ST. LOUIS — Not too many big plays for the Atlanta Falcons. An avalanche of little plays did the trick.
Matt Ryan threw two touchdown passes and directed an offense so dominant that three St. Louis Rams defenders left with cramps in a 34-17 victory Sunday. All those chip-shot field goals added up too.
“We’d like to score more touchdowns,” Ryan said. “All in all, three points is good offensively.”
Sam Bradford had a pair of touchdown passes for the Rams, but the Falcons (8-2) won their fourth in a row and ended the Rams’ four-game home winning streak.
The Rams (4-6) had six first downs in the first quarter but only nine the rest of the way, and Bradford finished 27-for-42 for 233 yards.
“We knew time of possession was going to be a big part of this game,” Bradford said. “We knew if we wanted a chance to win we had to be on the field just as much as they were, and that wasn’t the case.”
Ryan was 26-of-39 for 253 yards with touchdown passes to Brian Finneran and Justin Peelle, and Roddy White set up scores with nine catches for 83 yards. Ryan has five touchdown passes without an interception the last two games and threw for gains of 10 yards or better to seven receivers.
“We’ve been efficient offensively the past four or five weeks,” Ryan said. “Going forward, that’s kind of a recipe for success. You become difficult to beat.”
The St. Louis defense forced three short field goals, but couldn’t get off the field quickly enough against an Atlanta offense that had a pair of drives that lasted 6:39 and 7:06 and held the ball for nearly 36 minutes. The Rams were so gassed that safety Oshiomoghe Atogwe and cornerbacks Ron Bartell and Justin King missed time with cramps.
Atlanta ran 70 plays, most of it in the no-huddle. St. Louis ran 54 plays.
“When you’re out there and trying to cover, it catches up to you,” Bartell said. “We have to do a better job, obviously, as far as making sure we hydrate properly before the game.”
