got a couple of scores on defense and special teams, which showed the Falcons could have a great all-around team if they can put it all together.
Quarterbacks
1 of 10
Matt Ryan had a great game through the air, completing 21 of his 24 passes for 286 yards and three touchdowns. His 155.9 passer rating was just 2.4 less than a perfect rating. He also evaded pressure effectively and was only sacked once. He also didn't have any interceptions to keep his offensive game clean.
T.J. Yates did well on three of his four passes, completing them for third-down conversions. However, the fourth pass was a touchdown pass to the Buccaneers' Danny Lansanah. It was a poorly timed throw that had no reason going to the defender it went to.
Grade: A
Running Backs
2 of 10
As a whole, the Falcons' stable of running backs did extremely well. They were rarely stopped behind the line, and the commitment to the run forced the Buccaneers to respect the fact that the Falcons were going to attempt it throughout the game.
The biggest issue from the running back corps was fumbling. Devonta Freeman and Antone Smith both turned the ball over during the game. After the fumbles, the Falcons defense was able to hold up well, but it was still the principle of turning it over.
On the day, the backs combined for 34 carries for 122 yards (3.59 yards per carry) and two touchdowns. They also had five catches for 45 yards. The running backs needed to have a solid day for the Falcons offense to have its best day. And while they did well, they could have done much better.
Grade: B-
Wide Receivers and Tight Ends
3 of 10
Atlanta's wide receiving corps had a great game. Despite the offense missing Roddy White, Julio Jones was able to catch nine passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Another four catches for 69 yards from Eric Weems and the catch from Devin Hester for 25 yards showed even more talent from the receiving corps.
Hester had a great game all-around too. He forced a fumble and recovered one after a Levine Toilolo fumble to maintain possession. Add in the 20-yard run and the Falcons got the best game that Hester has played since he entered the league.
Toilolo had a solid game as well with his pair of catches for 25 yards. He also blocked effectively in the run game, as the Falcons continually ran off the strong side and up the middle. Atlanta got great production from its receivers and tight ends, and that's a big reason why the team won so big.
Grade: A+
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Offensive Linemen
4 of 10
Atlanta's pass-blocking offensive line did much better than it did against the Bengals, allowing Matt Ryan to get hit just three times all game with just one sack. The sack came on an overload blitz up the middle on a second down that was followed by a huge throw for the first down.
As a run-blocking offensive line, the Falcons were able to road-grade for a 4.06 yards-per-carry average on designed running plays. It got worse as the game went on because the Buccaneers began to gear up for the run.
The line did play better with Lamar Holmes in at right tackle than with Gabe Carimi in there. Holmes was able to help the offense score two touchdowns in the first quarter, while Carimi wasn't able to help sustain the offensive success throughout the game.
Grade: A
Defensive Linemen and Edge Players
5 of 10
The Falcons run defense on the day only allowed 45 yards on 15 designed carries for 3.00 yards per carry. A big reason for that was a much improved defensive line rotation that factored in great play from Paul Soliai and a lot more Ra'Shede Hageman and Corey Peters appearances.
Speaking of Peters, he had the best game he's ever played as a pro. He had four tackles—all for a loss—and one sack. He and Jonathan Babineaux looked like they never had taken a break from playing next to each other, as Babineaux ate the double-teams to let Peters destroy linemen.
The pass rush also got home multiple times, getting seven hits, three sacks and multiple hurries to force bad throws throughout the game. The Falcons were able to get after the Buccaneers quarterbacks so much that Josh McCown had to leave the game due to an injury created when Paul Worrilow hit him high and the quarterback's hand hit Robert McClain's helmet. That doesn't happen without the line eating doubles for those two to hit him.
Grade: A
Linebackers
6 of 10
The linebackers should be graded on three different facets. While they didn't record a ton of tackles, they didn't allow underneath passes to get completed on third downs. Atlanta was able to stuff runs at or behind the line all day; an eight-yard run was as the longest one allowed.
The linebackers also were able to create effective pressure throughout the game on blitzes right up the middle. Prince Shembo, Paul Worrilow and Joplo Bartu were all attacking up the middle and on the outside throughout the game to force poor throws.
Coverage did its job as well, as the Falcons forced fumbles and made sure to jump on them all game. They created turnovers and had effective third-down stops. On plays that they needed to stop that were 3rd-and-10 or more, they were almost perfect because of quick, effective linebacker play.
Grade: A
Secondary
7 of 10
The secondary didn't miss many tackles throughout the game. The safeties were able to knock away some passes, jar some balls loose on throws over the middle and even force some bad throws with excellent coverage underneath.
The cornerbacks were knocking balls away all day and forcing Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans to have to make ridiculous plays to catch balls. They were completely unable to do any damage until the second half when the Falcons were playing off a lot more.
The biggest momentum-shifting play of the game came in the first quarter when Kemal Ishmael picked off the ball intended for Vincent Jackson and returned it back for a touchdown. He made a great read on the pass and looked like the guy who should be starting at free safety.
Grade: A
Special Teams
8 of 10
Devin Hester had a monster game as a return specialist, breaking Deion Sanders' record of 19 return touchdowns with a return in the second quarter. Hester had 97 yards on the four returns he had between kick and punt returns.
As a kicker, Matt Bryant missed his first field goal of the year. Though, to be fair, it was a 59-yard field goal that he barely missed to the left. I'm not going to penalize a guy for missing a 50-50 kick as close as he did. He also hit every single extra point easily.
At punter and kickoff specialist, Matt Bosher had a great game with his kickoffs and did a good job of directionally punting and providing hang time for his coverage teams. The Falcons had one of their best special teams games of the past decade with their performance in this game.
Grade: A+
Coaching
9 of 10
The offense attacked all game and utilized a good mix of passing and rushing plays. Once the Falcons had a commanding lead, they weren't afraid to continue to pass the ball deep when it was needed for big plays to Eric Weems and Julio Jones.
On defense, the Falcons blitzed quite a bit and used a lot of seven-man fronts on obvious run situations. During the obvious passing situations, they made sure to put in their best pass-rushers and get after the Buccaneers quarterbacks and weak offensive line.
The special teams design was even excellent with multiple long returns to go with some good field position created by good tackles on deep kicks. The only questionable thing was the rotation of Gabe Carimi and Lamar Holmes at right tackle when Holmes needed the reps.
Grade: A+
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Overall Grade |
| Quarterbacks | A |
| Running Backs | B- |
| Wide Receivers and Tight Ends | A+ |
| Offensive Linemen | A |
| Defensive Linemen and Edge Players | A |
| Linebackers | A |
| Secondary | A |
| Special Teams | A+ |
| Coaching | A+ |
| Cumulative Grade | A |
It's tough to act like the Atlanta Falcons had a game that was anything less than an A. Any time you are leading 56-0 heading into the fourth quarter and you start playing backups, you've had one of the best possible games that you can have.
The Falcons can't honestly call the game a perfect game because they had four turnovers. However, they didn't turn the ball over until they started putting backups in at running back and quarterback. The Falcons had a great complete game in all three phases and just need to replicate the effort against a better team.
All stats used are from Pro Football Focus' Premium Stats (subscription required), ESPN.com, CFBStats or NFL.com. All combine and pro day info is courtesy of NFLDraftScout.com. All contract information is courtesy of Spotrac and Rotoworld.
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