A division leading battle went the way of the Falcons in spite of Micheal Spurlock’s second career kick touchdown return and the fourth in four years for the Buccaneers. "We lost by a yard,'' Ronde Barber said, referring to the yard LeGarrette Blount failed to gain on a fourth-and-1 play from the Falcons' 2-yard line late in the fourth quarter. "If we get that yard we're having a different conversation.''

GAME SCORING ATL 8:06-1Q Turner 2 run (Bryant kick) ATL 13:39-2Q Turner 10 run (Bryant kick) TB 12:10-2Q Benn 14 pass from Freeman (Barth kick) ATL 5:27-2Q Bryant FG31 TB 2:06-2Q M.Williams 58 pass from Freeman (Barth kick) ATL 10:31-3Q Palmer 5 pass from Ryan (Bryant kick) ATL 0:46-3Q Bryant FG41 TB 0:30-4Q Spurlock 89 kick return (Barth kick)

GAME REPORTS How Roy Cummings saw the game unfold Award-winning columnist Martin Fennelly adds his views The dean of Buccaneer sports writers, Tom McEwen Rick Stroud reports from the Georgia Dome Gary Shelton wonders why Josh Freeman didn't get the call "The other" rookie receiver comes up big - Arrelious Benn The defense couldn't make the play when really necessary A huge day for the Tampa Bay special teams Game notes and anecdotes from the Buc locker room Scott Smith's game report The official NFL gamebook and play-by-play

STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 70 Penn DE 94 Moore LG 62 Larsen DT 93 McCoy C 76 Zuttah DT 90 Miller RG 75 Joseph DE 91 White RT 77 Lee WLB 54 Hayes TE 88 Gilmore MLB 51 Ruud TE 82 Winslow SLB 58 Black WR 17 Benn LCB 25 Talib WR 19 Williams RCB 20 Barber RB 24 Williams SS 26 Jones QB 5 Freeman FS 35 Grimm PLAYED 1 Malone, 10 Barth, 21 Piscitelli, 27 Blount, 28 Lumpkin, 31 Biggers, 33 Mack, 41 Lynch, 44 Lorig, 48 Economos, 53 Koutouvides, 56 Watson, 57 Hayward, 61 Barker, 71 Bennett, 73 Hardman, 80 Purvis, 81 Spurlock, 85 Stovall, 87 Parker, 95 Woods, 96 Crowder, DID NOT PLAY 11 J Johnson INACTIVE 12 Carpenter, 18 Stroughter, 23 Lewis, 34 Graham, 52 Faine, 65 Trueblood, 97 Magee, 98 Sims

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Blount 13-46, Freeman 4-26, C.Williams 8-13, Parker 1-7, Benn 1-4. FALCONS: Turner 24-107, Snelling 5-15, Ryan 3-5, White 1-3. PASSING BUCS: Freeman 22-11-189-2-2. FALCONS: Ryan 36-24-235-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: M.Williams 4-89, Winslow 3-31, Spurlock 2-46, Benn 1-14, C.Williams 1-9. FALCONS: Gonzalez 8-72, Snelling 5-24, White 4-49, Finneran 3-24, Jenkins 2-55, Palmer 2-11. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. FALCONS: Grimes 1-4, Babineaux 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Spurlock 4-209, Parker 1-12. FALCONS: Weems 3-70. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Spurlock 0-0. FALCONS: Weems 0-0. SACKS BUCS: none. FALCONS: Peterson 1-7.