In the final game of Week 17, the Atlanta Falcons upset the Los Angeles Rams 27-24 on "Monday Night Football."
Bijan Robinson put together an absolutely spectacular performance to power the Falcons to victory. He ran 22 times for 195 yards and a touchdown -- a 93-yard jaunt that set a new Falcons record -- and also caught a touchdown pass earlier in the game.
Atlanta's defense, meanwhile, intercepted Matthew Stafford three times on the night. Rookie safety Xavier Watts had two interceptions, while veteran safety Jessie Bates III recorded the third, taking it to the house as the Falcons built their early lead.
The Falcons led 21-0 at the break thanks to Robinson's two scores and Bates' pick-six, but the Rams battled back throughout the second half and eventually tied the game with just under three minutes remaining.
Stafford found rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson for a touchdown early in the second half, and after the teams traded field goals, the Falcons drove down the field looking to extend their lead. Instead, Jared Verse blocked a Zane Gonzalez field-goal attempt, scooped the ball off the turf and returned it all the way for a touchdown.
The Falcons punted on their ensuing drive, giving the Rams a chance to tie the game, but Watts recorded his second takeaway of the night. Atlanta was unable to capitalize on the turnover and punted the ball away again.
That's when Stafford went to work, moving the Rams down the field and capping the drive with a touchdown pass to Puka Nacua that tied the game with 2:46 remaining. Robinson and Kirk Cousins then did the hard work of getting the Falcons into field-goal range, and Gonzalez drilled a 51-yard kick to give Atlanta a 27-24 lead with 21 seconds left.
Stafford nearly completed passes to both Tutu Atwell -- on a play in which the officials missed a clear pass-interference call -- and Nacua that would have put the Rams into field-goal range. Both ultimately fell incomplete, and Los Angeles was unable to get into position to tie the game, sealing the upset victory for the Falcons.
As mentioned, Robinson was phenomenal on Monday night. He got things started with a four-yard touchdown catch early in the first quarter, then seemingly broke things open late in the second with his 93-yard touchdown run.
He racked up a few more big runs in the second half and ended the night with 229 total yards, along with his two touchdowns.
He now has 2,250 total yards on the season -- a Falcons single-season record -- and is putting together quite the case for Offensive Player of the Year. He doesn't lead the league in rushing like James Cook or receiving like Jaxon Smith-Njigba and doesn't have the touchdown totals of some of the other top contenders (he has 11 after his pair of scores on Monday evening), but he leads the NFL in scrimmage yards, he's averaging over 5 yards per carry and he has 80 receptions. It's quite the resume.
Stafford came into the game as the favorite for the Most Valuable Player award despite his team being in fifth place in the conference. Heading into the night he was a -225 favorite, giving him an implied 69.2% probability to win, according to DraftKings. After his three-interception performance in a loss (combined with Drake Maye's five touchdowns in the Patriots' win over the Jets on Sunday), Stafford is now second in MVP odds at +300, while Maye is the heavy favorite at -400.
While the Falcons were the story on this night, the loss has major implications for the Rams. They entered the night needing to win out to secure the No. 5 seed in the NFC. Now, they'll need to beat the Cardinals in Week 18 and get help from the Seahawks to make that happen. Otherwise, they'll fall to the No. 6 seed and face a much tougher matchup in the first round of the playoffs.
Meanwhile, Atlanta's win gives the Panthers another out in their quest for the NFC South title. The Panthers win the division if they beat the Buccaneers next weekend, but they can also win the division if they lose that game and the Falcons beat the Saints, because the Panthers would win the three-way tiebreaker over the Bucs and Falcons.
Third straight win for Atlanta, which held on for the win after blowing a 21-0 lead. Bijan Robinson ran for 195 yards and a touchdown and caught another touchdown pass, while the Falcons' defense intercepted Matthew Stafford three times.
Nice two-minute execution from the Falcons, who got themselves into deep field goal range and then went very conservative and settled for a 51-yard kick, which Zane Gonzalez drilled right down the middle with 21 seconds remaining to give Atlanta a 27-24 lead.
Stafford threw a touchdown pass deep down the field to Nacua that was negated by a penalty, but a few plays later, Stafford found Nacua on a quick screen and he took it around the edge for a score that actually counted. After all that's happened in this game, the score is tied 24-24 with just 2:46 remaining.
Not so fast, my friend! Rather than a fumble recovery, this time it's an interception, with Xavier Watts stepping in front of a pass intended for Terrance Ferguson and taking it back the other way. It was initially ruled a pick-six but Watts stepped out of bounds on his way to the end zone.
The Falcons just recovered a muffed snap by Matthew Stafford but the play got overturned by an offsides penalty. Absolutely massive turn of events.
We might be entering the danger zone here for Atlanta. After the blocked field goal, the Falcons got one first down and then went nowhere and punted the ball back to the Rams, who now have a chance to tie the game with their next possession.
