n at Iowa this year, and was in the championship hunt until he wrecked at Texas in June

TAMPA, Fla. -- When Tampa Bay opened the season with a 31-24 road victory over the Atlanta Falcons, it was a promising start to Dirk Koetters head coaching career against a team he and Buccaneers defensive coordinator Mike Smith coached together.But as the rematch approaches Thursday night at Raymond James Stadium, much has changed as the Buccaneers find themselves considerably short-handed as they try to stop a Falcons offense that has established itself as the NFLs best.I think theyre playing with more confidence, and you would expect that: They won some big games, Koetter said.The Falcons (5-3) have the NFC South lead and quarterback Matt Ryan leads the NFL in touchdown passes (19) and passing yards (2,636), having thrown scoring passes to an NFL-best 10 different players. The biggest challenge will be containing receiver Julio Jones, who went off for 300 yards in a victory against Carolina this season, but the Buccaneers held him to 66 yards in the first meeting. Jones has been slowed by a knee injury, but the Bucs fully expect to face him.Julio Jones is going to play, said Smith, his coach in Atlanta until last year. He is obviously one of the top three receivers in the league. Theres no doubt about that. Maybe No. 1. I think hes probably one of the toughest guys to defend.The Bucs wont have nearly the same offensive lineup they had around quarterback Jameis Winston in the first meeting. Doug Martin and Charles Sims, the teams top two running backs, are injured as is No. 2 receiver Vincent Jackson, and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who caught a 30-yard touchdown against the Falcons, has since been arrested on a DUI charge and waived.As if losing their top two backs wasnt enough, the Bucs will be without former Falcons back Jacquizz Rodgers, who had filled in admirably with back-to-back 100-yard games before getting injured Sunday in a loss to the Raiders.Now the Bucs move forward with three backs all signed off the street since the start of the season -- former Falcons back Antone Smith, who has never had more than four carries in a game; rookie Peyton Barber, who played only three offensive snaps in Sundays loss; and Mike James, who was signed Tuesday after being waived-injured by the Bucs in Week 1, days before the first Falcons game.The quick turnaround to a Thursday game is tough enough, but the Bucs are coming off an overtime loss to Oakland that saw their defense on the field for 94 snaps. The Raiders piled up 626 yards of total offense, including a franchise-record 512 passing by Derek Carr, whose fourth touchdown won the game late in overtime.Atlanta, too, had their game Sunday come down to the wire as Mohamed Sanu caught the game-winning touchdown in a win over the Packers, so both teams will be physically spent entering the game.Our last three weeks, all the games have come right down to the end, coach Dan Quinn said Tuesday. We had some disappointing finishes where we thought we had a chance to finish and we didnt, then in this game where we did. Were glad we had another opportunity to try to finish ... weve got work to do, but were pleased we were able to finish it this past one.If the Bucs (3-4) win, theyll have the season sweep of the Falcons and be a half-game out of first and even in losses with the Falcons. Theyll need to play much better defensively than they did against Oakland, while facing the NFLs top passer, but Tampa Bay has won three straight against Atlanta -- all since Winston took over as quarterback last season.Both teams will enjoy the longer break after Thursdays game with the Bucs staying home to face the Bears in Week 10, while the Falcons go to the Eagles next weekend before finally getting their open date. Patrick Willis Jersey . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Deion Sanders Jersey . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. http://www.cheap49ersjerseysauthentic.com/ . After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains second-half brace. Steve Young Jersey . -- Its been a long road back for Sean Bergenheim. San Francisco 49ers Jerseys China . U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield in Manhattan agreed that lawyers on both sides could make their formal requests by Nov. 8. A hearing is scheduled for a day earlier. Jordan Siev, a lawyer for Rodriguez, wrote in a joint letter to the judge from lawyers on both sides that MLB lawyers planned to ask that the lawsuit be dismissed. MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Roger Penske went 1-2-3 in the IndyCar standings this year. He figured he could have done better.Team Penske added Josef Newgarden to its roster on Wednesday, giving the organization the top four finishing drivers in this seasons IndyCar standings.Newgarden, who finished fourth this year in the series, was the top free agent in IndyCar and becomes the first American driver on Penskes open wheel roster since Sam Hornish Jr. in 2007.Thats not the reason we hired him, Penske team president Tim Cindric said, but a bonus for sure.Newgarden was hired because hes the future of IndyCar. The Tennessee native turns 26 in December, and although he has just three career wins in four seasons, he found success with tiny Ed Carpenter Racing in a series that is dominated by Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing.Hell replace Juan Pablo Montoya, who won the Indianapolis 500 last year for Penske and lost the series title on a tie-breaker. Newgarden joins a lineup that includes reigning champion Simon Pagenaud, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and former series champ Will Power.Penske expanded his roster to four cars to make room for Pagenaud, who became a free agent after the 2013 season. The team was rewarded when Pagenaud gave the organization its 14th IndyCar title last month. So with Newgarden available, Penske again made a shrewd move and offered him Montoyas seat.You have to decide if hes going to join you, or you are going to race against him for a little while, Cindric said.Montoya was told during the summer that the teeam was looking at other options for its aging roster -- Montoya and Castroneves are both 41 -- but was given the options to race in the Indy 500 for Penske.ddddddddddddWeve got a seat at Indy for him if he wants one, Cindric said. Our offer is open for him, wed love for him to continue with our team. But we didnt want to miss the opportunity to have Josef be a part of team in the future.Newgarden and Ed Carpenter Racing announced last week that Newgarden would not return, and Newgarden wasted no time jumping into Penske mode. He said he had his first phone conversation with Penske on Tuesday, he was at the North Carolina shop on Wednesday morning and will test with the entire organization next week at Road America in Wisconsin.His crash course into all things Penske was an admitted information overload, but Newgarden doesnt plan to waste any time contributing. He anticipates eventually relocating from Indianapolis to North Carolina, where Pagenaud and Power both live to be close to the shop.Ill try to add value to the group, which is going to be hard to do, he said. Team Penske is a dream job. Roger Penske is a legend in the motorsports community and his team has done just about everything theyve ever set out to do.Newgarden finished the 2016 season with one win, four podiums and 11 top-10 finishes. He led 282 of 300 laps to win at Iowa this year, and was in the championship hunt until he wrecked at Texas in June.