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2013年1月14日 星期一

//Falcons survive late Seahawks rally, advance with 30-28 win//


ATLANTA -- They were still exhaling in relief, still soaking in an improbable postseason breakthrough when someone threw cold water on the Atlanta Falcons' post-game celebration a half-hour after they exorcized their postseason demons. Someone raised the name of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick after Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank said his "pair of Matty Ices'', quarterback Matt Ryan and kicker Matt Bryant, collaborated to complete a last-minute comeback that Bryant sealed with his 49-yard field goal for a 30-28 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC divisional playoffs. The first playoff win of the coach Mike Smith-Ryan era after four tries vaulted the top-seeded Falcons into Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the 49ers for the right to advance to Super Bowl XLVII. BOX SCORE: Falcons 30, Seahawks 28 All Kaepernick did in Saturday night's divisional throttling of Green Bay was gain 444 yards of offense -- all by himself. Kaepernick threw for 263 yards, two touchdowns and ran for another two touchdowns and 181 yards, a postseason rushing record by a quarterback that keyed San Francisco's 45-31 romp. In other words, Kaepernick is Russell Wilson squared. "We got that monkey off our backs, and now we've got to break new ground go get a championship win and hopefully go on to New Orleans to get another,'' safety Thomas DeCoud said, referencing Super Bowl XLVII. "We're going to see another physical team. This game gave us a cheat sheet for us to go see another good mobile quarterback.'' WHAT?: Sherman mocks White after touchdown Kaepernick is arguably a more dangerous threat than unflinching rookie Wilson, who rallied the fifth-seeded Seahawks from a 27-7 third-quarter deficit. "We're ready to do it all over again and play a little better than we did today,'' cornerback Dunta Robinson said. "I watched San Francisco play. It's going to be tough. We know how electrifying he (Kaepernick) was. "We learned if we want to go where we can go, we need to tackle and cover better than this.''