Well now... the Falcons were about to push their lead to 17 points, but the Rams blocked Zane Gonzalez's field goal and Jared Verse -- who also blocked the kick himself -- scooped the ball off the ground and took it the other way for a touchdown. This game just became a lot more interesting as instead of 27-10, it's 24-17.
Quick drive from the Rams to get on the board with their first touchdown of the night. 6 plays, 65 yards in less than 3 minutes. It's Stafford finding the rookie tight end Ferguson for a touchdown off of play action (and a really nice route) to make this a two-score game for the first time this half. It's 24-10 now.
Zane Gonzalez hit from 56 yards out to push the lead back to 21 points. Atlanta got into scoring position thanks to -- shocker -- another long run from Bijan Robinson, who is now up to 170 total yards and two touchdowns with a quarter and a half left in the game.
L.A.'s red zone trip went better than the last one, but not by much. Matthew Stafford was sacked on third-and-long and the Rams had to settle for a field goal to cut the lead down to 21-3 about four minutes into the third quarter.
On the first drive of the second half, the Rams had fourth-and-6 near midfield and went for it because they were already down 21-0. They converted with a classic Stafford no-look pass to a receiver coming across the middle, and they took it deep into Falcons territory for a red-zone opportunity -- their second of the game. The first of those ended with a fourth-down gone wrong.
The Rams tried a shot play on the first snap after Atlanta's punt, and it went disastrously as rookie defensive back Xavier Watts came over the top of the pass intended for Xavier Smith. On the very next snap, Bijan Robinson took off through the right side of the line and raced to the end zone for a 93-yard touchdown jaunt to push Atlanta's lead to 21-0.
Following the Corum injury, the Rams punted the ball and downed it at the Falcons' 1-yard line. Atlanta then had a drive of its own that went nowhere and will be punting it away when we come back from the two-minute warning.
Corum just limped off the field with some sort of leg injury after being tackled on a draw play that went nowhere. He took his helmet off and went right to the bench. It looked like he may have rolled his ankle.
Well this game just took quite the turn. After a pair of short runs, Stafford sat in the pocket but couldn't find a receiver, then fired over the middle of the field -- only his pass was too high for the receiver and landed in the arms of Jessie Bates III, who picked it off and took it to the house to give the Falcons a two-score lead at 14-0.
Atlanta picked up a few first downs to move the ball near midfield but ultimately stalled out after a false start turned third-and-4 into third-and-9 and then Cousins threw incomplete for Kyle Pitts up the right sideline. The Rams now have another chance to drive and tie the game.
The Rams moved the ball down the field and deep into Falcons territory with a chance to either cut into the lead or tie the game but got turned away on fourth-and-1 from the 11-yard line when Kyren Williams was hit immediately upon receiving the hand-off. It remains 7-0 Falcons and Atlanta will take over with a chance to make this a two-score game.
Really nice second drive for the Falcons, who marched efficiently down the field with an 11-pay, 65-yard scoring drive that took 5:35 off the clock. Nice design from Zac Robinson on the touchdown pass, lining Bijan up offset to the left side and sneaking him across the formation for the score. Good toss by Kirk Cousins as well. It's 7-0 Falcons midway through the first quarter.
Matthew Stafford's pass to Konata Mumpfield on third down resulted in a completion but after initially being ruled a first down, the play was overturned on replay assist and resulted in a fourth down instead, so the Rams kicked the ball right back to the Falcons. Two punts in as many drives.
Very quick drive for Atlanta to open the game. Back-to-back Bijan Robinson runs gained three yards total and then Kirk Cousins got hit as he threw down the field for Drake London and Emmanuel Forbes broke up the pass. L.A. will have a chance to take an early lead.
Cousins' first few appearances of this season did not inspire much confidence that he could land another job if and when the Falcons decide to cut ties with him due to his monster cap hit for next season. But he's done better over the past couple of weeks (512 of 79 for 570 yards, five touchdowns and an interception) and if he keeps it going against the Rams and Saints this week and next, maybe he could play himself into being a bridge quarterback option for somebody next offseason.
Despite Drake Maye's five-touchdown game against the Jets on Sunday, Stafford remains the heavy favorite to win the Most Valuable Player trophy. According to DraftKings, Stafford is a -225 favorite, giving him an implied 69.2% probability to win. But that can obviously change very quickly if he doesn't put up a representative performance against the Falcons tonight.
Stafford still leads the league in touchdown passes with 40 and has thrown only five interceptions while passing for over 4,100 yards, but it'll be interesting to see how the voters feel about handing the award to a player whose team might get a wild card slot rather than winning its own division -- especially if he doesn't finish the season with a bang. He has an opportunity to do the latter here, though.
The Rams can no longer win the NFC West due to the Seahawks' and 49ers' wins on Sunday. The winner of the Seattle-San Francisco game next week is now going to be the top seed in the conference.
That means L.A. is playing to maintain its position and climb as high as the No. 5 seed in the NFC and retain the right to go on the road and play against the NFC South champion, rather than having to go play against the Chicago Bears or Philadelphia Eagles in the first round.
If the Rams win this week and next, they'll be the No. 5 seed regardless of what happens elsewhere.
