Home is where the winners were Saturday
Matt Ryan looked very much like an MVP, and the Atlanta Falcons are headed to the NFC championship game.
Ryan threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns, leadi ng the Falcons past the Seattle Seahawks in the divisional round on Saturday.
After the Seahawks zipped down the field for a touchdown on the opening possession, Atlanta’s young defence largely shut down Russell Wilson & Co. the rest of the way.
Ryan and the high-scoring Falcons took it from there — getting a huge boost from a holding penalty that wiped out an 80- yard punt return by Devin Hester.
Ryan hooked up with Julio Jones on a seven- yard touchdown and Tevin Coleman for a 14- yard score before finishing off the Seahawks with a three-yard toss to Mohamed Sanu in the corner of the end zone with just under four minutes remaining — sparking a raucous chant of “MVP! MVP! MVP!” from a Georgia Dome crowd that stood most of the game, giving the Falcons the sort of home-field advantage Seattle is used to having at CenturyLink Field.
Ryan s pread t he ball around to everyone. In all, eight players caught passes for Atlanta.
PATRIOTS 34 TEXANS 16
The New England Patriots are headed back to a familiar spot: the AFC Championship Game.
Dion Lewis had a 13- yard t ouchdown reception, a 98- yard kickoff return for a score, and a late one- yard touchdown to help the Patriots hold off the Houston Texans and advance to an NFLrecord sixth straight conference title game.
Lewis became the fifth Patriots player to score three touchdowns in a playoff game.
He’s also the first player in the Super Bowl era to score on a rush, a catch and a kick return in a post- season game.
The Patriots ( 15- 2) survived a gritty effort by the Texans’ top- ranked defence, which i ntercepted Brady twice. Houston’s special teams also forced a third turnover.
But t he Texans ( 10- 8) couldn’t find enough traction on offence to take full advantage of the Patriots’ mistakes, settling for field goals on both of Brady’s picks.
New England led just 1713 at the half, but pushed its lead to 24-13 early in the third quarter on a 19- yard touchdown pass from Brady to James White.
Houston’s Brock Osweiler was intercepted three times after that, and the Texans scored only a field goal the rest of game.
Brady finished 18 of 38 for 287 yards and two touchdowns. Osweiler was just 23 of 40 for 198 yards with the two turnovers.