Wow, this game has been sloppy so far: Penalties, turnovers, and incompletions galore in only one quarter. Hopefully the Falcons can move away from this stagnant offensive gameplan (I'm looking at you Mularkey *cough cough*). I don't know about everyone else, but 10 yards of offense in 14:00 minutes of football doesn't quite cut it for me.
Tampa Bay began their drive at their own 32, and very quickly the Falcons had the Bucs offense in a third-and-six situation. However, an encroachment penalty via Ray Edwards would indirectly lead to a Tampa Bay first down. Later that drive, a 49-yard Connor Barth field goal that would give the Bucs a 3-0 lead early in this game.
So, the Falcons took over at their own eight-yard line following (you guessed it) a holding penalty on the kickoff. Thankfully, the offense finally realized they actually had some good football players, as Matt Ryan was able to connect with Roddy White for 22 yards on the last play of the first quarter.
That brought Ryan up to 38 yards passing for the quarter. Let's keep it going, Falcons!
For discussion, head to Falcons blog The Falcoholic and Buccaneers blog Bucs Nation, plus SB Nation Tampa Bay.