The Buccaneers have beaten the Falcons in their past three meetings, including a 31-24 Week 1 victory, and a sweep during Jameis Winston's rookie campaign last season. But in the two months since, the Bucs are 2-4 while the Falcons are 5-2.

The two biggest reasons for the divergent paths? The quarterbacks.

That's hardly revolutionary. We've been beaten about the head in recent years about how the NFL is a passing league that, it turns out, is woefully short on passers. Both Winston and Matt Ryan are high first-round picks, both have had early success and both have also struggled. Unfortunately for the Bucs, Winston is living through his sophomore slump, one that included a four-pick game against the Cardinals in Week 2, and a three-game stretch of three touchdowns against seven interceptions and two lost fumbles. The Bucs went 0-3.

In early October, coach Dirk Koetter admitted that he was "very" concerned with Winston, but added that things could be worse.

"He's not regressing, but we've got to take care of the football," he said. "I mean, we've got to take care of the football. We can't turn it over three times in a half. We just can't do that.''

Winston has shown improvement in recent weeks but the inconsistencies remain.

But that's the deal; young quarterbacks, even the ridiculously talented ones, have growing pains. Look no further than Ryan, who helped the Falcons to the playoffs in four of his first five seasons only to see his game fall off a cliff from 2013-15.

10 minutes you won't get back

Will Brinson and I fire up the podcast machine for your listening pleasure. Is Matt Ryan legit? What should we make of Jameis Winston? Do the Bucs miss Lovie Smith? (That last one is a joke.) All that and more below:

About Matt Ryan and the Falcons' suddenly explosive offense

A year ago, the Falcons headed into Week 9 with a 6-2 record. They managed just two wins over the final two months and finished 8-8, ranking in the bottom third of the league in both offense and defense. One of the biggest offseason questions marks: Ryan, franchise quarterback, whose lack of consistency manifested itself in inexplicable decisions and ill-timed turnovers.

But it's all coming together in 2016, Ryan's second season in Kyle Shanahan's offense. In eight starts, he's completing a career-high 69 percent of his throws for a career-high 9.4 yards per attempt. The results: a career-high touchdown-to-interception ratio of 4.75. Both men deserve credit; Ryan for buying into the system, and Shanahan for tailoring that system to enhance Ryan's strengths.

Ryan went from 19th in QB value in 2015, according to Football Outsiders' metrics -- just ahead of Brian Hoyer -- to first this season.

"Sometimes you have to go through the rough patches and go through the adversity to say, alright man, we're in this together. That's the cool part about those two," coach Dan Quinn told SI.com's Jonathan Jones of Shanahan and Ryan. "They totally relied on one another, but you have to go through the difficult process. Now their communication is better than it's ever been."

And so is the production. Ryan threw for 503 yards and four touchdowns -- and completed 76 percent of his passes in the progress -- in a Week 4 win over the Panthers. And in last Sunday's 33-32 win over the Packers, he completed 80 percent of his passes for 288 yards and three scores.

Perhaps most surprising: All-world wideout Julio Jones didn't get into the end zone against Green Bay. In fact, he had as many receptions as Ryan had touchdown passes. It's a testament to how far this offense has come that it can win against tough opponents when the NFL's best receiver is marginalized.

"Everybody wants to say it's the play calling, and sometimes it's just knowing all of your guys. I feel a lot has been made about the relationship between me and Kyle," Ryan told Jones in early October. "I think Kyle and I have gotten to know each other better for sure, but I think Kyle and Julio have gotten to know each other better. Kyle and the offensive line know each other better. I think he understands our running backs better and what their skill sets are, what they do well.

"When things look different to certain people, they're going to look at something and say, 'well why don't you go do it the old way?' That's just not who we are. We don't have Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White in his prime. We don't have Harry Douglas and Mike Turner. We're a different outfit than we were in 2010, '11 and '12. And that's cool. We've got to do what we've got to do now."

Which means contributions from Mohamed Sanu and Jacob Tamme, as well as two of the league's most unheralded running backs -- Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman. Not only have they combined for 45 receptions for 522 yards and three touchdowns, they're the two biggest cogs in the Falcons' sixth-ranked rushing attack; Freeman is 11th in total RB value and Coleman is 14th.

The Falcons are 5-3, a game behind where they were a year ago, but it certainly doesn't feel that way. This team is more confident, more explosive and a lot more dangerous. It starts with Ryan, who is a legit MVP candidate.

