Click here to see all recaps on a single page
| Other Week 17 Game Recaps | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAR at NO | CHI at HOU | CLE at PIT | DAL at PHI | DEN at SD | DET at GB | JAX at BAL | KC at CIN |
| MIA at NYJ | NE at BUF | NYG at MIN | OAK at TB | SEA at ARI | STL at ATL | TEN at IND | WAS at SF |
Week 17 Game Recap: St. Louis Rams 27, Atlanta Falcons 31
What you need to know
| St. Louis Rams |
With the team riding a nine game losing streak and seemingly nothing to play for, the Rams still showed up and played with a lot of heart. Through most of the game they appeared to be the more inspired team and Steven Jackson ran like a man possessed. Listed as questionable before the game with leg injuries, Jackson rushed for 161 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught four passes for 54 additional yards as St. Louis registered 408 yards of offense.
Marc Bulger hit 19 of 32 passes for 230 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. Torry Holt, who may have played his last game in a Ram uniform, caught six passes for 90 yards, while rookie Donnie Avery caught five passes for 40 yards and one TD. The young St. Louis defense forced two fourth quarter turnovers, but ultimately lacked the firepower to ground the playoff bound Falcons.
| Atlanta Falcons |
Atlanta, having already clinched a playoff berth, had to overcome two fourth quarter turnovers and took the lead for good with less than four minutes in the game. The win gave the Falcons a record of 11--5 after finishing 4--12 last year.
Matt Ryan might win the rookie of the year award based on his starring role in Atlanta's Cinderella story, but this was not a good performance. He threw two bad interceptions, and only completed 10 of 21 passes. Michael Turner broke the Falcons' single season rushing record, scored one touchdown, and finished the game with an astounding 208 yards. On just three carries, Jerious Norwood rushed for two touchdowns and 56 yards. Roddy White broke the franchise record for receiving yards in a season and also caught an 18 yard touchdown pass.
The defense lacked intensity and did not tackle well but Steven Jackson can do that to a team. DE John Abraham sat out the second half with a sore groin after an Orlando Pace pancake block.
What you ought to know
| QB Marc Bulger, Pass: 19 - 32 - 230 - 1 TD / 0 INT |
Bulger earned a QB rating of 91.9 based on his 19 completions on 32 attempts. He hit rookie Donny Avery for a touchdown with 32 seconds left in the first half for a short lived St. Louis lead. With Steven Jackson healthy and causing havoc Bulger was able to pick his spots.
With less than two minutes in the game, down two starters on the offensive line, Torry Holt a step slower, rookie wide receivers on the other side, he was still able to drive his team to the Atlanta 29 with a chance to win. In the end St. Louis lost on the road by four points to a playoff bound team.
| RB Steven Jackson, Rush: 30 - 161 - 2, Rec: 4 - 54 - 0 (5 targets) |
Jackson nearly won this game on his own as he broke tackles and stiff armed defenders all afternoon. He averaged 5.4 yards on his 30 carries, scored two rushing touchdowns and caught four passes for 54 yards. In the fourth quarter and the score tied, Jackson caught a screen pass with one hand, turned up field, jumped completely over S Eric Coleman, and ran out of bounds for the first down. That play is even better in slow motion.
Despite missing games and battling injuries much of this year, Jackson was still able to surpass the 1,000 yard mark for the fourth consecutive season.
| RB Ken Darby, Rush: 3 - 20 - 0, Rec: 2 - 9 - 0 (2 targets) |
In very limited duty, Darby rushed for 20 yards on three carries and caught two passes for nine.
| RB Antonio Pittman, Rush: 2 - 12 - 0 (1 targets) |
Antonio Pittman was fined $25,000 and benched for last Sunday's game against the 49ers because he skipped the Saturday walk through. While he managed to get out of the dog house he was kept on a short leash. In limited duty Pittman only carried twice for 12 yards and also dropped a third down pass that would have give St. Louis a first down.
| RB Travis Minor, Rush: 1 - 4 - 0 |
Minor's only carry came in the third quarter when the Rams ran a fake punt on fourth down. He took a direct snap, found a small hole on the left side and gained just enough for the first down.
| WR Torry Holt, Rec: 6 - 90 - 0 (10 targets) |
The veteran led all St. Louis receivers with six grabs for 90 yards and has now caught at least one pass in 153 consecutive games. While it is widely speculated that Holt will not return next season, he and Bulger still work well together. There were plays when the ball was being thrown two or three steps before Holt made his cut. One of those passes resulted in a 39 yard gain to Falcons three yard line which set up the tying touchdown.
| WR Donnie Avery, Rec: 5 - 40 - 1 (9 targets) |
Avery caught five passes for 40 yards including a TD pass on a deep post. The speedster also got behind a defender in the second quarter but the ball was slightly under thrown.
