After taking a year off last season, the rivalry between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Bucanneers is officially back. Atlanta was beaten handily by Tampa in the divisional rivals’ previous three meetings. But the result was different this afternoon, as the Falcons pulled out a hard-fought 13-10 overtime win.
For the second time this season, it was a field goal from Jason Elam on the final play of the game that won it. He connected on a 35-yarder to give the home team the victory.
“You just go through the routine try to hit it,” Elam said afterwards.
The final drive began on the Atlanta 29 after the defense had stopped the Bucs on the opening possession of OT. Matt Ryan hit Roddy White for a 14-yard gain to drive Atlanta inside Tampa territory. Ryan gave fans a scare just seconds later when he fumbled while scrambling up the middle on second down, but the Birds emerged from the pile with the football. On third-and-4, Ryan froze the defense as he faked a pitch to Jerious Norwood, then took off up the middle to get the first down.
On the next play, Michael Turner found a hole on the right side and scampered 18 yards to the Bucs 17-yard line. A Justin Blaylock penalty pushed Atlanta back into third-and-18 from the 25, but Turner responded by rushing 9 yards to set up the game-winner.
“They knew he was going to get the ball and he still rushes for 9 yards,” said Elam.
The Bucs won the coin toss to begin the extra period. But one of their many special teams penalties on the day pushed them back to the 7-yard line. After garnering two first downs, John Abraham made his third sack of the game to force Tampa into a punt.
The second half was a typical NFC South slugfest, with both defenses holding their ground in a scoreless third quarter as Atlanta held onto a 10-7 lead.
“The one thing you have to respect about Tampa is they play the game at the highest level,” said linebacker Coy Wire. “That brings out the best in us.”
How the game reached overtime was also quite intriguing.
Despite looking lost for much of the game, Tampa’s offense began to move the ball when it mattered most. After getting the ball with 8:15 to go in the fourth, they converted on two third-and-longs to drive into field goal range. But on third-and-inches from the Atlanta 30, the Bucs committed their fifth false start penalty of the game. Griese threw incomplete soon after with Abraham in hot pursuit. Matt Bryant’s 52-yard field goal fell short with 3:38 left.
The Tampa defense gave the Bucs a way back. Runs from Ryan and Turner netted just 3 total yards. The rookie quarterback threw incomplete on third down, giving the Bucs the ball right back with plenty of time to work.
After the Bucs defense held, it was the special teams that came up big.
Brian Clark made the pivotal play for the visitors by blocking Michael Koenen’s punt on fourth down. Sabby Piscatelli returned the block for 18 yards to the Atlanta 22-yard line with just 2:29 remaining.
“It was a big play for us,” said Gruden. “We wished we could have capitalized with a touchdown.”
Tampa appeared to be on its way to that touchdown. Brian Griese hooked up with Michael Clayton for a 10-yard gain to the Atlanta 12 to open up the drive. But Abraham’s second sack of the game backed the Bucs into a third-and-18, forcing Bryant into a 37-yard field goal try with 48 seconds remaining. He snuck the ball just inside the right upright for the only points of the second half to tie the game at 10-10.
Having burned their timeouts to buy time for their offense moments earlier, Atlanta decided to run out the clock on its final drive with overtime on the horizon.
The game was marred by missed chances for the home team, with the biggest blunder coming on the first drive of the second half. Ryan surprised everyone by hitting backup tight end Jason Rader streaking down the right half of the field for an apparent score. But replays showed that Rader lost control of the ball as he headed into the end zone. Jon Gruden challenged the play, and the ruling on the field was reversed to give the Bucs a touchback.
Still the Bucs failed to take advantage. Domonique Foxworth intercepted Griese at the Atlanta 38-yard line four plays later.
Ryan looked like a rookie in the first half. He finished the half on 9-of-14 passing for 139 yards, but two interceptions from Ryan killed two potential scoring drives. First, he under-threw an open Roddy White for what would have been a touchdown in the middle of the second quarter. Then he missed an open White again in Tampa territory, instead hitting Ronde Barber square in the numbers with 1:15 to go.
“I know there were a couple of throws he would like to have back,” said Falcons head coach Mike Smith.
Despite the lack of scoring, the physicality between the divisional foes kept things interesting. There were several post-play squabbles involving both teams.
Even Smith even got into the action when he exchanged words with Bryant early in the fourth quarter after the wideout failed to come down with the ball on third down. The head coach refused to give a straight answer on what exactly transpired afterwards.
“I politely asked him to go back to his sideline,” said Smith.
It was that second pick that led to Tampa’s only touchdown of the afternoon. Starting from his own 33, Griese completed 5-of-7 passes after the pick, the final of them on a 20-yard strike to Antonio Bryant to close the gap to 10-7. Bryant had his way with Chris Houston in the quarter, garnering the vast majority of his 72 yards receiving for the quarter with Houston covering him.
It was all Falcons early in the game, however. Elam opened up the scoring with a 25-yard field goal, then Turner rushed for his 15th touchdown of the year, setting a new single-season record for Atlanta to give the Falcons an early 10-0 lead.
Turner finished the day with 152 yards and a score on 32 carries. On the defensive side of the ball, Abraham led the way with three sacks, eclipsing his previous season-high of 12 in the process. Wire led the team with 11 tackles, a career-high for the backup linebacker.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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