At 27-7 in the third quarter, it looked as if the Seahawks were dead in the water. Fast forward to 31 seconds left in the game and 21 Seattle points later, and we saw an entirely different scene. The Falcons trailed 28-27 and were starring another playoff collapse square in the face.
The Falcons responded by quickly passing the ball into field goal range. Matt Bryant nailed a 49 yard game-winning field goal with just eight seconds remaining in the game. The kick bailed out the Falcons after they had blown a huge second half lead, but the end result is the same. The Falcons will be staying home to hose the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game.
While the Falcons blew a big lead late in the game, the biggest story line as I watched this game was the Seahawks' number of missed opportunities, especially in the first half. Seattle put themselves behind the eight ball throughout the first half, and they simply made it too easy for the Falcons to win the game.
On the Atlanta side of the coin, the win is great, but they'll need to play far better next weekend if they have any hope of moving on to the Super Bowl. Playing Russell Wilson is a great way to prep for Collin Kaepernick. San Francisco plays a very similar style of football in comparison to the Seattle Seahawks.
