ATLANTA — Jake Delhomme nearly made it through an
entire game without a turnover.
Then, with just 2 1/2 minutes to go, Chris Houston handed
the Carolina quarterback a familiar setback.
Matt Ryan threw three touchdown passes in the first half
and Houston stopped a Delhomme-led rally at the end, intercepting a pass at the
Falcons four yard line to preserve Atlanta's 28-20 win over the Panthers on Sunday.
Delhomme had accounted for 11 turnovers in his two
previous games, including a four-interception, one-fumble fiasco against
Philadelphia to open the season. He was much better against the Falcons (2-0),
completing 25-of-41 for 308 yards and a touchdown.
But the result was the same for the Panthers (0-2).
Another loss.
Ryan had a big first half for the Falcons, including
another touchdown pass to new favorite receiver Tony Gonzalez, who made a
brilliant fingertip grab on a 24-yard score. Jason Snelling and Roddy White also
hauled in TD throws, giving Atlanta a 21-13 lead at the break.
Ryan completed 13 straight passes at one point and
finished 21-of-27 for 220 yards, though he did have his first interception of
the season.
The Falcons looked to be in good shape after Michael
Turner powered over from the one yard line with 12:27 remaining, stretching the lead to
28-13.
Back came Delhomme and the Panthers. A 10-play, 80-yard
drive made it 28-20, and Carolina was in position to force overtime with a
touchdown and a two-point conversion after driving to a first down at the
Falcons 17. But three straight incompletions left the Panthers in desperation
mode.
On fourth-and-10, Delhomme tried to force in a pass to
Steve Smith near the end zone. Houston stepped in front to pick it off before
being slammed out bounds by Smith, who had a huge game with eight catches for
131 yards despite being hurt on the final play of the first half.
The Panthers had one last chance after forcing an
Atlanta punt. Delhomme completed four straight passes to get the ball to the
Atlanta 43 with eight seconds left.
One final pass was hurled toward the end zone, where the
Falcons had stationed 6-foot-5 receiver Brian Finneran as an extra defensive
back. Finneran and Brent Grimes went up together to bat the ball down — but
nearly knocked it to a Carolina receiver.
Dwayne Garrett dove for the ball and rolled over
cradling it, but it clearly hit the turf before he got his hands extended. The
replay officials upstairs ordered a review, just to make sure the clock had run
out when the pass hit the turf.
Referee Don Carey went in the replay booth to take
another look, and the game ended strangely with only the head coaches and a
couple of players still on the field.
DeAngelo Williams scored on a 3-yard run to give
Carolina a short-lived 10-7 lead early in the second quarter. John Kasay kicked
a couple of field goals, including a 50-yarder.