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Ryan, Streaking Falcons Protect NFC’s Best Record

ATLANTA. Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons plan to enjoy January in the Georgia Dome.

The Falcons (9-2) are motivated to protect the NFC’s best record — they want home-field advantage in the playoffs.

They aren’t getting ahead of themselves, though, not with three straight regular season road games in December, including this week’s visit to Tampa Bay.

Ryan’s hot hand gives the streaking Falcons hope they can extend their five-game winning streak. His only incompletion in the second half of the 20-17 win Sunday over the was a throwaway before Matt Bryant’s game-winning field goal.

Ryan has no interceptions in the last four games, helping the Falcons post their first four-game stretch with no turnovers in franchise history.

Ryan completed a career-best 86 percent of his passes — 24 of 28 — for 198 yards with a touchdown against Green Bay.

“He’s just not making any mistakes,” said Falcons receiver Roddy White of the third-year quarterback.

The Falcons are 19-1 when Ryan starts at the Georgia Dome the last three years and 19-3 overall at home under coach Mike Smith.

“It is an emphasis for us, knowing we have to win at home because it’s difficult to go on the road,” Smith said Monday.

The Falcons’ five straight wins includes only one by more than 7 points. It’s their longest winning streak since their 1998 season.

The Falcons know the best path back to the Super Bowl is with as many home playoff games as possible. That’s why beating Green Bay was especially important.

“It was a big win because they’re a good football team,” said Ryan of the Packers. “We know if we continue to take care of our business we’re going to play more teams like that down the road.”

Atlanta is one game ahead of New Orleans and two games ahead of Tampa Bay in the NFC South. The Falcons visit the Buccaneers this week.

The Falcons didn’t panic after the Packers tied the game with a 16-play drive that ended with only 56 seconds remaining. Overtime was not in Atlanta’s plan.

“We’ve been in those situations quite a bit this year and we’ve been successful in those situations,” Ryan said.

Ryan has led the Falcons to a game-winning score in the fourth quarter or overtime in five games this season.

“We’re used to it,” White said. “We were calm, cool and collected on the sideline.”

No nerves?

“No, we got Matty Ice,” White said. “Ice cold. He just keeps moving the sticks.”

Ryan has thrown seven touchdown passes in the streak of four straight games without a turnover.

His passer rating has been over 100 in three straight games. He said he didn’t realize he was close to perfect in the second half.

“I didn’t even realize I hadn’t thrown an incompletion until the end of the game,” Ryan said. “I was just going out there trying to make good decisions and be accurate with the ball.”

Michael Turner also is on a roll. He had 23 carries for 110 yards and a touchdown against Green Bay. It was his fourth 100-yard performance in the last five games.

After the game, Turner shook his head when asked if the players were motivated to post their third straight winning season for the first time in franchise history. Before the current run, the Falcons never managed back-to-back winning seasons.

“We’re not the Falcons of old,” Turner said.

Turner signed as a free agent from San Diego before the 2008 season. Turner, Ryan and Smith are in their third seasons in Atlanta.

“Once we got together, we started winning,” Turner said. “We’re building a new tradition. Three winning seasons in a row, we’re not even blinking right now. We’ve got our eyes set on something bigger.”

Bryant’s 47-Yarder Leads Falcons Over Pack 20-17

ATLANTA. Don’t even mention a third straight winning season to the Atlanta Falcons.

Their goals are so much bigger than that.

The Falcons stayed atop the NFC when Matt Bryant kicked a 47-yard field goal with 9 seconds remaining Sunday for a 20-17 victory over the , one of the teams trying to chase down Atlanta in the conference standings.

Make no mistake. The Falcons (9-2) were very much aware of the possible ramifications this game might have beyond the regular season.

“I have no plans of going to Lambeau Field in January,” Atlanta receiver Roddy White said. “I plan on staying right here and sleeping in my own bed in the playoffs.”

The Falcons have won five in a row for their longest streak since the 1998 season, when the team reached its only . Also assured is a third consecutive winning record — not too shabby, considering the franchise had never even had two in a row before this run.

Yet that’s just an afterthought for these guys, who have won six straight games decided by a touchdown or less after losing the opener to Pittsburgh in overtime.

“It’s great to get a winning season,” coach Mike Smith said. “But the expectations and goals we talk about are a lot higher than that.”

Bryant had to make his winning kick twice.

The Packers called a timeout just before he knocked his first attempt right down the middle. No problem. The 35-year-old had already made two game-winning kicks this season, and No. 3 had plenty of distance as it hooked slightly but stayed several feet inside the left upright.

