Bucs Stopped Here: Atlanta Falcons Take Overtime Victory Over Tampa Bay, 13-10

Buccaneers are known for attacking. In the 17th century, they attacked Spanish and French ships in the Caribbean Islands.

The modern-day Buccaneers from Tampa Bay are similar. They'll attack a team's offense and are always looking to take the ball. 

Atlanta Falcons' coach Mike Smith said of these Buccaneers this week, heading in to Sunday's matchup, "They attack the football when the receivers catch it. They attack the running backs running it." 

On Sunday's game, Smith said, "It's going to be a challenge for us."

It turned out to be just that and a little more. 

A classic battle of give-and-take, Sunday's game saw four turnovers (three from Atlanta) and ultimately needed overtime to ensure the Falcons another week of playoff hopes. 

The first quarter came and went easily enough. The blueprint for beating Tampa Bay, according to the Carolina Panthers, was to run the ball and run it some more.

That is exactly what the Atlanta Falcons did, ending the first quarter with 12 runs for 45 yards, but they also managed to mix in a little pass. Quarterback Matt Ryan was 4-for-6 passing with 66 yards, highlighted by a 30-yard pass to wide receiver Roddy White, who led the team with four catches for 61 yards. 

The third and final possession of the first quarter saw running back Michael Turner, who ended the day with 32 rushes for 152 yards, find the end zone on a one-yard run to give Atlanta a 10-0 lead. That touchdown was his 15th rushing touchdown of the season, breaking the previous franchise mark of 14 by Jamal Anderson in 1998.

But at the start of the second quarter, the game turned ugly. Tempers flared, interceptions and flags were thrown, and running backs were stopped short.

Ryan's first interception of the game came with 8:22 to go in the second quarter, killing an Atlanta drive at the Tampa Bay 34.

The rookie quarterback's second interception of the game came on the following possession. Ryan, forced to scramble from the pocket, threw a pass a little behind White, and Tampa Bay's veteran cornerback Ronde Barber made a good play on the ball to intercept the pass.

The ensuing possession for the Buccaneers showcased their passing offense. Quarterback Brian Griese, starting in place of the injured Jeff Garcia, began to pick apart the Falcons' secondary.

Operating out of the shotgun with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter, Griese completed passes of 14 yards, 20 yards, six yards, and 12 yards. 

With 15 seconds remaining, Griese connected with wide receiver Antonio Bryant for a 20-yard touchdown. Following the extra point, Tampa Bay had cut the lead to 10-7.

While the Tampa Bay players spent all week praising the maturity and poise of the Falcons' Ryan, they managed to get the best of him most of the game, as they did in the Week Two contest. Ryan was an efficient 15/23 for 206 yards, but his two interceptions in the first half were costly.

The Atlanta defense managed to keep the Bucs out of the end zone all but one time, led by one first half sack from defensive end John Abraham.

Atlanta's second half game plan was more of the same. They were determined to run Turner all day and not force Ryan to have to make many big plays.

The third quarter was quiet on the scoring front but provided fumbles, an interception, overturned touchdowns, and Tampa Bay special teams penalties.

Early in the third quarter, Ryan made a play that exhibited some of the poise he seemed to lack much of the day. Facing pressure, he remained in the pocket and found tight end Jason Rader for his first touchdown catch of the season.

The play was overturned when Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden's challenge determined that Rader fumbled the ball on the one and Tampa Bay recovered in the end zone.

Atlanta forced their own turnover, the first in five games, on the following possession. Cornerback Domonique Foxworth intercepted his first pass of the season to swing the momentum back to the Falcons.

The third quarter featured many shifts in momentum that set up a thrilling fourth quarter.

Each team's defense continued to dominate, forcing stop after stop. With 3:43 remaining Tampa Bay attempted a 53-yard field goal that was wide left.

Hanging on to a three-point lead, Atlanta took over needing to at least run some clock and at most come away with a touchdown to make it a two-possession game.

Tampa Bay's defense stepped up yet again and forced a three-and-out. Punter Michael Koenen set up to punt with 2:37 remaining.

