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Thursday Night Observations

I watched part of the first half live and caught the highlights for the second. It's amazing how much more digestible the NFL is when you shave off the night games, especially now that the London standalone contests are over. It's really only 6.5 hours per week, plus catching up on the late games in the mornings. It cuts 16 hours of sitting on your couch to eight.

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(Outdoor seating at a restaurant next door to our apartment. Above, a beach within the city limits.)

• Dirk Koetter bizarrely declined a 15-yard personal foul penalty to give the Falcons 3rd-and-22 from the 38-yard line, instead opting to let Matt Bryant attempt an easy 41-yard field goal. Apparently, he thought Bryant would have made a 56-yarder anyway and didn't want to risk Atlanta converting a first down.

• Mike Evans made an amazing one-handed catch while getting popped and finished with 17 more targets for 150 yards, two scores and one concussion. Assuming he recovers from latter, there's no receiver with a higher floor - the target volume from Week 2 has been: 18, 14, 11, 12, 13, 11, 17, respectively.

• Jameis Winston would have had a huge day had he not left in the fourth quarter with a knee injury. He still finished with three TDs, 261 passing yards and 14 rushing yards, but Mike Glennon added another 75 yards and a score in garbage time. Winston's injury doesn't appear to be serious.

• Peyton Barber saw the bulk of the work (11 carries), but Antone Smith (the most efficient per-play back in league history) got five yards per carry and nine yards per catch.

• Devonta Freeman had a solid day, but he caught only two passes and didn't score a TD, as Matt Ryan uncharacteristically threw the ball from in close to a variety of receivers, one of which was Julio Jones who scored on a rare fade. The reason Jones hasn't been a big TD producer relative to his yardage is Kyle Shanahan's offense typically runs in the red zone. Maybe they threw more because Tampa Bay is stout against the run, but if Jones were to see more end zone work, he could easily finish as the league's top receiver.

• Taylor Gabriel was involved for the second straight week, this time rushing for a TD. The Atlanta offense has been much better this year, but it has also widened its distribution tree, including Mohamed Sanu, Gabriel and Austin Hooper, and that's with Tevin Coleman still out.

• Ryan is having a monster season with 9.5 YPA, 23 TDs and only four picks. And two of his 10 games were at Seattle and at Denver.