The Falcons may be out of the playoff picture, but there is no denying that this team still has a lot to play for. That was evident on Sunday at the Georgia Dome as they defeated the Buffalo Bills 31-3 in the final home game of the 2009 season. With the win, the Falcons are back over .500 with an 8-7 record and have a good chance at earning a winning season, which would be the first time the Falcons would have back-to-back winning seasons in their 40-year history.
“It feels good,” Mike Peterson said about how the Falcons are still in line for a winning year. “It’s not done yet, but we’re on track. The thing is now to go out there and finish up 9-7.”
The Falcons came out swinging against the Bills as Matt Ryan threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Roddy White on the Falcons’ first offensive play to go up 7-0 in the first quarter.
“We had a matchup that we like,” Ryan said who went on to throw two more touchdown passes and 250 yards in the win. “We had Roddy on one-on-one coverage, took a shot down the field, and that’s what Roddy does, make some big plays.”
Early in the second quarter, the Falcons added to their lead thanks to a Matt Bryant 51-yard field goal to go up 10-0. There was no other scoring until midway through the third when Ryan threw his second touchdown pass of the day to Marty Booker to go up by 17. The Bills looked to respond on the ensuing drive, but Chauncey Davis forced a Marshawn Lynch fumble at the Bills 12-yard line and the ball was recovered by Lawrence Sidbury for an 11-yard touchdown to go up by 24.
“Chauncey stripped the ball and the ball was like, suspended,” Sidbury said. “I grabbed it, turned around, tried to run and that was it.”
Ryan threw his last touchdown pass of the day to White late in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.
So why was Ryan still in the game at that point and why were they still throwing the ball? Because the injury bug hit the Falcons once again and this time it was the special teamers that were the victims, as punter Michael Koenen went down with a concussion and Bryant was temporarily out with a hamstring injury. Because there were no other kickers on the roster the Falcons had to go with Kroy Biermann and Chris Redman as they would handle the kickoff and punting duties (Redman did not have to punt, thankfully, but Biermann did kick off a few times). Even Matt Ryan got in the mix as he became a holder for one PAT.
“I held for three seasons in college and I held growing up the entire time too,” Ryan said about his second task on Sunday. “We’re all football players here, regardless of the position and sometimes you have to step into some different roles and do some different things.”
The Falcons were able to beat up on a depleted Bills team that had third string quarterback Brian Brohm staring his first NFL game at quarterback and a patchwork secondary. Next up for the Falcons is Tampa Bay in the season finale and the Buccaneers are coming off a huge overtime win against the New Orleans Saints. So the Falcons know that they will have their hands full against Tampa but they really want to get their ninth win of the 2009 season for the organization as well as the fans.
“I think it’s important,” Ryan said. “You know how difficult it is to win games around here in this league. If we can get back-to-back winning seasons that’s something that would be a great milestone for the organization.”
Jones can be reached at bjones@scoreatl.com.
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