GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NFL: ATLANTA (3-10) at TAMPA BAY (8-5)

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- The worst week in Atlanta Falconsfranchise history got even worse Sunday, courtesy of the TampaBay Buccaneers.


The Falcons allowed the first kickoff return for a touchdown inTampa Bay history in a 37-3 loss to the Buccaneers, who clinchedthe NFC South Division title.


The loss came five days after coach Bobby Petrino resigned to goto Arkansas and six days after quarterback Michael Vick wassentenced to 23 months in prison on dogfighting charges.

The Falcons (3-11) committed four turnovers, includingcornerback Ronde Barber's 29-yard interception return for atouchdown one minute into the game, and allowed Tampa Bay (9-5)to recover an onside kick.


However, Barber's 12th career touchdown was quickly overshadowedby Michael Spurlock, who reeled off a 90-yard TD off a kickoffreturn.


Following Morten Andersen's 33-yard field goal, Spurlock tookthe ensuing kickoff at the 10. He broke up the middle, thenbounced outside, outrunning Andersen and Lewis Sanders untoucheddown the Bucs sideline.


It was the 1,865th kickoff return in the team's 31-year history,and Spurlock was one of 141 different Bucs that returnedkickoffs.


Matt Bryant kicked field goals of 33, 28 and 34 yards for TampaBay, which had only two offensive touchdowns.


One of those - Earnest Graham's 1-yard run - was set up whenJovan Haye recovered Chris Redman's fumble at Atlanta's 6-yardline.


Four minutes into the second quarter, Tampa Bay already led,17-3, without having scored an offensive touchdown.

Graham carried 22 times for 79 yards and had five receptions for40 yards.


Atlanta's lone bright spot was halfback Jerious Norwood, who hadnine carries for 73 yards. Redman struggled all day,completing only 4-of-15 for 34 yards with two interceptions anda lost fumble.


Tampa Bay's Jeff Garcia was 15-for-25 for 109 yards with aninterception and a 1-yard touchdown to tight end Anthony Becht.

 

NFL: ATLANTA at TAMPA BAY

<div class="pre">NFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
ATLANTA 3 0 0 0 3
TAMPA BAY 14 13 3 7 37 FINAL

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST QUARTER:

1:00 TAM - TD, RONDE BARBER 29 YD INTERCEPTION RETURN (MATT BRYANT KICK).
TAMPA BAY 7-0.
8:28 ATL - FG, MORTEN ANDERSEN 33 YD.
Drive: 7 plays, 59 yards in 3:24.
Key plays: Norwood 29-yard run to Tampa Bay 36; Redman 18-yard pass
to Robinson to Tampa Bay 18. TAMPA BAY 7-3.
8:41 TAM - TD, MICHEAL SPURLOCK 90 YD KICKOFF RETURN (MATT BRYANT KICK).
TAMPA BAY 14-3.

2ND QUARTER:

3:36 TAM - FG, MATT BRYANT 33 YD.
Drive: 14 plays, 57 yards in 8:24.
Key plays: 19-yard pass interfence penalty on Falcons' Crocker to
Atlanta 39; Garcia 9-yard pass to Hillard on 4th-and-4 to Atlanta 24;
Garcia 6-yard pass to Pitman on 3rd-and-6 to Atlanta 14. TAMPA BAY 17-3.
10:51 TAM - TD, EARNEST GRAHAM 1 YD RUN (MATT BRYANT KICK).
Drive: 3 plays, 6 yards in 1:06.
Key plays: Haye recovery of Redman fumble at Atlanta 6. TAMPA BAY
24-3.
15:00 TAM - FG, MATT BRYANT 28 YD.
Drive: 6 plays, 16 yards in 0:55.
Key plays: White recovery of Dunn fumble at Atlanta 11; Garcia
13-yard pass to Pitman to Arizona 11. TAMPA BAY 27-3.

3RD QUARTER:

10:52 TAM - FG, MATT BRYANT 34 YD.
Drive: 4 plays, 7 yards in 2:20.
Key plays: Phillips 2 yard interception to Atlanta 23. TAMPA BAY
30-3.

