TAMPA, Fla. — Quarterback Josh McCown is front and under center for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers again, carrying the hopes of a coach desperate for a win and a wary fan base.

But after injuring his thumb and being replaced by Mike Glennon in Week 3 at Atlanta, McCown hoped it would never come to this. He wished the Bucs soared rather than sank under Glennon to a 1-7 record.

“I love playing this game and we play to play. Don’t get me wrong on that,” McCown said. “An opportunity to go out there and play in the National Football League, especially as a starting quarterback, there’s only 32 of those and that’s a special, special privilege. I don’t take that lightly.

“There’s a part of me that wishes this team was winning ballgames. And I’ve said this all along, and I love playing this game, I love winning. I want to be part of a winner and I want to be part of an organization that wins. And it’s not about me. So if Mike could win ballgames, I don’t care. I really don’t.

“And that’s what I mean when I say ‘Was I expecting it? No.’ Because I was expecting after the injury Mike would take it and run with it. For some reason, not completely on Mike, but for some reason or another we haven’t done that. That’s my main thing. I just want to win some games.”

McCown will get a chance to complete some unfinished business Sunday when he starts against the Falcons in a 1 p.m. game at Raymond James Stadium. Atlanta is coming off a bye week, but everyone from coach Lovie Smith to GM Thomas Dimitroff is on the hot seat.

After upsetting the Steelers 27-24 on Sept. 28 on a TD pass with seven seconds remaining, Glennon lost four straight games, including Sunday at Cleveland in which he threw two interceptions and missed open receivers.

“I think we need better play at the quarterback position right now,” Smith said. “You start with that. Then I’m going to go back, he was our starter before, an injury, we need a little boost. It’s like that with all positions. If the play isn’t what we think it should be, we see if there’s another option we should look at.”

Glennon learned of his benching Tuesday in separate meetings with Bucs quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo and coach Smith. Later that afternoon, Glennon’s brother, Sean, a former quarterback at Virginia Tech, tweeted that he has ‘lost all respect,’ for Smith, indicating there had been a quarterback change.

“Yeah, I mean obviously, it wasn’t what I wanted,” Glennon said of the tweet. “I talked to him about it; he realizes he made a mistake but he was doing it out of frustration and love for his brother.”

The Bucs then decided to let Glennon announce his demotion on his weekly radio show Tuesday.

“There was some news out there and we discussed it with the Bucs and we thought that would be the best way to announce it,” Glennon said.

Smith said he had no problem about how news of the switch become public.

“No issue with me, at all,” Smith said. “Feel bad for Mike that way? I’m not into feeling bad for anybody. We’re trying to win football games. It’s as simple as that. If I make changes, I talk to that person then, which I did, and I go through the proper channels that I need to, to get things like that out. I feel good about that. When it came out, who did it, that’s just low on the totem pole for me right now.”

McCown has been active the past two weeks but hasn’t played since the Bucs’ 56-14 loss at Atlanta Sept. 18. Ironically, on Sunday the Bucs host the Falcons, who haven’t won a game since that rout.

Even after demolishing the Bucs in Week 3, the Falcons don’t seem too cocky going into their rematch Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.

“I don’t think the game that was played in the Georgia Dome in Week 3 is really going to have any bearing,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said Wednesday in a teleconference with Tampa reporters. “It’s two different football teams. There’s going to be different guys out there for the Tampa Bay Bucs, and there’s going to be different players for the Atlanta Falcons.”

NOTES: The Bucs signed DT Matthew Masifilio and CB Quinton Pointer to the practice squad. … RB Doug Martin (ankle) did not practice Wednesday as was also the case for CB Alterraun Verner (hamstring), TE Luke Stocker (hip) and LT Anthony Collins (foot). RB Charles Sims, who was activated from IR last week but did not play in the game, practiced Wednesday.