Buccaneers vs. Falcons: Score and Twitter Reaction for 'Thursday Night Football'

The short week tends to breed sloppy play on Thursday Night Football, but at the Georgia Dome, that was only true for one team. 

Showing no ill effects of the quick turnaround after a Week 2 loss, the Atlanta Falcons jumped out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and strolled to a 56-14 whipping of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

It was about as lopsided of a matchup as you're likely to see all year. 

Sports Illustrated's Chris Burke had Lovie Smith's thoughts on the loss:

Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times had more from Smith:

Matt Ryan completed 87.5 percent of his passes for 286 yards and three scores; Josh McCown threw for 58 and a pick before leaving with a thumb injury. Julio Jones had nine catches for 161 yards and two touchdowns; Vincent Jackson had two receptions for 15. Atlanta had 488 total yards of offense; Tampa Bay had 217. 

Roddy White, who did not play in Thursday night's game, added another positive note afterward, per ESPN's Vaughn McClure:

The Falcons had eight touchdowns; the Bucs had 10 first downs. 

In their first two games, the Falcons were outscored a combined 30-13 in the first half. It took just 12 minutes to surpass that offensive output, though, and they continued to roll to a 35-0 lead heading into the locker room. 

As ESPN Stats & Info pointed out, it was the most dominant first half in over a year:

The points came in a multitude of different ways. Ryan hit Harry Douglas and Jones on a pair of early touchdowns, Kemal Ishmael returned a McCown interception for sixm and Devin Hester scored on both a reverse and a punt return. 

Here's a look at the latter, which Hester finished off with some flair:

Of course, the high-stepping was more of a tribute than showboating. It marked Hester's 20th career touchdown return, which moved him past the legendary Deion Sanders, who was in attendance at his old Atlanta stomping grounds. 

It came not long after Sanders offered one of the highest compliments he could give to the 31-year-old:

Hester was understandably emotional after setting the record. BusinessInsider.com's Cork Gaines captured an exchange with Mike Smith:

"

Devin Hester breaks down on sideline after breaking record. http://t.co/FIoqbcYODQ https://t.co/Vr7mVW04KJ

— Cork Gaines (@CorkGaines) September 19, 2014"

The third quarter was more of the same, as Jones continued the assault with a remarkable over-the-shoulder grab for a 40-yard touchdown. 

Stephen Jackson scored 12 seconds later after Tampa Bay botched a snap near the goal line, and after most of the backups entered the game, Antone Smith scampered 38 yards down the sideline to make it 56-0.

Sanders chimed in: 

But the fourth quarter, well, that was all Tampa Bay. Vincent Jackson capped off an 80-yard drive with a short touchdown grab from Mike Glennon, and Danny Lansanah took an interception from T.J. Yates to the house. 

Even Warren Sapp couldn't help but poke fun after his old team finally cracked the scoreboard. 

It was a lot little and a lot late, though, and the Bucs came up six touchdowns short of the comeback. 

With an overtime win against division rival New Orleans and now a historic blowout, the Falcons have enjoyed immense success at home, but they are going to need to get comfortable away from Atlanta.

They face the Vikings and the Giants on the road next, and after they host the Bears, they travel to Baltimore, play Detroit in London and travel to Tampa Bay and Carolina, giving them just one home game from now through Week 11. 

That's a future problem for the Falcons, though. For now, they get to celebrate one of the biggest drubbings in recent memory. 

For the Bucs, things aren't about to get much easier. They do get extra rest to try to get Doug Martin, Gerald McCoy and Mason Foster healthy, but road games at Pittsburgh and New Orleans will make it tough to avoid a 0-5 start. 

At least it (probably) won't get any worse than Thursday night.