The St. Louis Rams were looking for all the comforts of home when they brought their “Greatest Show on Turf” to the cozy environs of the Georgia Dome for an NFC semifinal playoff game Saturday night against the host Atlanta Falcons.
But Michael Vick and the Falcons were determined to teach the Rams some indoor relative humility, and they did so by marching to a 47-17 victory.
Since the Georgia Dome opened in 1992, the Rams are 5-7 against the Falcons in the arena. The Rams also won Super Bowl XXXIV over the Tennessee Titans on Jan. 30, 2000, at the Georgia Dome.
The Falcons earned a first-round bye and a home playoff game by winning the NFC South. The winning team in this series of former NFC West rivals has scored 30-plus points in 14 of their last 16 contests.
Vick, arguably the league’s pre-eminent all-purpose quarterback, wasted little time asserting himself, scrambling, then sprinting 47 yards to the Rams’ 21-yard line during the Falcons’ opening drive.
Two plays later, Vick fired a dart to tight end Alge Crumpler for an 18-yard touchdown. Jay Feely’s extra point made it 7-0 just three minutes into the game.
“[Vick] poses problems for everybody on defense,” Rams defensive end Leonard Little said earlier in the week. “Once a defense breaks down, he takes off running and you never know where he’s going to end up. It might be a 5-yard gain, a 10-yard gain or a touchdown. He poses a problem for the defense as a whole.”
The Rams, who were operating without the services of injured wide receiver Isaac Bruce, answered immediately with a five-play, 81-yard drive, capped with a 57-yard play-action pass from Marc Bulger to Kevin Curtis to tie the score 7-7.
Atlanta defensive linemen Patrick Kerney, Rod Coleman, Brady Smith and Ed Jasper had a league-high 48 sacks during the season. But Bulger managed to complete 11 of 17 first-half passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Coleman finally reached Bulger for a sack midway through the third period.
Atlanta, the NFL leader in rushing yardage during the season, used another big play to regain the lead 14-7. This time it was running back Warrick Dunn bursting through the line and outsprinting the Rams’ secondary for a 62-yard touchdown.
Dunn gave the Falcons a 21-7 advantage with his second touchdown of the evening, this one from 19 yards out to culminate a 13-play, 80-yard march early in the second period.
Bulger passed 28 yards to Torry Holt in the deep corner of the end zone to pull St. Louis within a score at 21-14. But Atlanta once again was revived by a 68-yard punt return for a touchdown by Chris Massey with 59 seconds left in the first half.
Jeff Wilkins boomed a 55-yard field goal on the final play of the half to make the score 28-17.
Vick threw his second touchdown pass of the evening early in the third period, connecting with Peerless Price on a 6-yard play for a 35-17 lead.
Feely’s 38-yard field goal made it 38-17 with six minutes left in the third quarter.
The Rams had defeated the New York Jets in overtime in their final regular-season game in order to make the playoffs. Then they upset the Seattle Seahawks 27-20 on the road in a first-round contest.
