Atlanta Falcons destroy Buccaneers 45-24 as they look ahead to playoffs - NFL Week 17 Recap
The Falcons responded to their 45-16 loss to New Orleans Saints last week in style decimating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 45-24 in their final game of the 2011 regular season.
The game was over in the first half as the Falcons ran rampant over the Buccaneers who put in another woeful performance for their tenth straight loss and most probably sealing Coach Raheem Morris’s fate.
"We wanted to play our final regular-season game with a lot of intensity and energy, and I think we did that in all three phases," Falcons coach Mike Smith said.
The Falcons already qualified for the wildcard playoffs round got the end to the season they wanted and would be looking forward to facing the New York Giants in their wildcard matchup this Sunday.
The Buccaneers were horrendous in defence again and were ripped apart by a well drilled Falcons offense. Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had the easiest of outings as he created two passing touchdowns and covered 106 passing yards during the game. The quarterback
completed six out of nine attempted passes before being replaced by Chris Redman in the second half of the game as Coach Mike Smith decided to rest some key starters with his team up by a huge 42-7 margin.
"We had opportunities the week before and just didn't make the plays," Ryan said. "Today, we made the plays and I think that's what we needed moving forward."
Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman threw three interceptions and two passing touchdowns covering 274 passing yards. The quarterback completed 31 out of 45 attempted passes.
In the after game press conference Buccaneers Coach Raheem Morris refused to consider his job prospects and remained defiant.
"If I was in the business of working out my future, I wouldn't be coaching," Morris said. "I'm going to go to work tomorrow until they tell me to stop."
The Coach also went on to say that he will start preparing the team for the new season and look to rebuild after one of the worst seasons of his career.
The Falcons were completely dominant in the first half of the game. Building up a lead of 42-7 in the first two periods as the Buccaneers were made to look even worse than amateurs during the game. Jacquizz Rodgers started things off with 1-yard rush to
the end-zone to score the games first points at 8:12 in the first quarter. Matt Ryan then started the rout throwing two touchdown passes to Julio Jones in a space of 26 seconds to build up a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
With the game over before it had started the Falcons remained merciless. Michael Turner rushed for a one-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to make it 28-0. Curtis Lofton intercepted a Josh Freeman pass and returned it 26-yards for another touchdown.
Michael Turner put the game to bed with a brilliant rush to the end-zone covering 81-yards to bring the Falcons up 42-0.
With two minutes left in the second quarter the Buccaneers finally scored their first points as Josh Freeman sent a 2-yard pass to Dezmon Briscoe for a touchdown.
With Coach Mike Smith sending on his fringe players to rest his starters the Buccaneers started to claw themselves to a respectable score line. Kicker Connor Barth scored a 41-yard field goal at 4:19 in the third quarter and Elbert Mack intercepted a Chris
Redman pass for a 40-yard interception return. The Bucs went for the two point conversion after the touchdown and got it to bring the score to 42-18.
Quarterback Josh Freeman sent his second and final touchdown pass at 11:13 in the fourth quarter from five yards to Dezmon Briscoe who scored the touchdown but the Buccaneers failed their two-point conversion attempt. With the score at 42-24 Falcons kicker
Matt Bryant scored a 22-yard field goal to give the Falcons a deserving 45-24 victory.
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