{"id":379831,"date":"2025-12-30T06:28:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T06:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/379831\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T06:28:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T06:28:09","slug":"atlanta-falcons-defeat-los-angeles-rams-playoffs-seeding-and-clinching-scenarios-carolina-panthers-tampa-bay-buccaneers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/379831\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Falcons defeat Los Angeles Rams, playoffs seeding and clinching scenarios, Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zane Gonzalez kicked a winning 51-yard field goal as the Atlanta Falcons held off a Los Angeles Rams comeback to score a 27-24 victory in the NFL on Tuesday (AEDT).<\/p>\n

And the shock result means a wild Week 18 clinching scenario remains within the realms of possibility. <\/p>\n

Watch an average 6 games per week and every game of the NFL Postseason, LIVE with ESPN on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Rams, who have already clinched a playoff berth, had gone into Tuesday\u2019s game in Atlanta hoping for a win to boost their postseason seeding. <\/p>\n

But the 2022 Super Bowl champions found themselves chasing the game as already-eliminated Atlanta roared into a commanding half-time lead. <\/p>\n

Running back Bijan Robinson stood out for Atlanta in a dominant first-half display, rushing for a career-long 93-yard touchdown to give the Falcons a hefty 21-0 advantage at the break.<\/p>\n

Robinson had already opened the scoring after gathering a short pass from Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins in the first quarter to put Atlanta 7-0 up.<\/p>\n

Jessie Bates then picked off Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford for a second quarter touchdown to help Atlanta take a 14-0 lead before Robinson\u2019s long-range effort left the Falcons in complete control.<\/p>\n

Yet the Rams responded to a disastrous first two quarters to level the game in the second half.<\/p>\n

Stafford found Terrance Ferguson with a 27-yard pass to help cut the Falcons\u2019 lead to 14 points before Jared Verse rumbled 76 yards for a touchdown after a blocked Gonzalez field goal attempt.<\/p>\n

Stafford connected with receiver Puka Nacua to tie it at 24-24 with just under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but Atlanta responded by moving Gonzalez into field goal range after the restart.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez made no mistake with his game-winning effort, and the Falcons held on as Los Angeles fell to 11-5. <\/p>\n

And the result has had a huge impact on the fate of the NFC South, with the 8-8 Carolina Panthers now able to clinch the division title regardless of their crunch meeting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 7-9, in Week 18. <\/p>\n

Initially, with the Rams expected to take care of business against the Falcons, it was thought the winner of Panthers-Bucs next week would clinch the NFC South. <\/p>\n

However, with Atlanta beating the Rams, Carolina could still advance with a Week 18 loss to the Bucs and a Falcons win over the Saints \u2014 creating a three-way tie at 8-9 \u2014 based on head-to-head results among the three clubs. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Carolina would have a combined 3-1 season record against Tampa Bay and Atlanta, while the Bucs would be 2-2 and the Falcons 1-3. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zane Gonzalez kicked a winning 51-yard field goal as the Atlanta Falcons held off a Los Angeles Rams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[2620,2095,4131,1276,64,63,5358,485,1257,1248,18581,151423,204535,8092,3738,204532,204534,2105,204536,63704,1280,481,1263,6588,593,2041,2067,113276,204533,20795,180078,26498,85,42307,1247,3039,2614,163072],"class_list":["post-379831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-america","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bijan-robinson","tag-california","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-chicago-bears","tag-crunch-meeting","tag-division-title","tag-dominant-first-half-display","tag-field-goal","tag-fox-sports","tag-fresh-playoffs-twist","tag-game-winning-field-goal","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-goal-attempt","tag-kevin-c-cox","tag-kirk-cousins","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-nfl","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-playoff-berth","tag-playoffs-scenario-stays","tag-puka-nacua","tag-quarter-touchdown","tag-shock-loss","tag-sports","tag-state-of-georgia","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-terrance-ferguson","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-zane-gonzalez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}