Let's check in on Roberto Aguayo

The Bucs traded up to draft Aguayo in the second round, which immediately put the former Florida State kicker under the microscope. In general, specialists don't go that high in the draft, and when they do people pay attention. Which is why every single one of Aguayo's kicks is scrutinized, and that reality probably has something to do with his early-season struggles.


The trouble started in the preseason when Aguayo honked an extra point and a 32-yard field-goal attempt after never missing inside 40 yards during college. Aguayo, who was unshakable in college, suddenly lacked confidence, which is sort of a problem for an NFL kicker.

Aguayo said in August that he reached out to both a kicking coach and a mental coach to help him overcome his slow start.

"I'm just focusing on relaxing and sometimes not thinking about it too much," he said at the time. "When you're overthinking like, 'OK, I have to do this and this and this,' you get too many thoughts in your head. Sometimes you have to sit back and relax and just kick it."

So far, the results have been disappointing.

This comes some five months after Bucs general manager Jason Licht made the case for drafting Aguayo so high.

"He's super consistent," Licht told Pro Football Talk. "He's never missed inside the 40 in his career, which is rare. And he's the best and most accurate kicker in college history."

A few weeks after Licht's comments, NFL.com's Rand Getlin tweeted that the Bucs had a first-round grade on Aguayo.

So yeah. Silver lining (?): Thank God Tampa Bay didn't draft Aguayo in the first round.

Perhaps the trick is to let someone else use an absurdly high pick on a kicker or punter, and then sign them after they're released. In 2012, the Jaguars drafted punter Brian Anger in the third round. After the two sides parted ways, the Bucs inked him to a one-year deal and he has been solid.

"[Anger]'s doing a great job and as [it was] pointed out, we didn't turn the ball over yesterday, which was a good thing, but we had five three-and-outs on the day," Koetter said Monday. "And so when you're not holding onto the ball and making first downs, at least we were able to flip field position and that -- our punter, Bryan, and those two gunners, those guys are just playing lights out right now. Could not be happier. Bryan, [special teams coordinator Nate] Kaczor has asked him to work hard on matching his hang time to his distance, he's done that. His placement has been good."

(Not-so-fun fact: Here are the players the Jags passed on to take Anger: Olivier Vernon, Russell Wilson, Mohamed Sanu, Nick Foles, T.Y. Hilton, Lamar Miller, Travis Benjamin, Kirk Cousins, Jaye Howard, Malik Jackson, Josh Norman, Marvin Jones, Alfred Morris and Danny Trevathan.)

It's Color Rush Thursday, y'all (again)!

Behold:

If the Falcons' uniforms look familiar, it's because they won't get to wear their official Color Rush unis until next season.

"The Falcons selected a bold all-red head-to-toe uniform aesthetic, however due to a color conflict in their Thursday Night matchup against Tampa Bay on November 3, Atlanta will wear their white uniform as the away team," the team's website explained in September. "As the home team, the Buccaneers -- who also chose an all-red look -- will wear their Color Rush uniform while the Falcons will wear all-white.

"The Falcons join eight other NFL teams that will also be unable to wear their Color Rush jerseys this season but, rest assured, Atlanta fans can expect to see the Falcons in their official Color Rush uniforms in seasons to come."

Updates from Fantasy Island

CBSSports.com fantasy expert Jamey Eisenberg has your waiver-wire updates ahead of Thursday's game. Here's how he begins his latest column: "This is an awful week for running backs in Week 9. Between the guys on bye and injuries, you might want to vomit with the options who could be in your starting lineup."

And with that, good luck!

If you absolutely need to pick up a running back, here ya go:

Bucs' Antone Smith. He's expected to start and see more work than Peyton Barber (43 percent) with [Jacquizz] Rodgers and [Doug] Martin still out, and this week he's a potential starter in the majority of leagues. The Falcons have allowed four running backs to score double digits in Fantasy points in a standard league, and Smith could get a heavy workload since Rodgers had at least 20 touches in three games in a row.

And if you need a wide receiver:

Mohamed Sanu (42 percent): He now has two games in his past three outings with 10 targets, and he's scored double digits in Fantasy points both times. We hope Matt Ryan continues to feed him, and this is a great matchup in Week 9 at Tampa Bay on Thursday night. Sanu had five catches for 80 yards and a touchdown against the Buccaneers in Week 1, and Tampa Bay just allowed three Oakland receivers to score at least 10 Fantasy points in Week 8. Sanu is a potential starter in all leagues this week.

They said these words...

Always be closing -- Dan Quinn, paraphrased