Detroit, Michigan (AP)--

Keith Brooking sacks Josh McCown for the safety.

After three years of waiting it looks as if the West Coast offense is finally starting to work for Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons.
With arguably the best offense in the NFL this season, the Falcons continued to prove they are worthy of serious Superbowl consideration as they poured in 36 points, the forth time they eclipsed the 30 point mark this season, to defeat the Detroit Lions in a game which you felt Atlanta was going to win all along, despite Detroit keeping the score close in the first one and a half quarter of play.
Atlanta continued to beat the opposition with their potent rushing attack running for 238 yards and four rushing touchdowns, three courtesy of Warrick Dunn who rushed for 137 yards. Vick continued to make his case for MVP rushing for 107 yards and a score, while passing for 143 yards.
Detroit was faced with a number of problems all game long as rookie head coach Rod Marinelli was forced to pull starting QB Josh McCown who had an awful day and was replaced by Jon Kitna who filled in well, but wasn’t good enough to bring his team back.
The contest started with Atlanta kicker Steve Christie, who replaced Michael Koenen with kickoff duties this week kicking the ball inbounds. McCown and Detroit offensive unit looked solid early, as the passing game worked to success leading Detroit to a 49 yarder field goal from Jason Hanson to put the home team up 3-0.
The momentum didn’t last long for the Lions as Atlanta quickly responded with there own drive which ended in a 46 yarder by Koenen to knot up the score at 3-3. Atlanta then started to show early signs of looking to pull away from the Lions, as on Detroit next drive McCown was picked off by nickelback Kevin Mathis for his second pick of the season. The Mathis interception set up Atlanta with good field position which they would take advantage of as Dunn would sprint down the sideline for a 23 yard touchdown to end the first quarter, with Atlanta leading 10-3.

Roddy White takes the exchange from Warrick Dunn on the reverse.

Early in the second quarter, it looked as if McCown had recovered from his late first quarter woes, as he marched his team down the field connecting with WR Roy Williams and Scottie Vines on several third downs to keep his team drive alive. However the Lions would be unable to cross the goal line and would have to settle for another Hanson field goal to cut the deficit to four points.
Once again the high powered Falcons offense would counter the Detroit score, with a score of their own. Vick would take a bootleg all the way 34 yards for the score, to stretch the Falcon lead to 17-6 at halftime.
The 17-6 score at halftime was an understatement of the first half of play, as Atlanta was easily controlling the flow of the game, not yet punting the football, and coming out with some kind of points on all of their possessions.
As play resumed in the third quarter, it looked as if Atlanta had found another weakness in the Detroit defense as they came out continuing the run the football with Dunn and Vick, but this time using a orchestra of pitches and tosses, taking the football to the sideline and out running the slow Detroit ends for big yardage. The new gameplan would work consistently well for Atlanta as Dunn would scamper in for his second TD of the game on a determine run which saw his break a tackle and hurdle two Lions for the touchdown.
Things would then go from bad to worse for the lowly Lions as returner Shawn Bryson would fumble the ensuing kickoff. Jordan Beck would recover the loose ball for Atlanta giving them great field position off a Lion turnover for the second time in the game. This time only a field goal would result from the turnover as Koenen split the uprights from 38 yards giving Atlanta a comfortable 27-6 lead.
The third quarter ended with a pair of rushing touchdowns from each team. Dunn would tie his career high of three touchdowns as he ran it in from 9 yards out adding to Atlanta’s lead. The Detroit crowd were given something to cheer out in the closing stages of the third as Kevin Jones would rush for a 73 yard score after Atlanta’s linebacker would over pursue and get caught out of position.

Warrick Dunn spins past a Detroit defender on his way to a big gain.

In the forth quarter Atlanta would add insult to injury as after punting the ball inside the Lions own 5 yard line, McCown would get sacked as he dropped back to pass for Atlanta’s first safety of the season. Keith Brooking would provide the points, after he burst through the line untouched leaving the exposed McCown helpless. The safety would be the last we saw of McCown of not just today’s contest but maybe in quite sometime, as he was replaced by Kitna midway through the final quarter with the game all but over.
The Falcons would use rookie Jerious Norwood, along with Vick and Dunn, to kill time of the clock, and secure the victory. However after running the ball deep into Detroit territory Koenen would miss badly on a chip shot field goal, giving Kitna a chance to see what he could do in replacement of McCown.
In his four minutes of action, Kitna would pass for 124 yards, compared to McCown 75 yard from over three quarter of play. Kitna would also give the Lions a consolation touchdown score as he hooked up with the talented Roy Williams for a 19 yard score, which may have secured Kitna’s position on the Detroit depth chart as the number 1 quarterback.
Despite recovering the onside kick, the Lions did not have enough time to try and score one last time, as good coverage by Lawyer Milloy, who battled away two potential Williams receptions, to end any comeback which Detroit had in mind, propelling Atlanta to the 36-21 victory, in a game which Atlanta played solid throughout, except the final minutes when Kitna was brought in.
With Carolina idle, and New Orleans defeated Tampa Bay in week 9, the Falcons find themselves with a comfortable 2.0 game lead for the NFC South lead, but with still a whole lot of football to play the Falcons know, that nothing is for sure. The Falcons will take on another sub .500 team, the third straight, in the Cleveland Brown, who will enter the Georgia Dome looking for the upset victory.

Game Boxscore.