Buccaneers...24 Falcons...9
- Share via
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
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