4TH QUARTER:

7:18 TAM - TD, ANTHONY BECHT 1 YD PASS FROM JEFF GARCIA (MATT BRYANT KICK).
Drive: 8 plays, 55 yards in 5:08.
Key plays: Bennett 28-yard run to Atlanta 27; Bennett 11-yard run to
Atlanta 16; Bennett 5-yard run on 3rd-and-2 to Atlanta 3. TAMPA BAY 37-3.

ATLANTA - TAMPA BAY Final Statistics

TEAM STATISTICS ATLANTA TAMPA BAY

FIRST DOWNS 5 21
Rushing 4 10
Passing 1 8
Penalty 0 3
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-9-0% 9-19-47%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-0-0% 2-2-100%
TOTAL NET YARDS 133 285
Total offensive plays 36 75
Average gain per play 3.7 3.8
NET YARDS RUSHING 106 190
Rushing attempts 20 48
Average gain per rush 5.3 4.0
Tackles for loss-yards 3-4 2-5
NET YARDS PASSING 27 95
Times sacked: Number-Yards 1-7 2-14
Gross passing yards 34 109
PASS ATTEMPTS-COMPLETIONS-HAD INTERCEPTED 15-4-2 25-15-1
Avg gain per pass play 1.7 3.5
KICKOFFS: Number-In End Zone-Touchbacks 2-0-0 7-3-0
PUNTS: Number and Average 6-45.5 4-34.3
Had blocked 0 0
Net punting average 45.5 26.5
TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE (Not including kickoffs) 0 62
Number-Yards: Punt Returns 1-0 5-31
Number-Yards: Kickoff Returns 6-125 2-98
Number-Yards: Interception Returns 1-0 2-31
PENALTIES: Number-Yards 5-48 5-44
FUMBLES: Number-Lost 4-2 0-0
TOUCHDOWNS 0 4
Rushing 0 1
Passing 0 1
Interceptions 0 1
Other (blocked kicks, etc.) 0 1
EXTRA POINTS: Made-Attempts 0-0 4-4
Kicking: Made-Attempts 0-0 4-4
Passing: Made-Attempts 0-0 0-0
Rushing: Made-Attempts 0-0 0-0
FIELD GOALS: Made-Attempts 1-1 3-3
FGs - PATs had blocked 0-0 0-0
RED ZONE EFFICIENCY 0-1-0% 2-5-40%
GOAL TO GO EFFICIENCY 0-0-0% 2-2-100%
SAFETIES 0 0
TIME OF POSSESSION 17:01 42:59


INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

ATLANTA TAMPA BAY

RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
J NORWOOD 9 73 8.1 29 0 E GRAHAM 22 79 3.6 8 1
W DUNN 8 32 4.0 15 0 M BENNETT 9 63 7.0 28 0
O MUGHELLI 1 1 1.0 1 0 M PITTMAN 13 50 3.8 17 0
C REDMAN 1 1 1.0 1 0 M CLAYTON 1 0 0.0 0 0
J SNELLING 1 -1 -1.0 0 0 B GRADKOWS 3 -2 -0.7 0 0

PASSING CM-AT-YDS IN TD LG PASSING CM-AT-YDS IN TD LG
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
C REDMAN 4-15- 34 2 0 18 J GARCIA 15-25-109 1 1 13

Sacked-Yards Lost: C REDMAN 1-7. Sacked-Yards Lost: J GARCIA 2-14.

RECEIVING NO YDS AVG LG TD RECEIVING NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
L ROBINSON 1 18 18.0 18 0 E GRAHAM 5 40 8.0 13 0
W DUNN 1 7 7.0 7 0 M PITTMAN 3 20 6.7 13 0
M JENKINS 1 5 5.0 5 0 M CLAYTON 2 22 11.0 11 0
R WHITE 1 4 4.0 4 0 A BECHT 2 10 5.0 9 1
I HILLIARD 1 9 9.0 9 0
J GALLOWAY 1 7 7.0 7 0
B STORER 1 1 1.0 1 0

INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG LG TD INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
D HALL 1 0 0.0 0 0 R BARBER 1 29 29.0 29 1
J PHILLIPS 1 2 2.0 2 0

