One down on the road back to the Super Bowl.
Two more to go.
The Falcons received a stellar performance from their special-teams units and the defense Saturday night to defeat the upstart Los Angeles Rams 26-13 in the wild-card round of the playoffs before 75,300 fans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The Falcons, the defending NFC champions, advance to the divisional round of the playoffs, where they will face the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles (13-3) at 4:35 p.m. Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Falcons jumped to a 13-0 lead, but needed all of Matt Bryant’s four field goals and Matt Ryan’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Julio Jones with 5:48 to play to move on in the playoffs.
In a magical play-call by offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, wide receiver Mohamed Sanu had a big 53-yard gain on a screen play in the late touchdown drive.
The last time the Falcons won a playoff game on the road was in the 2002 season, when Michael Vick led them to a 27-7 victory over the Green Bay Packers in historic Lambeau Field on Jan. 4, 2003.
The Falcons had lost four playoff games in a row on the road: at Philadelphia the week after the defeated the Packers, at Philadelphia in the 2004 season, at Arizona in the 2008 season and at the New York Giants in the 2011 season.
Here are the grades for the game:
Run offense: Despite getting stuffed early, the Falcons stayed with the run and eventually things worked out. The Falcons wanted to establish the run against the 28th-ranked run defense in the NFL, but for some reason opened the first series with three consecutive passes. The Rams were waiting for the running backs early and over-pursued, until the Falcons hit them with a Julio Jones reverse.
But that didn’t open things up either. Devonta Freeman (eight for 19) and Tevin Coleman (four for 15 yards) combined for 12 carries for a paltry 34 yards in the first half. Freeman had a 3-yard touchdown when center Alex Mack carried him in for the final two yards. Julio Jones’ 15-yard reverse was longest gain of the first half. On the opening drive of the third quarter, Freeman broke loose for a 22-yard gain over the left side of the line.
The line started to pound the Rams and eventually wore them down. Freeman rushed 18 times for 66 yards. Coleman 12 times for 37 yards. Grade: B
Pass offense: A pass play of 27 yards to Julio Jones sparked the Falcons near the end of the first quarter and led to a 51-yard field goal to make the score 6-0. Ryan didn't have much time and was sacked three times in the first half. The Falcons couldn't overcome poor starting field position in the first half, as Ryan completed 11 of 17 passes for 86 yards.
The footing was bad as several players were slipping, including left tackle Jake Matthews on the sack he gave up to Rams end Robert Quinn. Ryan slipped on his key touchdown pass to Jones, but had enough on the pass to get it to Jones. Ryan was 21-of-30 for 218 yards and one touchdown. Julio Jones had nine catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. Grade: B
Run defense: The linebackers did a good job of containing Rams running back Todd Gurley for the most part. He did break loose for 26-yard gain and for some unknown reason, free safety Ricardo Allen hit him out of bounds. Linebacker Deion Jones did a good job of diagnosing plays and filling his gaps. Gurley rushed for 101 yards on 14 carries. Grade: B-plus
Pass defense: On Cooper Kupp's 14-yard touchdown pass, wide receiver Robert Woods picked nickel back Brian Poole on the play. On the drive right before the half that resulted in a field goal, Desmond Trufant, who struggled for most of the day, was beaten inside by Woods for a 38-yard gain. Woods had nine catches for 142 yards. Grade: B-plus
Special teams: The Falcons received the first big break of the game when the Rams' Blake Countess touched a Matt Bosher punt that was recovered by LaRoy Reynolds on the Rams 17-yard line. That led to a field goal after the offense stalled. On the ensuing kickoff, the Falcons committed a special-teams penalty as Damontaee Kazee had a block below the waist. Instead of being bottled up at the 17-yard line, the Rams started the drive at the 32-yard line. Kazee made up for it by stripping Rams All-Pro returner Pharoh Cooper, and Kemal Ishmael recovered. The Falcons scored 10 points off the special-team turnovers to help build their 13-0 lead. It was too big of a hole for the Rams to climb out of. Grade: B
Coaching: The Falcons didn't fix their red-zone issues and had to keep settling for field goals. They entered the game 2-of-9 in the red zone over the previous two games. They were 1-of-3 in the red zone against the Rams after their opening drive to start the second half. The offensive line did come out with some fire after getting pushed around in the first half. The defense made Gurley earn his yards, and second-year quarterback Jared Goff was not able to beat them. Grade: B
Next up: The Falcons advance to the divisional round of the playoffs and will play the Philadelphia Eagles at 4:35 p.m. Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field. The game will be televised by NBC.
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