It’s been five weeks since the Falcons won their last game. But it’s been since December 22, 2012 since the Falcons have won on the road. That all changed on Sunday afternoon as the Falcons got by the Buffalo Bills 34-31 in overtime.
With 1:28 left in the game, the Bills had the ball and had all three timeouts left. On third-and-one at their own 44 yard line, E.J. Manuel threw a 14-yard pass to Stevie Johnson, but he fumbled the ball as he was going down and it was recovered by William Moore.
That led to the game going into overtime and the Bills started overtime with possession. However, it was déjà vu because on the Bills second play from scrimmage Scott Chandler fumbled the ball after catching a 22-yard pass from Manuel, which was recovered by Robert Alford.
That led to a Matt Bryant 36-yard field goal to give the Falcons their third win of the year.
The Bills jumped to an early lead as they went up 14-0 early in the first quarter. They got their first score on their opening series when Manuel scored from 1-yard out. That play was possible because C.J. Spiller put the Bills in position to score with a 77-yard run two plays prior to the score.
After forcing the Falcons to go three-and-out on the ensuing series, the Bills put together a 9-play, 64-yard drive which resulted in a Fred Jackson 4-yard touchdown run.
But the Falcons would not let the Bills run all over them. On their next offensive series, the Falcons put together a 5-play, 81-yard drive which ended with a Steven Jackson 27-yard touchdown run.
The Bills would add three to their lead midway through the second quarter when Dan Carpenter kicked a 29-yard field goal. But the Falcons would cut the Bills lead to three on the ensuing drive when Antone Smith scored on a 38-yard run. The Falcons would end a half with a Matt Bryant 49-yard field goal to tie the game at 17.
The Falcons would break the tie midway through the third quarter when Matt Ryan threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez. After forcing the Bills to punt, the Falcons got the ball back and looked to increase their lead by double-digits. But deep in their own territory, Ryan fumbled the snap and it was recovered by Kiko Alonso. On the next play, Fred Jackson scored on a 21-yard run to tie the game at 24.
The Bills took the lead early in the fourth when Spiller scored on a 36-yard run. This was right after Manuel threw a 33-yard pass to Robert Woods and got another 15 yards after the play because William Moore hit Woods with the top of his helmet and got a personal foul penalty.
With 4:26 left in the game, the Falcons had possession at their own 35-yard line and were able to get to the Bills 1-yard line thanks to two costly penalties by the Bills. Jackson scored on a 1-yard run with 1:28 left in the game.
The offense for the Falcons had one of their best games of the season. Not only did they score 34 points which is a season high, they also had 151 yards on the ground and Jackson led the way with 84 yards on 23 carries and two scores.
Ryan also had a productive day through the air as he was 28-of-47 with 311 yards and one touchdown.
On defense, the secondary came up big for the Falcons. Moore forced the Bills fumble in overtime while Robert McClain forced the one in the fourth quarter. Sean Weatherspoon also had a productive day with seven tackles while Paul Worrilow added nine.
The Falcons improved to 3-9 and finished with a 1-3 record against the AFC East. They will play their seventh road game of the year next Sunday when they travel to Green Bay to face the Packers.
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