Atlanta, Georgia (AP)--

Chris Crocker makes a big deflection to save a Tampa Bay touchdown.

“The litmus test of a great quarterback is measured on his ability to bring his team back in the forth quarter.” These were the words of Hall of Famer John Madden after QB Michael Vick just led his Falcons squad on a go ahead touchdown drive which gave Atlanta their first win of the 2006 season over divisional rivals Tampa Bay Buccaneers by a score of 31-21.
After facing a tough week from the media after a poor showing in their season opening game the Falcons, particularly Vick, had a load of pressure on their shoulders. Pressure, which they dealt with in professional fashion, as they continually made big plays when they were needed the most on their way to the win. All eyes were on Vick throughout the week, who despite being praised for his efforts during practice, still knew that what he did on Sunday will either quite the critics or enthuse them even greater to proclaim the former number 1 pick as a bust. But in the end it was Vick who came up in the clutch leading his Falcons to a forth quarter come from behind victory, when his team started to show shades of their week 1 debacle. Vick may have drew the headlines, but his offensive teammate RB Warrick Dunn kept the Tampa Bay defense busy all day rushing for his second straight 100 yard game, including two touchdowns, on his way to NFC offensive player of the week honors against his former teammates.
At the start of the game, their was a sense of nervousness in the Georgia Dome, as Falcons fans readily awaited to see their team in person for the first time this season, looking for an answer to if this team was over hyped and in reality was far away from the Superbowl. However, the Atlanta faithful didn’t have to wait long to get their answer as in Atlanta’s first series in their home opener, Vick marched his team down a drive which looked miles away from any drive which they had in week 1. Vick completed passes all over the field, and Warrick Dunn scampered in for his second touchdown of 2006 to give his team a quick 7-0 advantage. The offensive weakness looked as if it had been fixed, it was the defensive units turn now to see if they had improved over a harsh weeks practice, and though Tampa Bay scored a touchdown in their opening drive it was clearly visible that the Falcons defense had vastly improved. Chris Simms threw an almost perfect 45 yard pass to Joey Galloway to equal the score. The pass was lofted perfectly over the outstretched safety Lawyer Milloy and into Galloway’s hands, who softly corralled in the football to covert on the third down.

Warrick Dunn celebrates his first of two touchdowns.

The scoring hadn’t finished yet in the first quarter, as Michael Koenen connected on his first field goal score of the 2006 campaign with a long 41 yarder coming after Dunn had looked to fumble to football away deep in the Buccaneers territory. However, Jim Mora took a timeout to challenge the call and get it overturned. Before the first quarter came to an end, the play which all of Atlanta was waiting for finally came. With the secondary still looking a bit shaky, Simms went deep to Galloway again late in the first. This time Galloway looked wide open and destined to score again on a bomb, but it was not to be as safety Chris Crocker came up to make a huge acrobatic deflection to deny Galloway the reception. After the play the entire Georgia dome erupted in cheers of relief. This play seemed to set the tone for the Falcons for the rest of the game, and hopefully the rest of the season.
The second quarter was spent with the Falcons continuing to prove that they are for real this season. When Tampa Bay shifting to the running game, Carnell Williams had no room to operate as the front 7 suffocated the reigning offensive rookie of the year to a miserable first half. Vick still looked sharp as a knife as his completion percentage remained above 70%, leading Atlanta on yet another scoring drive, another Dunn touchdown, to open up Atlanta’s lead to 17-7. At halftime, the Falcons squad looked as if they had made a complete turnaround after a miserable opener, leading comfortable and playing like a team that was solid all around.
During the third quarter, the Falcons offense cooled down and spent most of the fifteen minutes on the sidelines suffering from a string of three and outs. However, little damage was done as the Falcons defense played like a brick wall causing Chris Simms to throw more incompletions. The Buccaneers never went away from their gameplan, as the Cadillac looked to have been retuned during halftime, as Williams started running for big gains and picking up first downs, tiring out the Falcons defense. Nevertheless, the Falcons defense kept their heads up and when Simms attempted a pass to the endzone the Falcons were quick to capitalize, as LB Keith Brooking picked off a pass intended for TE Alex Smith ending the Tampa Bay drive for no points. The Falcons were unable to take advantage of the Bucs error as Vick threw his forth interception of the season, as Jermaine Phillips picked him off quickly after Tampa Bay’s turnover.

Keith Brooking intercepts a pass in the endzone to kill a Buccaneers drive.

On the final play of the third quarter, Simms was able to break down Atlanta brick wall as a short completion to FB Mike Alstott ended up going for a touchdown. The bruising back knocked a few defenders down before scoring and heading into the final quarter Atlanta held onto a slim 17-14 lead.
The Buccaneers were given many opportunities to take the lead in the forth quarter, but the inexperienced Simms was unable to do so, as he made another mental error throwing into traffic, causing another interception, this time by Kevin Mathis, to end another potential drive. However, by now the Falcons offense looked dead, unable to carry over their strong play into the second half, giving Tampa Bay another chance to take the lead with under three minutes to go. With a forth and two at midfield, Tampa Bay decided to go for it, thinking that this may be their last legitimate chance to win the game, or tie it. The gutsy call went better than expected as Cadillac, bounced left and sped up the sideline outrunning Crocker and Milloy all the way to the endzone and the lead.
With the Falcons trailing 21-17 it looked as if the game was lost with the offense only having 1 first down since the intermission. But, as Madden said, Vick proved he was a great quarterback, doing what a quarterback needed to do giving his team the lead late in the game. Vick was not as good in the second half as he was in the first, but he was still able run and pass his team down the field before hooking up with WR Ashley Lelie for the 11 yard go ahead and score. The Falcons regained the lead and never looked back
This time the Falcons defense didn’t bend as they force a turnover of downs on four plays. With Dunn continuing to pile up the yardage the Falcons scored another touchdown, this time a short Vick run, before the final whistle blew. It may have been tough but in the end, the Falcons came up big when they were needed the most, avoiding a 0-2 start to the season.
“We know we’re good, but we didn’t show that last week.” Said Dunn after the game, “We wanted to make sure all of you guys knew that.” The Falcons will end their three game stretch against divisional opponents next week as they face the Saints on Monday Night, where they will face rookie Reggie Bush, and the Saints new look offense. The game will be an emotional one for the whole nation as it will be the first pro game of any sport in the Louisiana Superdome since last year when Hurricane Katrina wrecked the dome making it unable using for 13 months.

Game Boxscore.