The top-seeded Atlanta Falcons needed a last-minute field goal to claim a nerve-jangling 30-28 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday despite squandering a 20-point lead in an exhilarating fourth quarter.
Atlanta will now host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in the National Football Conference championship game with a berth in the Super Bowl on the line.
Matt Bryant's 49-yard field goal with eight seconds to play put Atlanta ahead after the visiting Seahawks turned the game around in astonishing fashion with three touchdowns in the final quarter, almost pulling off one of the greatest NFL playoff comebacks of all time.
After trailing 27-7 at the end of the third, Seattle grabbed a one-point lead with 31 seconds left in the game, but Bryant's kick undid all that work.
"All in all it was an extraordinary game," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.
The Falcons had lost their last three playoff games, and the tension at the end was too much for Atlanta's veteran tight-end Tony Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is in his 16th season in the league and had never won a playoff game.
"I was on the ground sobbing like a baby," said Gonzalez, who had insisted this would be his final attempt to reach the Super Bowl. "I thought it was over. I've played 16 years and I thought 'here we go again,' especially with that big old lead, I guess it's just not meant to be."
It was a remarkable comeback attempt from Seattle, which would have been just the fourth time a team overcame a 20-point deficit to win a post-season game.
There was time for more drama as Atlanta botched the kickoff after Bryant's field goal, allowing Seattle possession on its own 46 yard line, but rookie quarterback Russell Wilson's Hail Mary throw to the end zone was intercepted as time expired.
There were brows being wiped around the Georgia Dome at the end of the battle, which gave Atlanta its first playoff win in the era of head coach Mike Smith and quarterback Matt Ryan.
In the previous three attempts, Atlanta had crashed out of the playoffs without a win, but for three quarters of Sunday's game it looked like a team determined to end that run.
Reuters
(China Daily 01/15/2013 page23)
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