The Falcons playoff hopes were already dashed, and the top ranked defense of the Jets were manhandling them.
Game over, right? Well, not quite.
With just 1:38 left to play Matt Ryan connected on a touchdown pass of 6 yards with Tony Gonzalez to give Atlanta a 10-7 win over New York on Sunday that seriously damaged the post season chances of the Jets.
Gonzalez said, as men who love what we are doing and take pride in our work, we owe it to ourselves as well as the organization and fans to go out and play our butts off. That is exactly what we did.
Only a day after Atlanta (7-7) got eliminated from the playoffs with the Cowboys victory over the Saints, the Falcons played spoiler versus the Jets (7-7).
Jerricho Cotchery said, unfortunately today lots of bad things happened.
Coming back after missing two games due to an injured toe, Matt Ryan started at quarterback for the Falcons but wasn’t able to do too much versus the defense of the Jets for a majority of the game. However, the Jets offense sputtered as well at the windy and cold Meadowlands, and New York failed at putting the game away. Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez had three interceptions, while kicker Jay Feely missed one of his field goals and another one got blocked. On another attempted field goal the snap was mishandled by Kellen Clemens. The Jets also had some penalties that were costly.
Sanchez said, this is very tough to swallow. Playing that poorly is never good. In spurts we did play well, but then we would turn over the ball.
What made the game even more frustrating was that things appeared to be starting to fall into place for the Jets and Rex Ryan. Their winning streak of three games was snapped. Miami and Jacksonville, the two teams that the Jets are trying to catch in the AFC, lost their games. A Jets win would have put them in a great position going into next Sunday’s game versus the undefeated Colts. New York instead is left wondering what if?
Jim Leonhard, Jets safety said, there was nothing for them to play for except to spoil our season. They were able to come out and they outplayed and out executed us.
With Atlanta facing third down and 9 at their 42 yard line, Roddy White caught a pass of 16 yards. The Falcons moved an additional 15 yards on a Donald Strickland face mask penalty. The play was followed up by a run of 20 yards by Jason Snelling right up the middle down to the 7 yard line. After a run of one yard by Snelling, Ryan threw an incomplete pass intended for White inside the end zone. He then threw another incomplete pass intended for Gonzalez which Darrelle Revis nearly intercepted.
With the game in the balance, Ryan connected with Gonzalez inside the end zone to score the go ahead touchdown.
Gonzalez said, during the final drive they did a decent job taking me out. But on that final play, I was thinking they are going zone. Maybe I have a chance to get open.
After the score, frustrated Jets fans sitting in the upper decks threw snow left over from a major Northeast snowstorm. During the game one fan was arrested and twenty nine ejected for throwing snow.
New York allowed another score late in the game, after blowing leads twice against Miami, as well as one versus Buffalo and Jacksonville earlier in the season.
Leonhard said, if we are the number one ranked defense and as great as we think that we are, then they should not have been down there. It shouldn’t have even happened.
There was one final chance for the Jets to come back. However, Alan Faneca drew a penalty for unnecessary roughness which limited the opportunity. On third down and thirteen at the 21 yard line of the Jets, Sanchez threw his second interceptions. Brent Grimes picked off the pass to seal the victory for the Falcons.
Mike Smith, Falcons coach said, we had to scratch and fight hard to get the job done, but we did it.
The Jets had the opportunity to blow the game open, but other than the touchdown catch of 65 yards by Braylon Edwards, their offense wasn’t able to do much. Sanchez started the game after missing a game due to a right knee sprain. He played with both knees in braces and went 18 out of 32 for a total of 226 yards passing.
Ryan went 16 out of 34 for a total of 152 yards passing for Atlanta, who still has the chance to post winning records back to back for the very first time in the franchise’s 44 year history.
The Jets were able to get onto the scoreboard early in the game. The punt by Michael Koenen was tipped, giving the ball to New York on their 35 yard line. Sanchez on the very next play hit Edwards in stride to give the Jets a lead of 7-3 late first quarter.
With 6:40 remaining until halftime, the Jets had an opportunity to increase their lead. However on a field goal attempt of 19 yards, a low snap was mishandled by Clemens and Feely never got an opportunity to attempt the field goal.
Another scoring opportunity was wasted by the Jets when on another field goal attempt from 38 yards, Feely missed wide to the right with time expiring first half.
With 10:10 left to play Matt Bryant missed a field goal attempt of 48 yards for the Falcons.
With 4:27 remaining Feely missed a field goal attempt of 37 yards, which would have made the score 10-3, when Chauncey Davis blocked the kick off of the high snap.
