The Falcons’ defense allowed the Buccaneers 117 yards on the ground Sunday in the Falcons’ 23-20 overtime loss. Entering Sunday’s games with their division rivalry, the Falcons’ defense under Dan Quinn had allowed 78.6 rushing yards per game.
Defensive tackle Paul Soliai said the biggest mistake on defense was not creating any turnovers.
“We came back hard as you see on the scoreboard,” Soliai said. “On the defensive side, we just have to create turnovers and help our offense out.”
Quinn said he was confident that the Falcons’ will improve on mistakes on both sides of the ball.
“Our toughness, the way we like to finish is there,” Quinn said. “We didn’t execute as well as we could today so I feel like we have a long way to go.”
The Falcons’ defense gave up a 21-yard run to the 2-yard line on a quarterback draw by Jameis Winston in the third quarter. Winston ran for a touchdown later on the same series, extending the Buccaneers lead 19-3.
Tampa Bay running back Doug Martin gained 71 yards on 23 carries with a long of 18 yards. Martin had been averaging 90.2 yards per game.
Defensive end Kroy Biermann said although the defense held Martin, they didn’t control the run game well enough.
“We got to get back to work, focus on the small things and pay attention to details,” Biermann said. “We (have to) play our style of football and do what we do and get off blocks and make plays.”
Defensive lineman Adrian Clayborn said there is plenty to work on during the week.
“We kicked ourselves in the butt,” Clayborn said. “That’s something to learn from and we can do it next week.”
— JuliaKate E. Culpepper
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