Brian Clark blocked the Atlanta punt, and Tampa Bay took over at the Atlanta 22.

The Georgia Dome was stunned, fearing they'd seen one too many opportunities slip away, as the Bucs looked to be in prime field position to win the game.

Abraham came up with a sack for a loss of 11 on Tampa Bay's second down to create a 3rd-and-18 conversion. An offensive holding penalty sent the Bucs back 10 more yards, and finally Matt Bryant made a 38-yard field goal to tie the game.

Following the kickoff, the Atlanta offense, facing little time and poor field position, opted to look for the win in overtime.

The Falcons, playing in their first overtime of the season, needed to stop Tampa Bay first and did so with a handful of tremendous plays from a clearly tired defense.

After five straight plays for positive yardage, backup linebacker Coy Wire made a timely play on a short swing pass to stop running back Cadillac Williams for no gain.

Facing 3rd-and-8, Abraham made a play that could come to define Atlanta's season. In the midst of a career year for Abraham, he came up big when his team needed him the most.

With Griese dropping back to pass, Abraham was determined to get to him. He broke through one blocker, stumbled, kept moving, and pushed through offensive tackle Jeremy Trueblood to drop Griese for a 13-yard loss, forcing Tampa Bay to punt.

Smith said of Abraham's play, "John had some game-changing plays throughout the game. That’s something that John has done all season. John’s three-sack game gives him 15.5 for the season and that is just outstanding. John Abraham is having a Pro Bowl year. When we needed him to come and make a big play, he was able to do that."

Atlanta took over, and Turner did the rest. The only pass of the drive was a completion of 14 yards to White, and Turner ran for 38 yards to move the Falcons down the field.

Following a four-yard run on Tampa Bay's 15, a penalty on the Falcons moved the ball back 10 yards. Needing a play to get into more comfortable field-goal range, Atlanta turned to Turner one last time.

On 2nd-and-17, Turner burst straight up the middle for a gain of nine.

Not wanting to waste any more time or plays, the Falcons lined up for a field goal to end the day and keep the season alive.

Kicker Jason Elam connected on the 34-yard game-winning field goal to give Atlanta a 13-10 victory. It was Elam's second game-winning kick of the season, the last coming against Chicago in Week Six, and the 18th of his career.

After the game, Smith spoke about his team's effort in the win,

"That was fun. It was a really exciting football game. Obviously, we made some mistakes...but our guys showed their resiliency and played extremely hard for 60-plus minutes. We talked with our team prior to our game about going out there and emptying our tank. There is no doubt that the guys did that today... I’m very proud of the men in the locker room and their resiliency."

Smith has a lot to be proud of with this team. They took their lumps early in the season against this same team, and much was made all week that Tampa Bay would see an improved and different team.

Turner echoed those sentiments: "It’s kind of hard to compare us to all the games that we played at the beginning of the year. We were new and still trying to gel as a team."

But there were similarities after all. Ryan struggled against Tampa Bay's tough defense again. But this time, Turner was able to carry the team on his back, and the defense kept the Bucs from making many costly big plays.

If they've shown nothing this season, the Falcons have proven they have that bounce-back-ability. Avoiding back-to-back losses for the fifth time this season, they've shown again that they can learn from their mistakes and not let it hurt them two games in a row.

A week after giving up 184 yards rushing to the New Orleans Saints, the Falcons held Tampa Bay to only 99 rushing yards.

A performance like that will be needed again next week as they travel to Minnesota to take on a desperate Vikings team led by the NFL's leading rusher, Adrian Peterson.

They'll need to continue to play with the same toughness they showed on Sunday—a toughness that is exhibited by not only the team, but the coach as well.

In the fourth quarter, following an incompletion to Bryant at the Atlanta sideline, Bryant pushed Foxworth in the back. Smith, face-to-face mask with Bryant, exchanged words with the receiver. Asked what he said, Smith replied, “Antonio was on our sideline, and I politely asked him to go back over to his sideline."

This Falcons team clearly enjoys playing for a coach like that and came up with a big, tough victory for him on Sunday

This article originally appeared on the Atlanta Falcons Examiner page. To view, go here.