Five more giveaways contribute mightily to lopsided defeat for Bucs The Tampa Tribune, published 19 September 2014 He arrived in Tampa preaching that turnovers and takeaways would define his team’s season. Through the first three games of his Buccaneers regime, Lovie Smith has proven to be prophetic — much to his own consternation. Even though the Bucs recovered three fumbles and returned an interception for a touchdown Thursday night in the Georgia Dome, they lost the turnover battle because of five giveaways that stalled any momentum they may have been able to muster against an energized division rival who didn’t need much help. Running back Bobby Rainey was responsible for two of Tampa Bay’s four lost fumbles and Josh McCown threw his fourth interception of a young season before hurting his right thumb and yielding to Mike Glennon. Things got so bad for the Bucs in the third quarter that center Evan Dietrich-Smith joined the butterfinger brigade as his snap out of the shotgun sailed over Glennon’s head, setting Atlanta up at Tampa Bay’s 2-yard line. “You can’t win when you do the things we did tonight,’’ said Dietrich-Smith. “As a matter of fact, we didn’t do much of anything out there. On that snap, I thought I heard Mike say the count, but obviously I got it wrong.’’ Much earlier, safety Mark Barron couldn’t hang onto the ball while running back an Atlanta fumble caused by Bucs corner Alterraun Verner. Devin Hester, who haunted the Bucs all evening, hit Barron and fell on the ball at the Tampa Bay 37, setting up the first of Matt Ryan’s two scoring passes to Julio Jones. Even a 27-yard fourth-quarter touchdown by Bucs reserve inebacker Danny Lansanah off an interception return couldn’t ease the pain forged by Tampa Bay’s flurry of mistakes. “They capitalized on every single mistake we made,’’ said Tampa Bay linebacker Jonathan Casillas, “and we made a lot of ‘em.’’ The Bucs have now committed nine giveaways in their 0-3 start, adding immeasurably to Smith’s frustration. Even during a 4-12 season under coach Greg Schiano in 2013, Tampa Bay protected the ball capably, yielding only 21 turnovers while finishing with a plus-10 ratio. During Smith’s nine years in Chicago, the Bears led the NFL in takeaways during that span. Well before training camp even began, Smith kept repeating his favorite mantra: turrnover ratio is the key to victory at the pro level. He pushed the Buc defense to score off takeaways and offered no excuses for McCown’s early-season miscues, saying the veteran quarterback needed to make better decisions. On Thursday night, during one of the worst beatdowns in franchise history, a flood of turnovers washed away any legitimate chance the Bucs had of pulling off an upset. “On defense, that’s what you talk about ... takeaways,’’ said Falcons linebacker Paul Worrilow. “When we were watching our offense from the sidelines, we told ourselves to go back out there and get the football ball again. And you know what? It kept happening.’