Devonta Freeman had one man to beat.
The Falcons running back made it out to the sideline and attacked Buccaneers safety Keith Tandy. When Freeman got close, he gave Tandy a little wiggle and the would-be defender crumpled to the ground.
Freeman scooted on into the end zone for a 32-yard fourth-quarter touchdown, which turned out to be the winning score in the Falcons’ 24-21 victory over the Buccaneers on Monday.
“I just saw him hit the sideline,” Falcons running back Terron Ward said. “Free one-on-one against anybody, I’m taking Free.”
There was nothing Tandy, a six-year veteran, could do. He was on the ground grasping at air. Freeman had zoomed on by.
“It was just all about finishing,” said Freeman, who turned in a spectacular game. “Just trying to do whatever it takes to finish. That’s what it was all about.”
Freeman rushed 22 times for 126 yards and caught five passes for 68 yards to combine for 194 total yards. Ward added 40 yards on eight carries and quarterback Matt Ryan 29 yards on three mad dashes.
With the Bucs determined to slow down All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones, Freeman had to make them pay.
“I was just trying to do what I do,” Freeman said.
With Tevin Coleman out in the NFL concussion protocol, Freeman carried most of the load against the Bucs.
“I have a lot of work to do,” Freeman said. “I still feel like we’ve got a lot of work to do. We have not played our best ball. There’s a lot of football out there for us.”
It wasn’t a perfect day for Freeman, who had two fumbles. One was recovered in the end zone by tight end Levine Toilolo for a touchdown. The other was recovered by right tackle Ryan Schraeder.
“I feel like it was just the overall complete game for me other than the two fumbles I had,” Freeman said. “I could definitely get better there and not even put our team in a situation like that. ... I could definitely get better at that.”
Despite the fumbles, Freeman ran with authority.
“We had a sense that this was going to be a big night for him,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “In fact, we talked about that before the game. We thought he’d have his opportunities and if he could get on the next level, the second level and on to a linebacker, safety or corner, make sure that he had a plan on how he wanted to finish.”
Ward gave Freeman some timely breaks.
“Terron had some good runs and played physical as well,” Quinn said. “Those two stand for a lot of the toughness that we like to represent as a team. I thought that really showed.”
Even Ryan helped the rushing attack.
However, Quinn doesn’t plan to add any read-option plays for his quarterback.
“I don’t know about that just yet,” Quinn said. “We’ll keep handing off to the guys as often as we can. I was really proud of the fight they had. Matt did extend some plays on some dropback stuff.”
Freeman is tough to defend in the pasting game, especially when Jones is double-covered.
“We knew there were going to be opportunities for him in the pass game,” Quinn said. “Even as we came out of our week last week, we identified some areas where we wanted to really emphasize and (Freeman) was one of them.
“The different ways and the different styles that we could use him both as a runner and as a receiver. He’s such a competitive guy. He really looked like he was feeling it tonight and was coming into his own. It was vintage Freeman for sure.”
Freeman rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time since Week 3 of the season when had 106 yards in the win over the Packers.
“I thought Devonta played extremely well,” Ryan said. “I thought the run game was very solid. He ran the ball extremely physical, too. He was downhill finishing runs. Wearing out the defense. That was cool to see.”
Ryan liked the touchdown run too.
“Devonta is a special player,” Ryan said. “He really is. Some nights guys become the featured guy of the game and I thought tonight he was that for us. He did a great job in the passing game and a great job in the run game.”
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