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ATLANTA FALCONS
Atlanta Falcons

Falcons dismantle Packers in NFC Championship Game rout

Lindsay H. Jones, USA TODAY Sports
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) celebrates his touchdown run with wide receiver Aldrick Robinson (19) in the second quarter in the 2017 NFC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome.

ATLANTA — The most memorable sound in the final football game at the Georgia Dome was a chant, reverberating through every square inch of this old stadium.

“MVP! MVP! MVP!” chanted Falcons fans, from the first moment Matt Ryan jogged through the tunnel one last time, through the last seconds of the fourth quarter as the Atlanta Falcons quarterback helped make the last game here the most memorable.

Ryan threw for four touchdowns and rushed for another touchdown in a 44-21 win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game, sending the Falcons to Houston for Super Bowl LVI. It is their first trip to the Super Bowl since the 1998 season.

“We’ll be ready,” said Ryan.

This sort of offensive explosion from the Falcons offense wasn’t exactly unexpected, not after Ryan and the Falcons dismantled the vaunted Seattle Seahawks defense last week in the divisional round and after averaging nearly 34 points per game in the regular season.

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“We played great today in all three phases,” Ryan said. “We knew going against Green Bay and Aaron (Rodgers) that it’s never over.”

What was a surprise was the way the Falcons defense made sure the game never turned into the anticipated shootout.

The Falcons shut out the Packers in the first half Sunday, forced two turnovers and flustered Aaron Rodgers with well-timed blitzes. Even with the return of No.1 receiver Jordy Nelson, the hottest quarterback in the NFL was still no match for what looks like the NFL’s complete team.

“A good defense,” Rodgers said. “We hurt ourselves early…hurt the momentum for us. Playing a team like that have to start better than that. We had zero points at halftime. Not going to win games like that.”

Much of that is a credit to Ryan, the favorite to win the NFL’s MVP award which will be announced on the eve of the Super Bowl. Voting was completed weeks ago, but his performance in the NFC Championship Game only bolstered his case.

Ryan’s most emphatic throw might have come after his 14-yard touchdown run, as Ryan celebrated by drilling the ball off the Falcons’ logo on the wall behind the end zone as he was swarmed by his teammates.

Yes, this game clearly meant something for Ryan, who had been plagued by questions about his play in big games throughout his career, including four years ago, when the Falcons squandered a 17-point lead after Ryan through two second-half interceptions in a NFC Championship Game loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

But what makes Ryan a real threat to lead the Falcons to their first Super Bowl title in two weeks is the cast of offensive players around him. Few offenses in recent memory have had such diversity – with a scary pair of running backs in Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman, who combined for a modest 71 rushing yards against the Packers – and a deep stable of receivers. Julio Jones is certainly and deservedly the star, which he emphasized Sunday with 180 yards and two jaw-dropping touchdowns, but Ryan connected with seven other Falcons for at least one pass.

The Falcons’ offensive diversity should be a model for the Packers, whose eight-game winning streak is over after the team became too one-dimensional around Rodgers.

The Packers rushed just 13 times – including four scrambles by Rodgers, who was the leading rusher with 46 yards. Rodgers threw three touchdowns, even while playing behind an offensive line that lost three players by the fourth quarter and had to use a defensive tackle at guard, but those scores were too late to make the game competitive.

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