Buccaneers...24 Falcons...9
TAMPA, Fla. -- Two early mistakes by Matt Ryan was all it took to dig a hole the Atlanta Falcons couldn’t escape against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The rookie had two passes intercepted in the first half, and Tampa Bay’s Brian Griese turned the miscues into a touchdown and field goal that helped the Buccaneers beat their NFC South rivals, 24-9.
A week after beating Detroit in his pro debut, Ryan threw incompletions on his first nine passes before settling down to keep Atlanta (1-1) in the game with three field goal drives.
The Bucs (1-1) ended any hopes that the third pick in this year’s draft would finish an improbable comeback when Earnest Graham barreled around right end and up the sideline on a 68-yard touchdown run that put the game out of reach.
Quoteworthy: “You’ve got to learn from experiences like this, take what you can from the film and get better.” -- Matt Ryan, Falcons quarterback
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