Putting away an opposing team in the NFL is never easy, but when a team has the opportunity to do it, they have to get it done.
The Falcons were up 17-0 against the Minnesota Vikings at the Georgia Dome on Sunday after the first half and looked like they were on their way to a dominating win. But Minnesota worked its way back into the game and was down by three early in the fourth quarter.
But thanks to Matt Ryan and a strong defensive performance on the final series of the game, the Falcons held off the Vikings for a 24-14 victory.
“We did a good job keeping our composure,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said. “I think we showed our resiliency. We obviously made some mistakes that we have to address.”
Here’s how the second half played out. Vikings put together a 14-play 80-yard drive which ended with a Toby Gerhart 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 17-7. The Vikings got on the board again early in the fourth when Christian Ponder threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Percy Harvin to cut the Falcons lead to three.
Ponder made that pass on fourth down and 13, and the reason Harvin was open in the end zone was the fact there was blown coverage and Curtis Lofton was the one left all alone with the Florida alum.
The Falcons answered with a score of their own later in the quarter when they put together a 9-play 73-yard drive which ended with a Matt Ryan 3-yard touchdown pass to Michael Palmer to put the Falcons up by 10.
“That was a big drive,” Ryan said who ended his day with a 128.2 quarterback rating. “We knew it was important for us to execute well on that drive. We converted on some third downs which was huge, we were effective throwing the football and we responded the way we needed to in order to win the football game.”
The Vikings made things more interesting when Percy Harvin returned the ensuing kickoff to the Falcons 3-yard line. Chris Owens made a huge play when he tackled Harvin to prevent him from scoring.
“Most pivotal play in the ball game,” Smith said. “The effort that he put forward to run Percy Harvin down, it allowed us to put our defense out there and have an opportunity to play another play.”
And the defense did just that as they forced the Vikings to go four-and-out. Sean Weatherspoon made a game-changing play when he stopped Gerhart at the 3-yard line on fourth-and-1, and the Falcons were able to run out the clock and earned their seventh win of the year.
“It was awesome,” Weatherspoon said talking about the play. “It’s a linebacker’s dream to make a play on fourth-and-goal. I was right outside the tight end and I saw the running back do a stutter step. I just shot off the edge and tried to make a play.”
As much as the Falcons struggled to put the game away, they did more good things that bad. Ryan ended his day completing 27 of his 34 pass attempts, throwing 262 yards and three touchdowns. His first touchdown pass came in the first quarter when he found Harry Douglass for a 27-yard strike and the second came in the second quarter when he found Roddy White for a 6-yard completion.
White had another big game as he caught 13 passes for 120 yards. He now has 64 receptions for 830 yards and four touchdowns.
Defensively, the Falcons sacked Ponder four times including two from Lawrence Sidbury. Weatherspoon also had a sack to go along with his 10 tackles and Owens had a sack on the final drive of the game.
Owens had to play a lot more than he was used to because Brent Grimes went down with a knee injury early in the game. It’s an injury he has been dealing with all season long and his status for next week is uncertain.
Speaking of next week, the Falcons will be on the road to take on the Houston Texans. Houston, who is in first place in the AFC South, will likely have to start their third-string quarterback since Matt Schaub is out for the year and Matt Leinart could also be out due to a head injury.
But whoever is out there, the Falcons are focused on playing better and not making the mistakes they made on Sunday.
“As a football team, you’re always having to deal with new issues,” Smith said. “We have another set of issues that we have to deal with this week as we prepare for the Houston Texans.”
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