ATLANTA — Devin Hester danced like Deion Sanders on his way into the NFL record book, and the Atlanta Falcons routed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 56-14 Thursday at the Georgia Dome.

With Sanders in the stadium, Hester returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter, high-stepping the final yards for the 20th return touchdown of his career. He broke Sanders’ record of 19 touchdown returns and gave the Falcons a commanding 35-0 lead in the first half.

Hester, in his first season with the Falcons (2-1), also ran for a touchdown and finished with 142 all-purpose yards. For his career, Hester has 14 punt-return touchdowns, five kickoff-return touchdowns and a missed-field-goal-return touchdown.

“It was emotional, breaking the record of a guy who is my mentor,” Hester said of Sanders. “He sends me a text every morning. That’s when I know it’s time to get up and get to work.”

Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan shredded the banged-up Buccaneers for 286 yards and three touchdowns on 21-of-24 passing before shutting it down midway through the third quarter.

It got embarrassing in the second half for the Buccaneers, who fell behind 56-0.

Ryan hooked up with wide receiver Julio Jones for a twisting, over-the-shoulder touchdown reception that made it 42-0 early in the third quarter.

On the first play of the Bucs’ next possession, a snap sailed over the head of backup quarterback Mike Glennon and was recovered by the Falcons at the Tampa Bay 2-yard line. Atlanta running back Steven Jackson bulled his way in for a touchdown on the next play to make it 49-0.

Falcons running back Antone Smith scored on a 38-yard run to make it 56-0 heading into the fourth quarter.

“I’ve never experienced that type of lead in the National Football League,” Smith said. “We did some really good thing, but I want to stress that it’s going to have no bearing on what is going to happen when we step on that plane and head to Minnesota (next week).”

Jones finished with 161 receiving yards and two touchdowns on nine catches.

The Bucs lost their first eight games last season and are now 0-3 in new coach Lovie Smith’s first year.

“I was embarrassed by our play,” Smith said. “We failed in all phases, of course. It starts with coaching. I thought I had us ready to play. Obviously, we weren’t ready to play.”

To make things worse, starting quarterback Josh McCown injured the thumb on his throwing hand in the first half and was replaced by Glennon. McCown finished 5-for-12 for 58 yards with an interception.

“I tried to grab the ball on the sidelines but just wasn’t able to grip it,” McCown said. “That was the main thing, that I couldn’t grip the ball. It was embarrassing. It’s not something that you want to be a part of.”

Glennon threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Vincent Jackson early in the fourth quarter, and Tampa Bay linebacker Danny Lansanah returned an interception of a T.J. Yates pass 27 yards for a the Bucs’ other points.

The Falcons opened in an up-tempo, no-huddle offense that produced points on their first possession. Ryan found wide receiver Harry Douglas in the back of the end zone on a 3-yard pass, capping a six-play, 70-yard drive that put Atlanta up 7-0 three minutes into the game.

It was only the beginning.

After an 8-yard Ryan touchdown pass to Jones, Falcons defensive back Kemal Ishmael picked off McCown and returned it 23 yards for a score.

Hester then took a reverse 20 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, making it 28-0 Falcons. The next time he touched the ball, Hester raced 62 yards untouched by the Bucs’ punt coverage team.

The Falcons outgained the Bucs 300 to 63 in total yards in the first half, 488-217 for the game.

What the Falcons said:

“We had no doubt as a coaching that Matt Ryan was going to come back and have a good game. He was on top of his reads, where to go with the football, and he spun it about as well as he’s spun it since we’ve been here.” — Coach Mike Smith.

“We have our guys going out there to be the number one defense. I feel this week we went out there and show that. As a team, we had to get things accomplished, and that’s what we did.” — Safety Kemal Ishmael

What the Buccaneers said:

“We have some soul searching to do. Get back to the drawing board tomorrow. Come in, watch film and see what we got to do. Just need guys to step up. Can’t go out there playing scared. We got to come out there with our own attitude and play football.” — Linebacker Lavonte David.

“We weren’t competitive. So most of the questions you are going to ask me I’m going to agree with tonight. We have injuries and we are missing some good football players, but with the guys we had out there, we should have played better than that.” — Coach Lovie Smith.

What we learned about the Falcons:

1. The offseason acquisition of wide receiver/kick returner Devin Hester is paying major dividends. Hester scored on a 20-yard reverse and a 62-yard punt return, which broke Deion Sanders’ NFL record for career return touchdowns. Hester also had two big returns called back by penalties. He’s another weapon to help complement an offense that already features quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones. Hester also recovered a fumble on a Tampa Bay interception return. For his career, Hester has 14 punt-return touchdowns, five kickoff-return touchdowns and a missed field goal return touchdown.

2. The Falcons forced five turnovers, highlighted by Kemal Ishmael’s 23-yard interception return for a touchdown. Linebacker Joplo Bartu, defensive end Stansly Maponga, safety Dwight Lowery and Hester recovered fumbles.

–QB Matt Ryan completed 21 of 24 passes, setting the Falcons’ single-game completion percentage record at 87.5 percent. He threw touchdown passes to Harry Douglas and two to Julio Jones, before turning it over to backup T.J. Yates midway through the third quarter with the Falcons leading 49-0.

–WR/KR Devin Hester scored on a 20-yard reverse and a 62-punt return. It was his 20th career return touchdown, breaking Deion Sanders’ record of 19. Hester finished with 140 total yards. “He had a great night and has been a great addition to our football game,” coach Mike Smith said.

–WR Harry Douglas was injured his foot in the first half and did return. He caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Ryan to cap the Falcons’ first drive. Atlanta was already without wide receiver Roddy White, who sat out Thursday’s game nursing a hamstring injury.

What we learned about the Buccaneers

1. New coach Lovie Smith has it his work cut out for him. The Buccaneers’ offense was held to just 63 yards in the first half. The offseason addition of quarterback Josh McCown has not worked out as planned, and the running game was non-existent without starter Doug Martin.

2. The Bucs had hoped trading for offensive lineman Logan Mankins would sure up a suspect line. But Tampa Bay struggled in pass protection, surrendering three sacks to a Falcons defense that didn’t record a sack in its first two games.

–QB Josh McCown injured his thumb on his throwing hand in the second quarter and did not return. He completed 5 of 12 passes for 58 yards with an interception. McCown already has thrown four interceptions. He threw only one pick last season in eight games with the Chicago Bears. Backup Mike Glennon took over for McCown and completed 17 of 24 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown to Vincent Jackson.

–RB Bobby Rainey started in place of the injured Doug Martin. Rainey finished with 41 yards on 11 carries and caught seven passes for 64 yards. But the Bucs finished with only 64 yards on the ground.

–Rookie WR Mike Evans had four catches for 52 yards, including a long of 36 yards. The first-round pick out of Texas A&M is averaging 10.61 yards per reception.