The Atlanta Falcons entered Monday night at 6-9 with nothing to play for. They didn\u2019t get that memo against the playoff-bound Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n
Atlanta jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead and held off a second-half Rams rally for a thrilling 27-24 win<\/a>. The Rams tied the game at 24-24 late in the fourth quarter. But the Falcons responded to set up a game-winning field-goal attempt by Zane Gonzalez. He was good from 51 yards to secure the win and stave off a Falcons collapse.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Late no-call helps secure Falcons’ win<\/p>\n The Rams missed on three deep shots to get into field-goal range in the game’s final 21 seconds. On the second attempt to wide receiver Tutu Atwell, officials missed a potential pass interference call that would have set up the Rams in chip-shot FG range. Cornerback Dee Alford had a hold of Atwell’s left arm, but officials didn’t call pass interference, and the Falcons held on for the win.<\/p>\n Bad night for Stafford’s MVP case<\/p>\n The loss could help keep the playoff-bound Rams in the NFC’s No. 6 seed and block them from the No. 5 spot, which offers a tougher matchup in the wild-card round.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The No. 5 seed will travel to face the NFC South winner, which will either be the the Carolina Panthers or Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The No. 6 seed projects to travel to face either the Philadelphia Eagles or Chicago Bears. Seeding won’t be finalized until the dust settles on Week 18.<\/p>\n Monday’s result also plays a significant factor in two late-season NFL storylines.<\/p>\n The Falcons intercepted Matthew Stafford three times, including a pick 6, delivering a blow to his MVP hopes in what\u2019s largely seen as a two-man race with Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. The pick 6 by Jessie Bates III spotted the Falcons a 14-0 lead in the first half.<\/p>\n When the night was over, Stafford completed 22 of 38 passes for 269 yards with 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. And it increased his season-long interception total from five to eight.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n One bad night, of course, isn’t going to tank Stafford’s MVP case. But on the heels of Maye’s five-touchdown effort <\/a>in a blowout of the Jets on Sunday, the MVP race has gotten considerably tighter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bucs’ playoff hopes take a hit<\/p>\n The surprise Falcons win is also a threat to the playoff hopes of the Buccaneers. The Bucs play the Panthers on Saturday afternoon in a game that could determine the NFC South champion and the division\u2019s only playoff berth.<\/p>\n But if the Falcons win next Sunday\u2019s game against the New Orleans Saints, Saturday\u2019s Panthers-Bucs result won\u2019t matter. The Panthers would secure the division in the event of a three-way tie with the Falcons and Bucs at 8-9 if Tampa Bay and Atlanta both win next week.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Big night from Bijan Robinson<\/p>\n The Falcons built their big lead behind a huge first half from Robinson, who tallied 138 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns before the break.<\/p>\n Robinson finished the night with 22 carries for 195 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He added 5 catches for 34 yards and another score. He capped the first half with a 93-yard touchdown run that was set up by Stafford’s second interception and extended the Falcons’ lead to 21-0.<\/p>\n It appeared to put the Falcons in complete control.<\/p>\n Rams rally, but come up short<\/p>\n But the game swung in the second half when Jared Verse blocked a Gonzalez field-goal attempt, then scooped the ball up and returned it 78 yards for a Rams touchdown. Instead of a 27-10 Falcons lead late in the third quarter with a made field goal, the Rams cut their deficit to 24-17.<\/p>\n The Rams then tied the game at 24 on an 11-yard touchdown from Stafford to Puka Nacua with 2:46 remaining. They appeared to have the Falcons on the ropes.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n But the Falcons maintained their composure and responded with a nine-play, 32-yard drive that set Gonzalez up for the game-winning attempt. Gonzalez was pure from 51 yards with 21 seconds remaining, and the Falcons fended off Los Angeles’ last-gasp effort to get into field-goal range to hold on for the win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Falcons entered Monday night at 6-9 with nothing to play for. They didn\u2019t get that memo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[1766,19206,49,48,1744,1735,128744,2221,160791,27296,72431,13267,1522,1749,1734,514,1747,18079,82,23061,28240,1733,90653,148831],"class_list":["post-376628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-bijan-robinson","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-chicago-bears","tag-dee-alford","tag-drake-maye","tag-field-goal-attempt","tag-jared-verse","tag-jessie-bates-iii","tag-jets","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-puka-nacua","tag-sports","tag-stafford","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tutu-atwell","tag-zane-gonzalez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}