Tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET the Atlanta Falcons (1-1) return home after a road beatdown in Cincinnati to take on the reeling Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-2), who have dropped two straight home games to opponents starting backup quarterbacks. Live stream the action by clicking this link; Falcons fans can hear the radio broadcast on 790 The Zone, while Buccaneers fans may do likewise on 98.7 The Fan.
The Falcons were riding high after an upset over the Saints in Week 1 in which quarterback Matt Ryan threw for a career-high 448 yards. He notched three touchdown passes and wasn't intercepted once as the Falcons came from behind to win by three points.
He couldn't keep the momentum going though. The Bengals defense kept the Falcons in check, intercepting Ryan three times and limiting him to 231 yards.
It's not the offense Falcons coach Mike Smith is concerned with though, despite the two-week Jekyll and Hyde act-it's the meager pass rush.
"We've got to put more pressure on the quarterback," coach Mike Smith said. "It's not where we want to be at after the first two games. I think that's translated into us not playing the type of defense that we want."
Offense is a concern for the Bucs though, who have looked unimpressive in the first two weeks of new coach Lovie Smith's tenure. Star running back Doug Martin's status for the game is in question, and Josh McCown, signed to start this offseason after a hot stretch replacing Jay Cutler under Marc Trestman in Chicago, is struggling.
"At the end of the day, you hear about quarterbacks being measured by wins and we're 0-2 so for me that's how I evaluate it," McCown said. "I look at what could I have done better to help us win the ballgame. I look at it for both games, I really felt like I did a lot of good things except for three turnovers in those games and those have been critical."
McCown has yet to top 200 yards passing, and last week failed to throw a touchdown pass.
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