In 1998, Falcons quarterback Chris Chandler went into the Metrodome to lead the Falcons to a thrilling victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship. On Sunday, almost 10 years later, Matt Ryan made the play of the year when he flipped into the end zone late in the third quarter to give the Falcons the 24-17 victory and a playoff berth. (Now, he did fumble as he crossed the plain and Justin Blalock did recover for the touchdown, but it’s the effort that counts, right?) That play defined who Ryan is as a player and what this game meant to the Falcons, because with the win, the Falcons will make their first playoff appearance since 2005.
In 1998, the Falcons got the ball first and were able to drive the ball down the field to set up a Chris Chandler touchdown pass to Jamal Anderson. The 2008 Falcons did something similar, as they were able to take off six minutes off the clock and set up a Michael Turner 1-yard touchdown run. It was a series where Ryan was able to find Michael Jenkins on two occasions, and it looked as if the Minnesota fans did not affect the rookie out of Boston College. Chandler in 1998 did the same thing, as he was able to find Terrence Mathis and Tony Martin several times on their opening drive. The only major difference between these two starts is that Turner, unlike Jamal Anderson, didn’t perform the Dirty Bird after scoring. That would have been perfect.
Ryan didn’t have his best game of the year, throwing 13 completions for 134 yards and one touchdown, but he protected the football and was able to find seven different receivers in the win. His counterpart, Tarvaris Jackson, put up better numbers than the rookie, but fumbled three times, losing two of them. He also took a sack on third-and-long with less than two minutes left in the game, which was the play that did the Vikings in.
So now the Falcons are in and they have one regular season game left against the St. Louis Rams at the Georgia Dome. Ryan and the rest of the offense won’t sit out because they can clinch a No. 5 seed or even a No. 2 seed if the Carolina Panthers lose their final two games. So it has been a great season for the Falcons and Matt Ryan, but he knows that this is just the beginning of the fun. And just like the 1998 Falcons, this year’s team is coming in with a lot of momentum.
Jones can be reached at bjones@scoreatl.com.
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