“Pressure is what you feel when you’re not prepared,” Bryant said. “I’ve been preparing for that since I was 6 years old. Was there a little bit of pressure? Yeah. But I was prepared.”

His do-over capped a game between playoff contenders that lived up to all the hype: a bruising defensive struggle filled with huge fourth-down plays and one very important kickoff return by Eric Weems.

After Aaron Rodgers threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson with 56 seconds remaining to tie the game for Green Bay (7-4), Weems broke loose up the middle and was dragged down by Matt Wilhelm with a flagrant facemask tackle. The Falcons took over at the Green Bay 49, Matt Ryan completed four straight short passes and Bryant made the winning kick.

The Falcons weren’t concerned after Green Bay scored, especially with Ryan at quarterback. He completed 24 of 28 for 198 yards, including a 4-yarder to Tony Gonzalez for Atlanta’s first TD.

“We’ve got Matty Ice,” White said. “Ice cold. He just keeps moving the sticks.”

Green Bay thought it had forced overtime when Rodgers directed a 16-play, 90-yard drive for the tying score. He improvised two huge plays on fourth down, beginning with a scrambling, backhanded flip of a pass to James Jones for an 18-yard gain on fourth-and-1 at the 21.

sacked Rodgers for a 2-yard loss and a false start on Bryan Bulaga left the Packers with another fourth down from the 10. With Falcons owner Arthur Blank waving the crowd into an uproar on the sideline, the home team rushed only two players and dropped everyone else into coverage.

Rodgers had all the time he wanted, finally sliding to his left and rifling a pass to Nelson in the back corner of the end zone. He managed to get both feet down just before being shoved out of bounds by Thomas DeCoud.

“You go down and score a touchdown, and you’re thinking overtime,” said Rodgers, who passed for 344 yards, led the team in rushing with 51 yards but had a huge fumble at the goal line midway through the second quarter. “Tying the game was pretty special.”

Weems quickly brought the crowd of more than 68,000 back to its feet. He took the kickoff 4 yards deep in the end zone, found a seam up the middle and looked as if he might break it all the way. Wilhelm stopped that by yanking at Weems’ facemask. Of course, the 15-yard personal foul penalty pushed the Falcons onto the Green Bay side of the field.

“The penalties were unacceptable,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “You can’t have them.”

Rodgers tied the game at 10 with a 1-yard run in the third quarter, but all he could think about was that fumble trying to score from the same distance in the first half. On fourth-and-goal, he lowered his head in an attempt to sneak it over, but the ball popped loose in the end zone. Mike Peterson fell on it to end Green Bay’s streak of 15 quarters without a turnover, its longest since 1963.

“That’s what lost the game,” Rodgers said. “It’s discouraging not to win a game we should have won.”

Michael Turner, who rushed for 110 yards, put the Falcons ahead 17-10 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. On yet another huge fourth-and-goal play, this one from inside the 1, Turner bounced outside and went in standing up.

The Packers gave up more points than they had in the past three weeks combined, having surrendered only 10 in wins over the , Dallas and Minnesota. Green Bay had a four-game winning streak overall, good enough for a tie with Chicago for the NFC North lead. The Bears hosted Philadelphia in a late-afternoon game.

NOTES: Green Bay lost CB Pat Lee in the first quarter with an ankle problem, and TE Spencer Havner hurt a hamstring in the third. … Falcons RB Jason Snelling also sustained a hamstring injury and didn’t play in the final period. … LB Stephen Nicholas started for Atlanta ahead of first-round pick Sean Weatherspoon. … The Falcons improved to 19-1 at home with Ryan starting at quarterback.

Saints Miss Short Kick, and Falcons Make Them Pay

But somehow Hartley, who set a record with three field goals longer than 40 yards, hooked it wide left. Minutes later, the ’ charmed run ended and Falcons players stormed the Superdome field in celebration after Matt Bryant drilled a 46-yard field goal with 1 minute 55 seconds left in the extra period to lift Atlanta to a 27-24 victory Sunday.

“I missed basically an extra point,” Hartley said.

Atlanta would have won in regulation if not for Hartley’s tying 32-yard field goal with four seconds left.

