?ATLANTA _ The Falcons had the entire offseason to work on their pass rush, add some punch to their red-zone offense and power-up the rushing attack.
Those three phases of their attack remain lacking and they compounded their shortcomings by repeatedly making untimely penalties in a 31-24 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at the Georgia Dome in an NFL season opener.
"Having some of the fouls that we did, that was disappointing," Falcons coach Dan Quinn said.
Behind four touchdown passes from quarterback Jameis Winston, the Bucs improved to 1-0, while the Falcons, who went 1-5 in NFC South Division last season, dropped to 0-1. It was a moment of redemption for former Falcons coach Mike Smith, now the Tampa defensive coordinator. And it was the first victory as an NFL head coach for Dirk Koetter, the former Falcons offensive coordinator.
Winston completed 23 of 33 passes for 281 yards and had one interception. Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan completed 27 of 39 passes for 334 yards and two touchdowns.
Here are the five things we learned from the loss:
1. Costly penalties. Flags kept flying at the Falcons and the mistakes, especially on third downs, helped fuel the Bucs' victory.
On third-and-4 from Tampa Bay's 44 in the first quarter, rookie linebacker De'Vondre Campbell was called for pass interference. The Bucs took advantage to turn it into a 3-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter on third-and-2 from the Tampa Bay's 33, defensive end Adrian Clayborn was called for lining up in the neutral zone. Winston had been stopped for a yard run and the Bucs would have had to punt. The Bucs went on to score a touchdown to tie it at 10.
On a third-and-goal from Tampa Bay's 12, Falcons left tackle Jake Matthews was called for a false start. Falcons running back Tevin Coleman was stopped for 1-yard run on a draw play and they had to settle for a 34-yard field goal to take a 13-10 lead.
In the third quarter, the Falcons had the Bucs stopped again on third-and-8 from their 10 after an incomplete pass, but safety Kemal Ishmael was called for holding and Robert Alford for unnecessary roughness, and the Alford penalty was accepted to keep the drive alive.
Five plays later, Winston tossed a touchdown strike to wide receiver Michael Evans, who was covered by free safety Robenson Therezie and cornerback Robert Alford.
"The disappointing part is that some of those were pre-snap (penalties)," Quinn said.
2. Linebacker shuffle. The Falcons started second-year player Vic Beasley at strongside linebacker, rookie Deion Jones at middle linebacker and rookie De'Vondre Campbell at weakside linebacker.
Beasley rotated with Philip Wheeler. Paul Worrilow and Sean Weatherspoon came on in the second quarter for Jones and Campbell in run situations.
On their first possession of the third quarter, Winston tossed a 30-yard touchdown pass to tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who got behind Weatherspoon. The Bucs took a 24-13 lead after that touchdown.
3. Red zone woes. The Falcons struggled in the red zone with three out of four trips stalling.
On their first trip inside Tampa Bay's 20, they stalled and Matt Bryant made a 34-yard field goal.
On the second trip after a Desmond Trufant interception, Ryan connected with Mohamed Sanu for a 5-yard touchdown.
On the third trip, Matthews' penalty stalled the drive and Bryant added a 34-yard field goal.
With the Falcons trying to rally from a 31-21 deficit in the fourth quarter, they stalled in the red zone again. Bryant added a 29-yard field goal with 4:55 remaining.
"We got ourselves off schedule a little bit, had some penalties down there which we control those," Ryan said.
All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones, who caught four passes for 66 yards and scored a touchdown, doesn't believe the offense had a red zone problem.
"We definitely can score in the red zone," Jones said. "That's no problem. We are not going to let old stuff creep back in, like we can't score in the red zone. ... It was just penalties that kind of moved us out of position and away from the play-calling we wanted."
4. Pass rush nonexistent. The Falcons were not able to mount a pass rush against the Bucs.
Winston, who was not sacked, had time to find his receivers. The Falcons had only five quarterback hits on 33 pass attempts.
5. Injury report. Defensive end Brooks Reed left the game with a shoulder injury, twice.
