Matt Bryant kicked a 49-yard field goal just before the end of the fourth quarter as the Atlanta Falcons beat the Seattle Seahawks 30-28 in a thriller Sunday.
The Falcons entered the final quarter with a seemingly comfortable 20-point lead, only for Seattle make a stirring comeback and take a 28-27 lead with 31 seconds left in the game, before Bryant intervened to send the Falcons to the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers.
"All in all it was an extraordinary game," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.
Atlanta got to a wonderful start as Bryant kicked a 39-yard field goal to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead with 9.40 remaining in the first quarter. Soon Matt Ryan extended the lead to 10-0 with a pass to Tony Gonzalez to the left for 1-yard touchdown.
The Falcons did not allow the Seahawks to get on the board in the second quarter. Bryant's 37-yard field goal took their lead to 13-0. Ryan then hit a pass to Roddy White down the middle for a 47-yard TD and Atlanta ended the second quarter with an impressive 20-0 lead.
Russell Wilson opened the Seahawks' scoring with a pass to Golden Tate to the left for a 29-yard gain to cut the Falcons' lead to 20-7 in the third quarter with 9.47 left.
Atlanta's Ryan again extended the gap to 20 points by finding Jason Snelling down the middle for a 5-yard score with 2.11 remaining in the third quarter.
The Falcons had a huge lead and they looked more energetic on the field, so their win seemed a mere formality, but then the Seahawks started an unprecedented last quarter rally behind Wilson, who rushed to the left for 1-yard TD to cut Atlanta's lead to 27-14 with 13.01 left in the game.
Four minutes later, Wilson passed to Zach Miller to the left for a 3-yard score and the gap between the Falcons and the Seahawks reduced to 27-21 with 9.13 remaining.
Marshawn Lynch's TD run put the Seahawks ahead 28-27 with half a minute left. It seemed they were very on the brink of an unbelievable victory, when Bryant kicked a 49-yard field goal to have the final say.
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