PUNTING NO YDS AVG T I LG PUNTING NO YDS AVG T I LG
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
M KOENEN 6 273 45.5 1 0 63 J BIDWELL 4 137 34.3 0 3 54

T = Touchbacks, I = Inside 20

PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
A JENNINGS 1 0 0.0 0 0 I HILLIARD 5 31 6.2 8 0

KICKOFF RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD KICKOFF RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
A JENNINGS 4 93 23.3 31 0 M SPURLOCK 2 98 49.0 90 1
J NORWOOD 2 32 16.0 19 0

KICKING XP/XPA FG/FGA KICKING XP/XPA FG/FGA
---------------------------------- ----------------------------------
M ANDERSEN 0/0 1/1 M BRYANT 4/4 3/3
Dist.: 33 Dist.: 33 28 34

O-D O-D
FUMBLES NO LOST FF REC FUMBLES NO LOST FF REC
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
W DUNN 1 1 0 0-0 G ADAMS 0 0 1 0-0
C REDMAN 1 1 0 0-0 G WHITE 0 0 1 0-1
A JENNINGS 1 0 0 0-0 J HAYE 0 0 0 0-1
C HOUSTON 0 0 0 1-0

DEFENSE TK SO AS SK-YD DEFENSE TK SO AS SK-YD
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
K BROOKING 15 10 5 0-0 B RUUD 8 6 2 0-0
L MILLOY 12 11 1 0-0 G ADAMS 4 3 1 1-7
J BABINEAUX 6 5 1 0-0 J PHILLIPS 3 3 0 0-0
D WILLIAMS 6 4 2 0-0 K CARTER 2 2 0 0-0
M BOLEY 5 5 0 0-0 D BROOKS 2 2 0 0-0
C CROCKER 4 4 0 0-0 R SIMS 2 2 0 0-0
D HALL 4 3 1 0-0 J HAYE 2 2 0 0-0
C DAVIS 4 2 2 1-5 T JACKSON 2 2 0 0-0
L SANDERS 3 3 0 0-0 C JUNE 1 1 0 0-0
J ANDERSON 3 3 0 0-0 G WHITE 1 1 0 0-0
M STANLEY 2 2 0 0-0 R NECE 1 1 0 0-0
C HOUSTON 2 2 0 0-0 R BARBER 1 0 1 0-0
J WILLIAMS 2 2 0 0-0 C HOVAN 1 0 1 0-0
J ABRAHAM 1 1 0 1-9
T ANDERSON 1 1 0 0-0
K HUNTLEY 1 1 0 0-0
S NICHOLAS 1 1 0 0-0

Att: 65,133</div>

 

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- The worst week in Atlanta Falconsfranchise history got even worse Sunday, courtesy of the TampaBay Buccaneers.


The Falcons allowed the first kickoff return for a touchdown inTampa Bay history in a 37-3 loss to the Buccaneers, who clinchedthe NFC South Division title.


The loss came five days after coach Bobby Petrino resigned to goto Arkansas and six days after quarterback Michael Vick wassentenced to 23 months in prison on dogfighting charges.

The Falcons (3-11) committed four turnovers, includingcornerback Ronde Barber's 29-yard interception return for atouchdown one minute into the game, and allowed Tampa Bay (9-5)to recover an onside kick.


"It's great," Barber said. "Three titles in six years here. Wecame into this game with a goal, to do just that at home, tofinally get this off our back and not worry about what NewOrleans was doing today."


However, Barber's 12th career touchdown was quickly overshadowedby Michael Spurlock, who reeled off a 90-yard TD off a kickoffreturn.


Following Morten Andersen's 33-yard field goal, Spurlock tookthe ensuing kickoff at the 10. He broke up the middle, thenbounced outside, outrunning Andersen and Lewis Sanders untoucheddown the Bucs sideline.


"It shut the door on them early," Bucs quarterback Jeff Garciasaid. "They've had a lot hanging over their head this week.With the return, the hill got even steeper for them to climb."

It was the 1,865th kickoff return in the team's 31-year history,and Spurlock was one of 141 different Bucs that returnedkickoffs.


"We've been joking about it, we've heard it in the media,everybody has told me today could be the day," Spurlock said."Derrick Brooks always tells me today is the day to make historyand it happened.


"Everybody got their block, I hit and found the end zone."

