Baltimore, Maryland (AP)--

Warrick Dunn tries to break free of a Ray Lewis tackle.

Baltimore tried its best to put an end to the Atlanta Falcons win streak, but in the end it would be Atlanta’s defense which would propel them for the second straight week, as the Falcons triumphed over the Ravens, 14-12, in a game which came down the wire.
With the Falcons offense dead in the water, the Ravens were able to mount a forth quarter comeback. Trailing 14-3 in the forth quarter, a Matt Stover field goal cut the deficit to 8. Steve McNair and the Ravens offense would get one last chance to force overtime in the final two minutes. McNair would lead the Ravens on a drive for the ages, marching his team 90 yards, before a Jamal Lewis two yard scamper on forth and goal made the score 14-12. The comeback however, would fall short as Lewis would be unable to reenact his score on the preceding play as he was stuffed by John Abraham and Keith Brooking, to secure the win for the Falcons, who would run their record to an NFL best 8-2.
The rainy weather was not the only gloomy feature of this contest, as the Falcons offense, particularly the passing game would also play dull and out of sync. Michael Vick would pass for only 140 yards on a 44% completion rate, while also rushing for 45 yards. Warrick Dunn would provide some consistant offense for the Falcons at times as he proved he can run on even the best defenses in the NFL rushing for 159 yards, including an 81 yard run which in the end would prove to be the deciding factor in the defensive dominated game.
Early on in the first quarter it seemed that Vick and the passing game had recovered from the dismal 55 yards through the air last week against the Browns. Vick got receivers involved early driving his team down field, before he connected with backup tight end Dwayne Blakley for a 8 yard score on third down to put the Falcons in front 7-0.
Late in the opening quarter, McNair would connect with rookie wide out Demtrius Williams for a 45 yard completion which would have gone for a score if it wasn’t for a touchdown saving tackle by Jason Webster. The hustle by Webster would prove to have a factor as the Falcons defense would recover from the lapse in concentration forcing the Ravens to settle for a 26 yard field goal courtesy of Matt Stover.

Ray Lewis takes down Warrick Dunn emphatically with a all out effort.

On the Falcons first offensive play following the Ravens field goal, Warrick Dunn would run for his aforementioned 81 yard score. After initially taking the hand off the left side, Dunn saw the Ravens defense over-persuing, and began to cut back to the right side, where there was a whole lot of great seal off blocks and open field. 81 yards later Dunn would be celebrating the touchdown which would also take him over the 1000 yard mark on the season, the fifth time he achieved the milestone in his career.
The Dunn touchdown would be the last glimpse of any sort of offense for the Falcons for the rest of the game. Vick and Co. would seem to have shut it down as the Ravens defense would dominant for the remainder of the game, keeping the chance for their team to win the game alive.
Late in the first half Atlanta had a chance to add on their lead, but Michael Koenen would come up a yard short on a 50 yard field goal attempt, ending the half on a sour note for the Falcons, who went into halftime leading 14-3. Vick spent the majority of the first half struggling to complete passes, being faced with pressure every time he dropped back to throw.
After a 12 sack performance last week against the Browns, the Falcons defensive front also seemed to forget how to apply pressure and rush the quarterback, as McNair would not suffer a sacks in the first half, and for that matter, the whole game.
As play resumed in the second half, Vick seemed to have regained the form he had in the first quarter, as he led the Falcons on a promising drive in their first attempt of the second half. But the drive would stall after a pair of Terrell Suggs sacks setting up Koenen for another attempt, this time from 43 yards. However Koenen would make a mess of the attempt, shacking the kick and missing badly, putting his job in jeopardy.
The third quarter would play out to be an offensive struggle. Baltimore did have a potential scoring drive going until a holding penalty would kill a big gain on pass to Derrick Mason from McNair.
The Raven spent the forth quarter playing catch up. Stover second field goal of the day came from 23 yards with under three minutes to play.
It was almost a given that McNair would be given a chance to tie the game, with the way the Falcons offense had played in the second half, and sure enough the Ravens defense would force a three and out. Koenen punt would be a good one, and McNair would be given two minutes to drive 90 yards to score once for a touchdown, and then a two point conversion.

Keith Brooking makes the game winning tackle.

The game deciding drive would start positively for the Ravens, McNair would hook up with second year man Mark Clayton early and often on the drive. Firstly a 33 yard completion to Clayton would get the Ravens away from their goal line, then a 25 yard pass interference penalty on Webster would start to make things that much more interesting.
McNair would find Clayton again for 14 and 12 yard pickups setting up Baltimore with a first and goal from their own three with 49 seconds to play.
After failing the score on their first three attempts, a determined forth and goal run by Lewis would let Baltimore achieve their first goal, but still knew that they had to convert on the two point conversion. Once again the Ravens would turn to Lewis, the big bruising back, but this time Keith Brooking, who has turned into the Falcon heart and soul on defense, would make the game saving tackle, after Lewis had broken a tackle to make the score seem certain.
With next to no time remaining after the Ravens score, an unsuccessful onsides attempt, the Falcons would easily run out the clock and hang on for the unlikely win, with once again no offensive production through the passing.
Despite over 300 yard of total offense, most coming courtesy of Warrick Dunn and the running game, the Falcons only managed 14 points, and once again looked like a team who had never played with each other, whereas the core of this offense has been playing together for the better part of three years. As the weeks go by the Falcons begin to look more and more like a one side team on offense, which is something no team in the NFL wants to be
The Falcons will resume divisional play next week, as they face the New Orleans Saints, who along with the Carolina Panthers, are looking to gain ground on the Falcons, who hold a two game lead atop the NFC South.

Game Boxscore.