Avery finished the season with 52 receptions, two short of the Rams' rookie record of 54 set by Eddie Kennison in 1996. The first receiver taken in the 2008 draft, Avery was third among rookie receivers with 634 receiving yards coming into this game.
| WR Keenan Burton, Rush: 1 - 5 - 0, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (1 targets) |
While the Rams are reportedly still high on Burton, he only caught one pass in the third quarter.
| WR Dane Looker (1 targets) |
Looker was thrown to with the second last pass of the game but it fell incomplete.
| TE Joe Klopfenstein, Rec: 1 - 29 - 0 (1 targets) |
His only target came on the last drive in the fourth quarter. Klopfenstein caught the safety cheating up to stop the run and made the catch down the middle of the field.
| PK Josh Brown 2 - 2 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 9 points |
Brown made both field goals, one from 31 and one from 27 yards, and was perfect on all three PATs.
| STL Rush Defense |
The Falcons rushed for 263 yards, but 70 came on one play which ended when Ron Bartell forced a fumble and a turnover. Michael Turner ran for 208 and an 8.3 yard per carry average while Jerious Norwood carried just three times, scored two touchdowns, and gained 56 yards.
Before this game, the Rams rush defense was ranked 28th and gave up an average of 147 yards per game.
| STL Pass Defense |
Jason Craft and Jonathan Wade each intercepted Matt Ryan while DE James Hall beat Sam Baker to register the Rams' only sack of the game.
The Rams ranked 23rd coming into this game, surrendering an average of 221 passing yards per contest.
| QB Matt Ryan, Pass: 10 - 21 - 160 - 1 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 4 - -1 - 0 |
While Ryan will get many votes for rookie of the year his QB rating of 49.8 in this game was disappointing. Two uncharacteristically bad throws resulted in interceptions and he only completed 10 of 21 passes for 160 yards. While Turner and Norwood rushed for 263 yards, and three touchdowns, all Ryan really had to do was hand the ball off all afternoon.
| RB Michael Turner, Rush: 25 - 208 - 1 |
Turner scored his 17th touchdown of the season, a new Falcon record. He also gained an astounding 208 yards on 25 carries, an 8.3 yard per carry average, but he was still in the running for goat of the game until the last minute of play. With the score tied at 24 in the fourth quarter Turner broke lose on a 70 yard run. Ron Bartell caught him at the four yard line, however, and forced a fumble which bounced into the end zone for a touchback. It St. Louis had managed to win the game, Turner's fumble could have been the turning point.
| RB Jerious Norwood, Rush: 3 - 56 - 2, Rec: 1 - 22 - 0 (2 targets) |
Norwood did not touch the ball often but he seemed to bring the crowd to its feet every time he did. After the Rams took the lead with 32 seconds in the first half, Norwood returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards to the St. Louis eight yard line. Two plays later Norwood took the direct center snap -- some call it the new wild cat formation but it's really the old single wing -- and dashed around left end for a touchdown. With 3:42 left in the game Norwood sprinted 45 yards for the go ahead touchdown and game winner.
| WR Michael Jenkins, Rec: 4 - 72 - 0 (7 targets) |
Jenkins led all Atlanta receivers with four balls for 72 yards. He did not score but his longest completion went for 41 yards.
| WR Roddy White, Rec: 3 - 48 - 1 (8 targets) |
Safe to say that White's days of flying under the fantasy radar are over. He caught three passes for 48 yards which broke the franchise record of 1,358 yards set by Alfred Jenkins in the 1981 season. White also caught a nice 18 yard touchdown pass in the third quarter when Ryan caught the St. Louis defense in single coverage.
| WR Brian Finneran, Rec: 1 - 12 - 0 (1 targets) |
The popular veteran was not a factor as he caught just one pass for 12 yards and made one fair catch on a punt.
| WR Harry Douglas, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (2 targets) |
The rookie who made Joe Horn expendable caught one pass for six yards. His other target was a poorly thrown pass which sailed high and behind him. He reached back, tipped the ball up in the air, and the Rams' Jason Craft intercepted the ball.
| TE Justin Peelle (1 targets) |
Peele was not a factor in this game.
| PK Jason Elam 1 - 1 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 7 points |
The veteran was good on his only field goal try from 39 yards and hit all four extra points.
| ATL Rush Defense |
Steven Jackson averaged 5.4 yards per carry and scored two touchdowns. He ran around over and through the Falcons defensive front, but they were able do just enough to win the game. Michael Boley led Atlanta with 12 tackles
| ATL Pass Defense |
Kroy Biermann, filling in for John Abraham, recorded one sack, as did and Chauncey Davis and South Florida grad Steven Nicholas. Domonique Foxworth, Chris Houston, and Curtis Lofton each defended two passes, but Bulger still threw for 230 yards and a touchdown.
Coming into this final game, Abraham had already set the franchise record for sacks in a season with 16.5, but sat out the second half with a groin injury.