Matt Bryant kicked field goals of 33, 28 and 34 yards for TampaBay, which had only two offensive touchdowns.


One of those - Earnest Graham's 1-yard run - was set up whenJovan Haye recovered Chris Redman's fumble at Atlanta's 6-yardline.


Four minutes into the second quarter, Tampa Bay already led,17-3, without having scored an offensive touchdown.

"I just assumed (Spurlock) would step out of bounds," Tampa Baycoach Jon Gruden said. "Or something would happen. I'm beingserious. We've had opportunities to get close, it's almost asnakebitten play for us.


"To win a division title is hard to do and we had a lot of guysstep up throughout this year to help us do that."


Graham carried 22 times for 79 yards and had five receptions for40 yards.


"I'm going to put on my (NFC South) championship hat, I'm goingto wear it out and I'm definitely proud of it," Graham said."We'll probably celebrate that tonight."


Atlanta's lone bright spot was halfback Jerious Norwood, who hadnine carries for 73 yards.


Redman struggled all day, completing only 4-of-15 for 34 yardswith two interceptions and a lost fumble.


"We turned the ball over early in the ballgame on theinterception and then they ran the kick back," Atlanta interimcoach Emmitt Thomas said. "I thought the guys came out with alot of passion, fought hard and then we had some misfortune."

Garcia was 15-for-25 for 109 yards with an interception and a1-yard touchdown to tight end Anthony Becht.


"It was very frustrating," Falcons cornerback DeAngelo Hallsaid. "It's very frustrating obviously when you feel likeyou've prepared to the best of your ability and you still comeout and get just ran all up and down all over the field."

 

NFL: ATLANTA at TAMPA BAY

<div class="pre">NFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
ATLANTA 3 0 0 0 3
TAMPA BAY 14 13 3 7 37 FINAL

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST QUARTER: TAM - TD, RONDE BARBER 29 YD INTERCEPTION
RETURN (MATT BRYANT KICK), 1:00.
TAMPA BAY 7-0
ATL - FG, MORTEN ANDERSEN 33 YD, 8:28. Drive:
7 plays, 59 yards in 3:24. Key
plays: Norwood 29-yard run to Tampa
Bay 36; Redman 18-yard pass to
Robinson to Tampa Bay 18. TAMPA BAY
7-3
TAM - TD, MICHEAL SPURLOCK 90 YD KICKOFF
RETURN (MATT BRYANT KICK), 8:41.
TAMPA BAY 14-3
2ND QUARTER: TAM - FG, MATT BRYANT 33 YD, 3:36. Drive: 14
plays, 57 yards in 8:24. Key plays:
19-yard pass interfence penalty on
Falcons' Crocker to Atlanta 39;
Garcia 9-yard pass to Hillard on
4th-and-4 to Atlanta 24; Garcia
6-yard pass to Pitman on 3rd-and-6
to Atlanta 14. TAMPA BAY 17-3
TAM - TD, EARNEST GRAHAM 1 YD RUN (MATT
BRYANT KICK), 10:51. Drive: 3
plays, 6 yards in 1:06. Key plays:
Haye recovery of Redman fumble at
Atlanta 6. TAMPA BAY 24-3
TAM - FG, MATT BRYANT 28 YD, 15:00. Drive: 6
plays, 16 yards in 0:55. Key plays:
White recovery of Dunn fumble at
Atlanta 11; Garcia 13-yard pass to
Pitman to Arizona 11. TAMPA BAY
27-3
3RD QUARTER: TAM - FG, MATT BRYANT 34 YD, 10:52. Drive: 4
plays, 7 yards in 2:20. Key plays:
Phillips 2 yard interception to
Atlanta 23. TAMPA BAY 30-3
4TH QUARTER: TAM - TD, ANTHONY BECHT 1 YD PASS FROM JEFF
GARCIA (MATT BRYANT KICK), 7:18.
Drive: 8 plays, 55 yards in 5:08.
Key plays: Bennett 28-yard run to
Atlanta 27; Bennett 11-yard run to
Atlanta 16; Bennett 5-yard run on
3rd-and-2 to Atlanta 3. TAMPA BAY
37-3

ATT: 65,133</div>