With 3:12 left to play, Matt Ryan knew he had plenty of time to pull out his latest caper.
After the defense forced the Giants to punt, the Falcons were down three points but had the ball at their 30-yard line.
When Ryan was done, the Falcons had pulled out a 24-20 victory over New York, marking his 22nd fourth-quarter comeback and his 29th late winning drive.
Things were looking bleak. The Falcons had trailed 20-10, Eli Manning drove the Giants to the 8-yard line and was looking to open a 17-point lead. But linebacker Kroy’s Beirmann’s sack-strip gave ball back to the offense and re-energized the entire team.
“Kroy Biermann kind of got it going for us with the sack-fumble in the red area,” Ryan said. “Then for us to be able to kind of get it going after that on offense.”
The big play in the final drive was a 37-yard bomb to Julio Jones, who climbed over Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara to make the acrobatic catch at the 1-yard line.
Two plays later, Devonta Freeman stretched into the end zone from 2 yards out.
“It looked pretty good from where I was at,” Ryan said of Jones’ spectacular catch. “Obviously, Julio is an unbelievable player. He had another huge game today.”
Ryan knew he had to take a shot on a long ball.
“In that situation, we saw one-on-one coverage,” Ryan said. “It was a great play-call from (offensive coordinator) Kyle (Shanahan). I just tried to put it in a place for him to make a play and he did it.”
Ryan completed 30 of 46 passes for 363 yards and one touchdown. He finished with a passer rating of 96.6.
“Anytime that you’re going to throw the ball 40-something times, you’ve got to distribute it,” Ryan said. “I thought those guys did a good job of stepping up for us. Leonard Hankerson made a great catch in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
“He had another one where we got it to the 1-inch line, which was a huge third down conversion. I’m happy for Hank. He’s worked really hard.”
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