Seven-and-two sounded good to the Falcons, but 8-2 is a lot better and they were able to earn that record Sunday afternoon with a 34-17 win over the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome.
The Rams got the scoring started in the first quarter with a drive that lasted only three plays and over one minute. Sam Bradford threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Michael Hoomanawanui to give St. Louis the 7-0 lead. The Falcons were able to answer with a 12-play series which ended with a Bryant 42-yard field goal to cut the Rams lead to four.
The Rams wanted to be sure to keep the Falcons at bay, so they answered with a 10-play drive which led to a Josh Brown 53-yard field goal to put the Rams up by seven one again early in the second quarter. The Falcons responded on the ensuing drive as kick returner Eric Weems returned the kickoff for 55 yards and that led to a Matt Ryan 12-yard touchdown pass to Brian Finneran to tie the game at 10. The Falcons were able to tighten on defense and add six more points later in the quarter as Bryant kicked field goals of 29 and 24 yards to put the Falcons ahead 16-10 going into halftime.
With the Rams down by six going into the third quarter, they looked to start off on the right foot and retake the lead. They did just that as they forced the Falcons to go three-and-out to start the second half and when the Rams went on offense, they were able to regain the lead thanks to a Bradford 13-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Gibson.
Later in the quarter, the Falcons took the lead back with a Ryan 2-yard touchdown pass to Justin Peele to go up 23-17. They were able to add to the lead in the fourth quarter with another Bryant field goal of 21 yards to go up 26-17. The Rams were able to drive down the field on the ensuing drive and was able to get the Falcons 2-yard line. But on third-and-two Bradford threw a blind shovel pass and was intercepted by William Moore to ice the game for the Falcons.
Ryan had another solid game, completing 26-of-39 passes with 253 yards and two touchdowns. Michael Turner had a workman-like game with 131 yards on 28 carries and one touchdown which game late in the fourth quarter. Roddy White led all receivers with nine catches and 83 yards and now has over 1,000 receiving yards for the year. Overall, it was a good game for the offense with 70 plays compared to the Rams who had 54. Also, they held the ball over 35 minutes which was exactly they wanted to do and have been doing all season. They also had another strong game when it comes to third-down conversions, converting 9-of-17.
Defensively, the Falcons had a solid game, only allowing the Rams to convert 1-of-10 third downs. They were able to hold the Rams to 304 total yards with 74 of those yards on the ground. And they did this without John Abraham who sat out due to a groin injury. Curtis Lofton led the Falcons with eight tackles and Moore had four tackles along with the interception which is his fourth of the season.
The Falcons improve to 8-2 and still hold on to the NFC South lead as well as the best record in the NFC. They have another tough game next Sunday as they face the Green Bay Packers at the Georgia Dome.
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