Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan celebrates after catching a 5-yard touchdown pass from receiver Mohamed Sanu during the second half of the Falcons’ 34-32 win Sunday in Tampa, Fla.TAMPA, Fla. – Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan talked about the margin for error in the NFL being “razor thin.”
Dirk Koetter spoke of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers being closer to winning than their record suggests, but that “close with no cigar” is not good enough in a results-based league.
“If we make a few plays in some games throughout the course of the year, it could have been a very different football team,” Ryan said Sunday after his first catch in the NFL went for a touchdown and he passed for 373 yards and two scores to conclude the season with a 34-32 victory over the Bucs in an NFC South matchup.
“It’s disappointing, but it also leads me to be optimistic for us moving forward that we have the right people and the guys that are capable of contending late into the year,” Ryan added, alluding to the team stringing together three consecutive wins down the stretch to finish 7-9.
Atlanta, just two seasons removed from a Super Bowl appearance, had been out of the playoff picture for weeks. The season began with optimism that making the playoffs – at least – for the third straight year was a legitimate goal, but that was before injuries began to take a major toll.
Koetter fell to 19-29 in three seasons at Tampa Bay’s head coach. The Bucs (5-11) led the NFL in passing yardage and have the most prolific offense in franchise history, but that didn’t save his job. The club announced the 59-year-old’s firing about three hours after the game, which Koetter described as a “microcosm” of Tampa Bay’s season.
“Numbers are nice, but this is a winning league,” Koetter said. “I’ve been fired before and I’ve been hired before. I know this: If you can look yourself in the mirror at end the day and know you did everything you could, then I’ve no problem holding my head up.”
Matt Bryant’s second field goal, a 37-yarder as time expired, provided the winning points after Jameis Winston rallied the Bucs from a 31-20 deficit to a one-point lead with just more than five minutes to go.
The Falcons had escaped a 17-0 hole with Ryan leading scoring drives on five consecutive possessions from late in the second quarter until early in the fourth. He began the comeback with a 19-yard touchdown throw to Julio Jones and also tossed a 7-yarder to Calvin Ridley.
In between, Ryan caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from receiver Mohamed Sanu, Bryant kicked a 49-yard field goal and Tevin Coleman scored on a 23-yard run.
“My hands are pretty good; my route running is not very good,” Ryan said. “I had to draw back on playing for the Downingtown Young Whippets in like third and fourth grade when I was playing tight end.
“A great call. I’m glad when it was time to get the job done, we did it. It was cool to catch my first NFL pass and first NFL touchdown. It took me 11 years. It was a good play and fun to be a part of it.”
Ryan finished 31-of-44 with one interception, a fourth-quarter pick that led to Winston’s second touchdown throw to Chris Godwin that set up Tampa Bay’s brief 32-31 lead. Mike Evans also caught of a pair of touchdown passes from Winston, who was 22-of-35 for 345 yards with one interception.
The Falcons won it with a 13-play, 56-yard drive that burned the last 5:10 off the clock. Ryan’s 16-yard completion to Jones on third-and-11 kept the march alive at the Tampa Bay 16, forcing the Bucs to burn their last timeout with 1:47 left.
The Falcons decided they didn’t need to get any closer. Ryan took a knee three times while also strategically using the team’s three timeouts to milk the clock to four seconds before Bryant came on to kick the winner.
“Going that direction, our cutoff was the 38-yard line. It was a really good third-down call, great conversion by Julio,” Ryan said. “For us to get it down that close, it was a chip shot for Matt, and he’s been amazing throughout his career at being clutch.”
Jones had nine catches for 138 yards and Sanu had seven for 90, in addition to throwing his fourth touchdown pass as an NFL player.
Godwin had six catches for 114 yards and Evans had six receptions for 106 yards for the Bucs, who lost four straight to end the season and finished last in the division for the seventh time in eight years.