ATLANTA (AP) — The Falcons aren't worried about such trivial matters as another winning season.
Their sights are on January — and beyond.Atlanta pulled out another thrilling win Sunday, beating Green Bay 20-17 on Matt Bryant's 47-yard field goal with 9 seconds remaining after Aaron Rodgers guided the Packers to a tying touchdown in the final minute."Just another day at the Georgia Dome," coach Mike Smith said, managing a shaky grin.Clearly, there's no resemblance to a franchise that never had consecutive winning seasons until Smith arrived in 2008. Now, Atlanta (9-2) is assured of its third straight mark above .500.To which these guys say: No big deal."Three winning seasons in a row, we're not even blinking right now. We've got our eyes on something bigger," said Michael Turner, who rushed for 110 yards and scored on a fourth-down run from the 1. "We've only been together three years and we've only had winning seasons. We're not the Falcons of old."Green Bay (7-4) was one of the teams trying to chase down Atlanta in the conference standings. Make no mistake — the Falcons are very much aware of the possible ramifications, especially with their next three games on the road."I have no plans of going to Lambeau Field in January," 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 Super Bowl. This group has similar goals after improving to 6-1 in games decided by a touchdown or less."We just believe we can win in the fourth quarter. We've been doing it all year," White said.Even when they have to make the winning kick twice. The Packers called a timeout just before Bryant knocked his first attempt right down the middle. The 35-year-old stepped up and did it again, his third game-winning kick of the season.The 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 Rodgers threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson with 56 seconds remaining for a 17-17 tie, 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.John Abraham 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 the crowd roaring, 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."I could tell from the look in the guys' eyes that they were fired up and ready to go," Weems said. "The guys were just telling me, 'Bring it out, bring it out.' They had my back. So I brought it out and the guys made some great blocks. If he wouldn't have grabbed my facemask, there was a good chance I would have went the distance right there."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 attempting 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."
Bryant's 47-yarder leads Falcons over Pack 20-17
