Tampa Bay, Florida (AP)--

Juran Bolden gave the Falcons a scare after momentarily injury Vick on this hit.

If there was any doubt to who was going to receive the MVP award this season, Michael Vick put all uncertainties to rest as he turned out to produce a performance which may be go down as one of the most clutch outings by an individual this season.
After struggling through three quarters, and being limited from a shoulder injury he picked up early in the game, Vick had a complete change of fortune as he had a perfect forth quarter leading the Falcons back from the dead, overcoming a 17 point deficit to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-27, to move the Falcons into prime position to clinch the NFC South division next week against the Cowboys.
Vick 342 yards passing and 98 rushing were backed up with four touchdowns, and a perfect 12/12 passing forth quarter on his way to a quarterback rating of 122.6. Numbers, which in the end could have been the final evidence, needed to hand Vick his first major award as a professional. For the first time this season, the Falcons receivers all came out in full force working as a cohesive unit. Roddy White led the way with three touchdowns on 7 receptions and 88 yards. Alge Crumpler led the team with 95 receiving yards on 5 catches, while Michael Jenkins and Ashley Lelie had big games with 7 receptions for 64 yards and 4 receptions for 84 yards respectively.
Things got off to an awful start for Atlanta as on Atlanta opening series Vick sustained a blow to the shoulder after a Juran Bolden, a former Falcons, caught Vick in the open field after a short scramble. Vick left the field in evident pain, and was replaced by Matt Schaub, who was unable to cap off the Falcons drive with points, as Derrick Brooks picked him off in the redzone. A twist of fate would later be revisited as after Vick returned later in the first quarter, he would come meet Bolden again one on one in the open field where this time Vick would plant a stiff arm on Bolden which would leave him shaken up and injured.
The Bucs would be the first to put point on the board as a 55 yard hookup between Chris Simms and Joey Galloway would set up a 37 yard field goal by Matt Bryant.
With Vick returning to action in the second quarter, everybody was nervous and anxious to see how he would perform after the injury, and at first it didn’t look to promising, as he was unable to place the football where he wanted to on passes, and seemed tentative when scrambling, hoping not to re-aggravate the injury. With his team deep in their own territory, Vick went back to throw but was faced with immense pressure, Vick let loose one of his rocket passes sailing 50 yards into the air, hoping for the best on way down, however that was not to happen as Ronde Barber would out jump everyone to intercept the pass and give the Bucs great field position looking to add to their lead. Matt Bryant’s second field goal this time from 49 yards would make the score 6-0 late in the half.

Jimmy Williams breaks up the pass intended for Joey Galloway.

Before halftime, Vick was able to regain some momentum, as he showed early glimpse’s off his clutch ability leading the Falcons down the field on a productive two minute drill which ended with a Michael Koenen 39 yarder.
With the score 6-3 at halftime, the Falcons found themselves lucky to be only trailing by three after little offensive production and a defense which seemed porous against the pass.
In the second half, things didn’t seem to change much, as on the Falcons first possession a quick three and out resulted from a Warrick Dunn run on third and short where he was met at the line by Simeon Rice for a loss. The usually productive Dunn was ineffective today rushing for a season low 27 yards on only 12 carries.
Tampa Bay would open up the game after a string of big plays in the third quarter. After a 15 yard penalty on rookie Jimmy Williams gave the Bucs great field position Chris Simms would hookup with tight end Alex Smith for a 28 yard touchdown score as Smith would overpower the smaller defensive back Jason Webster. Following the touchdown Vick would grow further frustrated after he fumbled the football away on a designed quarterback run. Derrick Brooks would recover the football.
After Carnell Williams would suffer an injury on a short run, Michael Pittman would replace the second year back, and provide a huge boost, as he would make the most of the opportunity taking a toss play and using key blocks to run into the endzone for a 20 yard score. After the score was just 6-3 minutes ago, the Bucs had exploded for 17 unanswered points putting them ahead 203, leaving the Falcons shocked and frustrated with little offense to show for the effort, and the defense playing as a unit which still has not meshed together.
Before the forth quarter began, no one really had in mind what was going to escalate, the Falcons players still had a body language of a team lost and looking for an identity, while the Bucs players looked relieved after they thought they had secured the win and avoided going a miserable 0-6 in division play this season.
Early in the quarter the Falcons offense would finally get on the same page as Vick would begin to show signs of consistency hooking up with White, Crumpler and Jenkins for big gains, before finally finding Roddy White for a touchdown cutting the deficit to 20-10, and giving the Falcons a slight chance of a comeback.

MVP, MVP, MVP.

However all vibes of an Atlanta comeback were quickly put to rest as Simms would beat the Falcons defense again, this time finding Michael Clayton for a 64 yard catch and run for the score, which included poor tackling by a trio of Falcons defenders, DeAngelo Hall, Lawyer Milloy, and Chris Crocker. With the score 27-10 with 6:47 to go it looked all but over for the Falcons, who seemed set to lose yet another game in Tampa Bay.
With little hope left Vick still kept a strong mindset that a win was still possible. Vick would hookup with Ashley Lelie in the flat for a completion, Lelie would turn up field and do what Atlanta had brought him in to do, which was turn small gains into big gains. Lelie would outrun the Bucs defense to the endzone for a 54 yard score, making the score 27-17, still a deficit which seemed too large to comeback from.
What made a comeback for Atlanta seem even more unlikely was the fact that they would have to rely upon a defense which hadn’t stopped the Bucs all game long.
However after forcing an impressive three and out courtesy of great pursuit by linebackers Keith Brooking and Jordan Beck, who had taken over for the injured Ed Hartwell, the Falcons were soon to get the ball back, with little under three minutes left in regulation.
Vick would then enter a untouchable zone, as he brought the Falcons within an earshot of winning the game as he hookup with Roddy White for another touchdown making the score 27-24. Every time Vick went back to throw, it seemed as if he was not going to be stopped, even when the pocket collapsed he was as agile as ever evading tacklers sprinting to the sideline and stopping the clock. Vick went 5/5 on the drive for 57 yards.
The Falcons defense needed to come up big one last time to give Vick a chance at completing the improbable. Once again quick pursuit was the key as another three and out left just enough time for Vick to try and give the Falcons the win, after only minutes ago they looked like they were on their way to the blowout loss.
Vick hot passing continued early in the drive as a 10 yard completion to White, 14 completion to Crumpler and 5 yard dump off to Jenkins put the Falcons in field goal range. However with the way the Falcons were playing they was no need to play it safe and leave the game in the hands of Koenen, an unreliable kicker. After Vick scrambled for 13 yards and hookup up with Lelie to put the Falcons on the Bucs 13 yard line, time was running slim, and Mora knew it was time to go for the winner. With ten second left Vick dropped back looking for Crumpler in the endzone, but after Crumpler would find himself matched up with Brooks and out of position to make the catch, Vick scrambled to the left, and found White cutting back in, Vick fired a pass to White, who after making the catch on three yard line, had to make a desperate lunge for the pylon to score. White would barley touch the nose of the football on the pylon for the score for his third touchdown of the day, and the most important, as the 17 point deficit was wiped out and the Falcons had beaten the Buccaneers 31-27.
After the game all spotlight was on Vick, who was cool and composed considering what he had just done, With a 10-3 record, the Falcons have basically clinched a playoff berth, though it is not official, but still have their eyes set on the bigger prize of clinching home field advantage in the playoffs as well as winning the NFC South division.

Game Boxscore.