ATLANTA -- Dirk Koetter got a game ball after his debut as an NFL head coach.Jameis Winston made it all possible.The second-year quarterback bounced back from an early interception to throw four touchdowns passes, leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-24 victory Sunday over the Atlanta Falcons in

ATLANTA -- Dirk Koetter got a game ball after his debut as an NFL head coach.Jameis Winston made it all possible.The second-year quarterback bounced back from an early interception to throw four touchdowns passes, leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-24 victory Sunday over the Atlanta Falcons in a season-opening matchup between NFC South rivals.Good guys win, quipped Koetter , still dripping with Gatorade after a victory splashing. Lets do it 15 more times this year.That might be far-fetched, but at least the Bucs can boast of a winning record for the first time since the 2012 season, when they started 6-4.Winston presented his new coach with the game ball.It was very important that we made him feel the moment was special, not only for him but for us, the quarterback said.Winston was 23 of 33 for 281 yards, using just about every weapon at his disposal. He hooked up with receiver Mike Evans, running back Charles Sims III and tight ends Austin Sefarian-Jenkins and Brandon Myers on scoring plays.The Falcons grabbed a 10-3 lead late in the first quarter after Winstons pass for Vincent Jackson was picked off by Desmond Trufant, who returned it 13 yards to the Tampa Bay 9. Jackson broke outside on the route, while Winstons throw went to the inside.But Winston shook off that miscue with a 4-yard TD pass to Myers, and went to work again with less than two minutes to go in the first half.After a third-down conversion to Jackson, Winston dumped off a short throw to Sims, who did the rest. He faked out two defenders -- cutting right while they both tumbled the turf -- and broke two more tackles on the way to a 23-yard touchdown that put Tampa Bay ahead for good.The Buccaneers scored on their first two possessions of the second half, pushing the lead to 31-13.The Falcons didnt quit in their final season opener at the Georgia Dome before moving next door to $1.4 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium.Matt Ryan , looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2015 season in which the Falcons missed the playoffs for the third year in a row, hooked up with Julio Jones on a 25-yard touchdown and tacked on a two-point conversion.But Atlanta wound up settling for three field goals by Matt Bryant.We had four trips into the red zone and came away with one touchdown, Ryan said. Weve got to be much better.ATLANTA TIESKoetter was offensive coordinator of the Falcons from 2012-14, and his defensive coordinator is former Atlanta head coach Mike Smith .Its weird to see the people on the other side, Koetter said. But thats the nature of the NFL.Smith was the winningest coach in Falcons history, nearly leading Atlanta to the Super Bowl during the 2012 season. That was followed by two straight losing seasons and his firing.INJURY REPORTTampa Bay backup linebacker Jacquies Smith was carted to the locker room with a right knee injury and didnt return. He was hurt covering a punt in the first quarter.UNDISCIPLINED FALCONSSome big penalties cost the home team in the third quarter. Offensive guard Chris Chester was called for unnecessary roughness, knocking the Falcons out of field-goal range.On Tampa Bays ensuing possession, cornerback Robert Alford was also flagged for a personal foul after the Falcons had forced an incomplete pass on third down. The Bucs went on to score a touchdown.FANTASY WATCHWR Mohamed Sanu got off to a strong start with the Falcons. He set up a field goal with a 59-yard grab and hauled in a 5-yard TD pass, finishing with five receptions for 80 yards. He also caught a two-point conversion. ... RB Devonta Freeman was held to 20 yards rushing on 11 carries. ... Evans had five catches for 99 yards.WORTH NOTINGThe Falcons failed to sack Winston, while Ryan was sacked three times . ... Tampa Bays last season-opening win also came in 2012.UP NEXTBuccaneers: Tampa Bay travels to the desert to face the Arizona Cardinals next Sunday.Falcons: Atlanta also heads west next Sunday to meet the Oakland Raiders, who opened with a 35-34 win over New Orleans.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Darwin Thompson Jersey . 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Mohammad Kamruzzaman, a veteran Bangladesh sports journalist, was 15 years old when he went to the Dhaka Stadium to watch the Pakistan-New Zealand Test in November 1955. It was there that Hanif Mohammad, the original Little Master, left an imprint in his mind.Nobody else could even make a fifty in that game, except Hanif Mohammad, Kamruzzaman remembers. He made a century, and handled the New Zealand attack really well. You could have called it a mediocre attack but on a matting wicket, they were tough to handle. John Reid bowled medium-fast in that game. They had a legspinner called (Alex) Moir. But New Zealand fell in big trouble towards the end of that game, losing six wickets for not many.Hanif, all of 20 then, brought up his second Test century, hitting 103 out of Pakistans 195 for 6 declared. The next highest score was Wallis Mathias, who made 41 not out.Kamruzzaman, studying for his matriculation exam the following year, remembers managing some money from home to watch the match like many others. I think my mother gave me money to buy the student concession tickets, he recollects. I think it was five taka for the four days. I was glad to witness the first Test century in Dhaka. Hanif used to be a subdued batsman, and he tackled the New Zealand attack almost single-handedly.Kamruzzaman, who has played the game at the club level and covered it for more than five decades, is now in his 70s. Hanif, he says, was adored by sport-loving Bengalis as much as he was in West Pakistan. Most vivid in his memory are Hanifs second and third Test tons at this venue, against England in 1962.Seven years later came those two centuries. I remember England were led by Ted Dexter and had a superb batting line-up. Hanifs first-innings century had some incredible shots, but the real hard work was in the second innings. He still managed to make 104 runs. See, he always batted for his team and hardly ever for himself.Jalal Ahmed Chowdhury, one of the most experienced coaches in Bangladesh, is younger than Kamruzzaman but played cricket for a long time. He rememberss what Hanif meant for his generation that grew up in the late 1950s and early 1960s.ddddddddddddIn the early 1960s, I was still in school. I remember of hearing about this man who doesnt get out, Jalal recalls. A myth started to develop around Hanif Mohammad. He was one of the two stars we knew about in those days. The other one was Fazal Mahmood.Hanif became the idol for many of us. It had a lot to do about his endurance. By 1964-65, I started to get conscious about the game and one of the things I realised was that if Hanif did well, Pakistan would be saved. Like kids these days have Shakib and Mashrafe as heroes, in those days too they liked batsmen. Hanif became a favourite.He used to be known as a defensive player, but newspapers of the time regularly used a photo of him playing a slog sweep. It didnt really go with his batting style but I loved that photo. He understood bowlers very well. His evading technique always caught our eye and that was a big reason why he could tackle those big bowlers in the West Indies. He was a master of concentration.Jalal said Hanif was a hero for kids growing up then as the youth population wasnt fully aware of the political rhetoric involving Pakistan. Cricket was fun for us back then, he remembers. The only anger within all of us back then was about Bengalis not getting a chance to represent Pakistan in sports.Jalal also remembers the stories they heard in Dhaka about Hanifs breakthrough innings in Bridgetown. We heard stories about Abdul Hafeez Kardar slipping notes into his hotel room during his marathon 337 in West Indies. Apparently during that series, Hanif used to regularly have his meals at a Muslim home.Much like Kamruzzaman and Jalal, a certain generation remembers Hanif fondly. He was a charm before the world around them changed. But even in the Bangladesh of 2016, the news of Hanifs death brings sadness to an older generation who only have these memories to live by. ' ' '