Atlanta Falcons vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tale of the tape

The quarterbacks

When we compared these two quarterbacks ahead of the Week 8 meeting, I wrote about Jameis Winston stepping into the Buccaneers starting role with lofty expectations. He had been inconsistent early on in the year, which is expected of a rookie.

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But since then, Winston has been the better of the two quarterbacks. Since the two teams met in the Georgia Dome, Winston has tossed seven touchdowns with three interceptions, while Matt Ryan has thrown seven touchdowns with six interceptions.

And more worrying for Ryan is the timing of the picks. It was his terrible pick-six from his own end zone that allowed the Colts back into the game two weeks ago, and the Falcons ultimately lost. Last week, the Falcons had a chance to score three points, but Ryan forced the ball into the end zone and was intercepted.

Winston is far from the finished article, but he’s steadily improving into his role, and looked great in a five-touchdown game against Philadelphia two weeks ago. Both quarterbacks will need to limit mistakes in this game.

Next: The offenses