Divisional Round Afterword: Falcons vs Seahawks

Julio Jones intercepted Russell Wilson's Hail Mary attempt as time ran out,
clinching Atlanta's first playoff win since January 2005. Photo credit to AL.com.

Here is the snap, Matt Bryant with the kick, and it is NO GOOD!! But wait, a timeout was taken by Seattle! And Pete Carroll wants to know who called for the timeout.

Video clearly showed Carroll asking for the timeout just before Atlanta’s snap, but what most people don’t know is the actual reason Carroll was upset. Before the game, officials told the coaches that they would not allow practice kicks in a situation like that. Carroll made it clear during his post-game press conference that he was displeased that Bryant was allowed to take that practice kick after the timeout was called. In my opinion, though, it was Carroll’s own fault for waiting until the last moment to ask for the timeout.

Bryant had a second chance to kick the game-winner, and he made it to clinch Atlanta’s first postseason win with Mike Smith and Matt Ryan. It was also Tony Gonzalez’s first postseason win in his career, which is expected to end after this season.

Matt Ryan played a very good game overall, though it was far from perfect. He threw two interceptions, but the first one appeared to be at least partly the fault of Tony Gonzalez. The second looked identical to an interception Robert Griffin III threw down the left sideline during last week’s playoff game against Seattle.

Russell Wilson had many more passing yards than Ryan, but that was mostly because of soft defensive play during the second half by Atlanta, who had a 20-0 lead at halftime. Wilson had to throw a lot because Marshawn Lynch was held to just 46 yards on 16 carries.

Atlanta, meanwhile, had the dominant ground game on Sunday. Michael Turner ran for 98 yards on 14 carries while Jacquizz Rodgers had 64 yards on 10 touches.

Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez and Jason Snelling each had touchdown receptions for Atlanta. Julio Jones was a big part of the passing game, with six receptions, but his only touch in the end zone was a game-ending interception when he came in to defend a Hail Mary attempt by Russell Wilson, who already had a game-winning interception this season. This one, however, was ruled correctly and Seattle’s impressive season came to an end.

Atlanta is the only team advancing to the conference championships this season that was not in this round last year. Atlanta will host San Francisco Sunday at 3:00 p.m. on FOX for the NFC Championship.