After the Falcons won the coin toss to start overtime but failed to score, drove the Saints to the Atlanta 11. Resigned to defeat as he watched from the sideline, Atlanta’s Tony Gonzalez took off his receivers’ gloves — “I thought for sure the game was over” — and even the longtime public-address announcer Jerry Romig let his typical “It’s good!” refrain slip out just as the officials began waving their arms to signal that the kick had sailed wide.

and Win

Tony Romo threw two touchdown passes to Roy Williams and the Cowboys got their first win by beating the , 27-13, in Houston. The owner feared the prospect of a humiliating 0-3 start and having an extra week to stew over it before his team hosts Tennessee on Oct. 10. “We were going to really be in bad trouble had we lost this ballgame,” Jones said. Now Dallas heads into its bye with a victory to build on rather than concerns about what changes Jones might make. The Texans (2-1) had hoped to go 3-0 for the first time.

¶With again struggling to move the ball through the air, Adrian Peterson rushed for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the Vikings to a 24-10 victory over the . Peterson bounced off Lions tacklers all day and had an 80-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that put the game out of reach. “There was definitely a sense of urgency,” Peterson said. “Starting 0-2 was not the plan.” After showing feistiness in losses to Chicago and Philadelphia, the Lions (0-3) lost their 22nd straight road game — the third longest streak in league history — and their 13th in a row at the Metrodome.

Brady and Flacco Rebound

caught two of ’s three touchdown passes as the bounced back from a disappointing loss to with a 38-30 victory over the visiting , New England’s 14th straight win against Buffalo. C. J. Spiller, Buffalo’s first-round pick this year, scored his first touchdowns, on a 5-yard pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick and a 95-yard kickoff return.

¶Joe Flacco threw three touchdown passes to Anquan Boldin, and the survived an off-day by their esteemed defense in a 24-17 victory over the Browns. Baltimore (2-1) allowed its first touchdowns of the season and failed to force a turnover, but it did not matter because of Flacco, who had come under fire after throwing four interceptions a week ago in a loss at Cincinnati. “Obviously, I’m happier this week than I was last week,” he said.

Surprises at 3-0

Charlie Batch, making his first start in nearly three years, helped the remain unbeaten with a 38-13 rout of the Buccaneers. Batch, 35, started only because was suspended and his replacement, Dennis Dixon, was hurt. “Everybody knows Ben’s the starter,” Batch said. “One thing I didn’t want to do was be that weak link.”

¶Dominating in every phase, the got three touchdown passes from Matt Cassel and sacked Alex Smith five times in a 31-10 victory over the visiting . The Chiefs are 3-0 for the first time since 2003. “Each win, we’re getting more and more confident,” linebacker Derrick Johnson said. The 49ers (0-3), who rolled up 417 yards Monday night against New Orleans, managed only a field goal until the final play from scrimmage.

Bitter Loss for

passed for three touchdowns without the injured Anthony Gonzalez and Pierre Garcon and the visiting beat the Broncos, 27-13. Kyle Orton threw for a career-best 476 yards on 37-of-57 passing and the Broncos (1-2) outgained the Colts (2-1) by more than 100 yards. But Denver failed to get into the end zone on five trips inside the 20In Other Games

threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score in the Eagles’ 28-3 win over the Jaguars. Vick completed 17 of 31 passes for 291 yards, mostly staying in the pocket and picking apart host Jacksonville’s beleaguered secondary. One of the few times he did run, he broke a tackle, juked a defender and scored from 17 yards. The (2-1) improved to 2-0 with Vick as their starter.

¶Leon Washington returned two second-half kickoffs for touchdowns of 101 and 99 yards, and the held off Philip Rivers and the , 27-20. Rivers passed for a career-high 455 yards.

¶ shook off two interceptions to throw a clinching touchdown pass to Cedric Benson in the fourth quarter of the ’ ugly 20-7 victory over the , who started the rookie Jimmy Clausen but found he was unable to jump-start their turnover-prone offense. Benson also had a 1-yard touchdown run for the visiting Bengals (2-1), who won last week without scoring a touchdown. “This isn’t the B.C.S.,” cornerback Leon Hall said. “We just need to win.”

¶The backup running back Kenneth Darby scored the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter, helping the overcome an injury to Steven Jackson and end a 14-game home losing streak with a 30-16 victory over the . The Rams (1-2) won for only the second time in 29 games over all, but lost Jackson to a groin-muscle injury in the first half.

¶Sebastian Janikowski missed a 32-yard field goal as the game ended to allow the Cardinals to escape with a 24-23 victory over the in Arizona’s home opener, a game littered with mistakes on both sides from start to finish. The kick, after a pass interference call against Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, was wide left. Janikowski missed two others, a 41-yarder and a 58-yarder, that were wide right.