Confidence in Bucs QB Fitzpatrick growing

Nov 23, 2017 - 12:16 AM TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 2-0 with Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback with wins over the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.

But those teams have combined to lose their last five games and Fitzpatrick will see a step up in class when he goes against the Atlanta Falcons Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

But this isn't a case of simply riding the guy who has the cool head and hot hand.

Doctors would not clear starter Jameis Winston to begin throwing after an evaluation of his shoulder injury Monday and he will miss at least one or two more games.

The 34-year-old Fitzpatrick, who struggled in his debut as the starter two weeks ago in the Bucs' 15-10 win over the New York Jets, played better against Miami Sunday. He completed 22-of-37 passes for 275 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 30-20 win over the Dolphins.

"My confidence is the same but I'm sure other people's (confidence) has grown," head coach Dirk Koetter said. "Ryan has done exactly what I thought he would do, but I can understand why other people who haven't seen him practice would not necessarily expect that. He's playing how I thought he would play."

The Falcons are coming off a big win at Seattle Monday night. But on a short week, having to travel across the country and have Thanksgiving disrupt their schedule, there could be a little fatigue.

Until recently, the Falcons' offense had struggled under first-year offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, but it sure looks like they are starting to hit their stride.

"Yeah, like I told the team, they have new coordinators on both sides and even though they're running the same system, if you're the one calling the plays, you can definitely see these coordinators have put their own spin on it, but the talent remains the same," Koetter said.

The Falcons were scoring in the 20s to start the season. Now they are scoring in the 30s. The difference, according to head coach Dan Quinn, is more plays on offense.

"I have to say we've played better on third down where we've gotten some more drives," Quinn said. "Early on, we didn't have enough plays it felt like to me. So that part of our game, and in the red zone was an area that we felt, OK, we need some more work here. So we added that into our practice.

"We don't think we've played our best yet."

That is a scary thing for the Bucs, who have not been able to rush the passer and are giving up explosive plays in the passing game. If they can't get quarterback Matt Ryan off his spot, he will attack a porous secondary.

Meanwhile, they have to hope that Fitzpatrick is up to a bigger challenge.

"The thing I look for when a quarterback goes in is how much is the offense a part of them and you can tell what football smarts he has and what the coaching staff has done to get him up to speed because it looks like he has the full complement of the offense, the formations, the routes that go with it. So that part, I've been impressed," Quinn said.

SERIES HISTORY: 48th regular-season meeting. Bucs lead series, 24-23, having won three of the last four games in the series. Since the NFC South was formed in 2002, Atlanta has a 15-14 edge.

--Running back Doug Martin had just 38 yards on 19 carries in Sunday's win against the Dolphins, but head coach Dirk Koetter said his team's struggles running the ball shouldn't go squarely on his running back.

"In my opinion, he is not the reason we're not moving the ball on offense," Koetter said Monday. "If you look at the tape, Doug's making a little bit out of not too much, more often than not."

Martin is averaging 3.1 yards per carry; only one back in the NFL (Bengals rookie Joe Mixon) has as many carries as Martin's 112 with a lower average. Tampa Bay ranks 30th in the NFL in rushing yards per game (79.8) and 29th in yards per carry (3.4), finishing below both levels Sunday.

"We did not do a great job of run blocking in this game, but that's an O-line thing, that's a tight-end thing, that's a lead-blocker issue," Koetter said. "The running back is going to take the hit."

Charles Sims had one carry for three yards Sunday, and Peyton Barber and Jacquizz Rodgers played only three and two offensive snaps. Koetter didn't have much praise for his depth behind Martin.

"Believe me, if we thought Gale Sayers was sitting back there behind Doug, he'd be in there," he said. "I haven't seen Gale out there."

--Bernard Reedy, waived by the Bucs on Friday, cleared waivers Monday and will sign to join the Patriots' practice squad.

Reedy, 25, handled all the Bucs' punt and kickoff returns in the first nine games this season, including a 44-yard punt return and 50-yard kickoff return. He played sparingly on offense - two catches for 21 yards and three carries (jet sweeps) for 17 yards.

Reedy will head to New England with hopes of being promoted to the 53-man roster once he can learn the playbook. New England ranks 27th in the NFL in kickoff return average and 27th in punt return average.

Koetter said that waiving Reedy had more to do with needing to make room for wide receiver Freddie Martino on the active roster. Adam Humphries handled punt returns Sunday, with Rodgers handling kickoffs.

--"That is in the hands of the NFL right now and we're cooperating with that investigation, to whatever extent that is, I don't even know. There's just nothing I can say about it right now. It's got to run its course and when it does, we'll have more to say at that time." -- Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter when asked about the allegation that Jameis Winston groped a female Uber driver in Arizona in 2016.

NOTES: QB Jameis Winston will miss his third straight game Sunday at Atlanta recovering from a shoulder injury. ... DE Robert Ayers has a concussion and did not practice on Wednesday. ... G Evan Smith is in concussion protocol and did not practice on Wednesday. ... CB Vernon Hargreaves missed Sunday's game at Miami with a hamstring strain and did not practice on Wednesday, but head coach Dirk Koetter says he is improving. ... TE Cameron Brate was added to the injury report with an ankle injury and was limited in practice on Wednesday.