MATT- NIFICENT!
RYAN, FALCONS HEADED TO SUPER BOWL AFTER ROLLING OVER PACKERS
In his effort to simplify the final and biggest step on the road to the Super Bowl, Falcons coach Dan Quinn lectured his players about the football.
Not the game of the same name, but the pigskin itself. Forget about red- hot Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Quinn implored for the past week, and keep it in the hands of your own superstar, Matt Ryan.
The plan worked to perf ection i n Sunday afternoon’s NFC Championship game at the Georgia Dome, a stunning 44- 21 Falcons blowout over Rodgers and the Packers.
Overshadowed somewhat by their opponent’s hot run — an eight- game winning streak that crashed hard here — and by the Cowboys brilliant regular season, the Falcons should have your attention now.
In the final football game played under their home dome, they were dominant in every phase of the game. As a result, Ryan and his flock head to Houston with a serious shot at winning the first NFL championship in the 50- year history of the franchise.
Atlanta will play the New England Patriots in t he Super Bowl on Feb 5.
“The challenge is still in front of us, but it’s so hard to get to this point,” said Ryan, who has been an elite quarterback for much of his nine- year career but was until now a maiden at making it to the sport’s biggest stage. “Honestly, it’s so tough. But to string (wins) together and to play your best at the right time … you have to enjoy it.”
As he was throughout the regular season, the quarterback they call Matty Ice was brilliant on Sunday, coldblooded at times and spectacular at others.
The Ryan highlights, accentuated by a wealth of incredible playmakers on the Falcons offence, were multiple.
Best start with the gaudy final numbers, 392 passing yards while completing 27 of 38 attempts. There were four — yes four — touchdowns through the air, and for kicks, a fifth Ryan trip to the end zone on the ground following a 14-yard scramble.
There was a 7 3 - y ard touchdown run-and-catch to the receiving maestro, Julio Jones on the first possession of the second half to make the score 31- 0 and effectively raise the roof off the Georgia Dome.
There were 271 passing yards in the first half alone, essentially burying the Packers before Rodgers could get uncorked.
There was a precision-like two-minute drill before halftime that resulted in Jones’ first of two touchdowns, a five- yarder to Matty ice the game away.
And throughout, there was the savvy management and killer instinct to take advantage of glaring Packers mistakes.
How dominant were the Falcons? In the first quarter, they possessed the ball for 11: 53 of the 15 minutes and 22:02 of the opening half.
“He’s such a competitor,” Quinn said of Ryan, who broke a number of Falcons franchise records this season. “He takes shots, but he’s so tough. He keeps battling and I was so proud of him today.”
The Packers, who came to the Peach State as sixpoint underdogs, didn’t help themselves with early blunders.
Mason Cr o s b y, who ripped the hearts out of Cowboys fans everywhere l ast week with a 51- yard game winning field goal as time expired, went wide on a 41- yard attempt on his team’s opening possession.
And the Packers never recovered. There was a fumble deep in Falcons territory that snuffed out one promising drive while the score was still in range and a greedy Rodgers bomb late in the half that led to an interception.
Ryan seized the football — and the opportunity — on both turnovers, marching his team down the field for two of their five touchdowns.
Overall , t he Fal c o ns scored on four of their five first half possessions to take a 24- 0 halftime lead. When they forced a three and out for the Packers after the second- half kickoff then teed up the 73- yard Jones touchdown, the once explosive Packers were no longer a threat.
The skill throughout the Falcons offence is dizzying, led by Jones who had nine receptions for 180 yards and those two scores. But overall, Ryan completed passes to eight different receivers, confounding the Packers defence at almost every turn.
On the other side of the ball, the Falcons young, aggressive defence didn’t shut Rodgers down, but they made his life difficult.
The Falcons, a team largely constructed general manager Thomas Dimitroff, who grew up learning football as a high school and university player in Ontario, will return to the big game for the first time since the 1998 season.
“It takes time, it really does,” Ryan said, with a mix of joy and relief in his voice. “I always felt that we would get to the point where we would play in this game and I’m happy that we’re there.”