The Los Angeles Coliseum turf was a hot topic during Saturday night’s NFC Wild Card game between the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams. Whatever quarrels anyone had with the grass didn’t seem to affect Matt Ryan.
Midway through the fourth quarter the Falcons had the ball at the Rams 8-yard line and were leading 19-13. Ryan dropped back to pass and was backpedaling to allow his wide receiver Julio Jones to come open. When Ryan finally planted and tried to throw the football, his backfoot slipped.
Ryan let the football go and rainbowed the pass to Jones who was running towards the right pylon. The ball nestled into Jones’ arms for touchdown to put the Falcons ahead 26-13 with 5:54 left in the game.
Two plays prior to the touchdown pass, Ryan connected with Mohamed Sanu for a 53-yard catch-and-run. Ryan threw a simple bubble screen to Sanu at the Falcons 38-yard line. Sanu picked up a couple of blocks from Jones and right guard Wes Schweitzer and broke loose for a huge gain.
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