Bucs struggle through preseason.(The Orlando Sentinel)

TAMPA, Fla. _ When his next-day meetings with the media follow a defeat, Coach Tony Dungy more often than not opens his remarks by declaring that videotape of the game was not that bad.

"That wasn't the case this time,'' Dungy said Saturday after reviewing Tampa Bay's 36-7 blowout loss at Atlanta. "It was worse.''

The Buccaneers said goodbye and good riddance to an underwhelming preseason. Not only did the Bucs finish 1-3, but they exited on a low note, surrendering 211 yards rushing to the Falcons.

Granted, Tampa Bay was without three of their defensive stars _ tackle Warren Sapp, end Marcus Jones and strong safety John Lynch, each of whom sat out with precautionary injuries -- and played almost exclusively with second-, third- and fourth-teams after the first quarter. Dungy, however, was not about to provide his players with an excuse.

"They have to get better and we talked about that today,'' Dungy said of his reserves. "We will need players 23 to 53 some time this year.''

Next week, for instance. The Bucs open the 2001 season at Dallas. The Cowboys have nowhere near the firepower _ on either side of the ball _ as the Bucs, but any effort resembling Friday's and anything is possible.

The Falcons (3-1) scored 17 points off turnovers and dominated time of possession 37:14 to 22:46. The Bucs had success with their first-team offense, which opened in a no-huddle attack for the sake of getting repetitions in the two-minute offense.