The Falcons rebounded in grand style Thursday night at the Georgia Dome.
The offense moved at will, the defense showed flashes of a pass rush and special teams maven Devin Hester ignited the building with a dazzling return in the 56-14 plastering of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before 70,318 fans.
After beating New Orleans, the Falcons suffered a disconcerting 24-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. With the win over the Bucs, they improved to 2-1. The Bucs, in their first season under veteran NFL head coach Lovie Smith, looked awful as they dropped to 0-3.
The Falcons, who were without four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Roddy White, leaned heavily on wide receiver Julio Jones who caught nine passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns.
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, after throwing three interceptions in Cincinnati and posting a sub-50 passer for the fourth time in 96 regular-season games, was on the mark as he completed 21 of 24 passes (87.5 percent) for 286 yard and three touchdowns and passer rating of 155.9.
The offense came out determined to show that the last outing was a fluke.
The Falcons opened the game with a flawless six-play, 70 yard drive that was capped by a Ryan tossing a 3-yard touchdown pass to Harry Douglas, who would later leave the game with a foot injury.
After the defense held Tampa Bay to a three-and-out, the offense went back to work. The unit needed a bizarre play to keep its second possession alive.
Ryan connected with tight end Levine Toilolo for a 13-yard gain before he was stripped by cornerback Alterraun Verner. Bucs safety Mark Barrow caught the ball in the air and started running before he was stripped by Hester, who recovered the ball at Tampa Bay’s 37.
After some powerful running by Steven Jackson, the Falcons scored eight plays later when Ryan tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jones. Bryant’s kick made it 14-0.
The Falcons defense, which had given up nearly 1,000 yards in two games, then got in on the action.
Falcons defensive tackle Corey Peters put some pressure on quarterback Luke McCown and safety Kemal Ishmael intercepted a pass that was intended for Vincent Jackson and raced 23 yards for the touchdown.
The defense forced a fumble on Tampa Bay’s next possession as linebacker Paul Worrliow raked the ball away from Tampa Bay running back Bobby Rainey. Free safety Dwight Lowery recovered.
After picking up a third down-and-17, the Falcons scored on an end around by Hester, who later added an 62-yard punt return for a touchdown with 7:06 left in the second quarter to break a record he shared with former Falcons great Deion Sanders.
With Sanders in the building working for NFL Network, Hester shot up the left sideline, blasted past Tampa Bay punter Michael Koenen at the 25-yard line and started high-stepping like Sanders for the last 16 yards.
The fans went wild when the record was announced and Sanders was shown on the video screens.
Hester got emotional on the sidelines and started crying on the bench.
Hester now has the most returns for touchdowns in league history with 20. Hester has 14 punt returns for touchdowns, five kickoff returns for touchdowns and one missed field goal return for a touchdown.
The Falcons added a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jones in the third quarter.
After a botched snap by Tampa Bay that was recovered by defensive end Stansly Maponga, Jackson slammed into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown.
Ryan and the first-team offense was pulled with 4:59 left in the third quarter.
Backup quarterback T.J. Yates led the reserves on a touchdown drive as running back Antone Smith scored on a 38-yard run to make it 56-0.
The most points scored ever by the Falcons was in a 62-7 victory over the Saints on Sept. 16, 1973. The 55 points margin of victory was also franchise largest margin of victory in a game.
The Bucs added two meaningless touchdowns for the final margin.
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