Not Their "A" Game: Atlanta Falcons Beat St. Louis Rams Despite Three Turnovers

With four minutes remaining in Sunday's game between the Atlanta Falcons and the St. Louis Rams, the NFC playoff picture looked different from what many had projected coming in to Sunday.

Few had considered what would happen if the Falcons lost, (they'd drop from the fifth seed to the sixth seed) and they were losing 27-24 to the Rams. The Georgia Dome scoreboard showed that the Saints had come back from 20 points down to take a one- point lead against the Panthers.

In a Falcons game that had a handful of starters out and was plodding along unsuccessfully, there was suddenly new meaning in the outcome.

The home crowd reacted to the score and so did the Falcons. Running back Jerious Norwood at that almost exact moment burst through a hole, broke two tackles, and ran the distance for a 45-yard touchdown run, to put the Falcons up, following the point-after attempt, 31-27.

Unlike earlier in the day when Norwood returned a kickoff for 92 yards, he had the speed and the stamina to finish the run the run that time.

With less than a minute remaining for before the half, Norwood took a Rams kickoff back almost the entire length of the field.

Catching the ball on the end zone line, he got a huge block from his wedge and burst through the hole with only the kicker remaining to fool.

Once by the kicker, he had an open field ahead of him. The notoriously fast Norwood, hampered by injuries in the last few weeks, appeared to slow down as he reached the Rams 20-yard line and was run down by Rams cornerback Jason Craft and brought down at the eight-yard line.

After a failed pass attempt, Atlanta lined up in the "Wildcat" formation and the direct snap to Norwood allowed him to cap his own scoring drive, rushing to the end zone on the left side for an eight-yard touchdown run.

That score proved to be a monumental one as the Falcons regained the lead, 17-14, and headed in to the locker room determined to come out strong.

Falcons coach Mike Smith spoke glowingly of Norwood's play on Sunday, "It is no doubt that they were game changing plays in terms of the kickoff return, the 45-yard run, and also the score on the eight-yard line as well. I think those were big plays in the ball game. Jerious is a very explosive player."

On the first possession of the second half Atlanta put together its best scoring drive of the day, marching 75 yards on five plays to take a commanding 24-14 lead. Following three strong runs from running back Michael Turner, the drive was finished with an 18-yard touchdown pass to the wide open wide receiver Roddy White in the end zone from the arm of quarterback Matt Ryan.

Ryan had a tough day (10-for-21, 160 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions), but came through in moments like that when the team needed him the most, as has been the case most of the season.

For the third time this season the Falcons were able to overcome a three turnover day and escape with a win.

However, their season of nine lives is wearing thin. They've had comeback wins, ugly wins, and a few blowout wins. The resiliency, however, that this Falcons team has shown all season reared its ugly (or pretty, depending on how you look at it) head again on Sunday.

Atlanta managed to pull out the win despite a big rushing day from the Rams' running back, Steven Jackson.

Recognized as one of the most complete backs in the NFL, Jackson has been slowed by injuries this season, but finished this forgettable season for the Rams with his highest rushing total of the season (161 yards) and eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark for the fourth straight season.

The parity of the league was on display on Sunday as one of the league's worst teams, record-wise, took a playoff team to the wire. Riding the tough running of Jackson and some timely throws from quarterback Marc Bulger

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