ATLANTA — The Atlanta Falcons made plenty of mistakes. Fortunately, they had Michael Turner and John Abraham.
Turner ran for 152 yards, Abraham had three sacks, and the Falcons finished off a sloppy performance with Jason Elam’s 34-yard field goal in overtime, pulling out a crucial 13-10 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday to tighten up the NFC playoff race.
Atlanta twice turned it over near the Tampa Bay end zone and had a huge breakdown on special teams late in the fourth quarter, allowing Tampa Bay to block a punt that set up Matt Bryant’s tying field goal with 48 seconds left in regulation.
But the Falcons (9-5) stuffed Tampa Bay on the first possession of overtime as Abraham sacked fill-in quarterback Brian Griese on third down. After the punt, Atlanta drove 55 yards for Elam’s winning kick, handing the Bucs (9-5) their second straight loss.
The Falcons pulled even with Tampa Bay behind first-place Carolina, strengthening their playoff hopes and ensuring their first winning season since 2004.
Turner had his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the season against a Tampa Bay defense that was looking for redemption after giving up 299 yards on the ground in a loss to Carolina. The Bucs surrendered 175 yard to the Falcons, most of them piled up by their battering ram of a running back.
Turner had a career-high 32 carries, including a 1-yard touchdown early on that gave Atlanta a 10-0 lead. He was running just as hard at the end, breaking off runs of 17 and 9 yards in OT, the latter setting up Elam’s winning kick.
Abraham had his third three-sack game of the season, giving him 151/2 overall.
The Bucs had to go without starting quarterback Jeff Garcia, who was sidelined by a calf injury. Griese completed 26 of 37 for 269 yards, hooking up with Antonio Bryant on a 20-yard touchdown with 11 seconds left in the first half.
Atlanta overcame a subpar game by Matt Ryan, who threw two interceptions and fumbled twice. But he hit Roddy White with a 14-yard pass on the winning drive.
Late in the fourth, with the Falcons leading 10-7, Brian Clark got around a blocker just enough to get his right hand on Michael Koenen’s punt. The Bucs returned the loose ball to the Atlanta 22 and looked to win it, but Abraham put them in a hole by sacking Griese.
Bryant, who earlier in the quarter had missed from 53 yards, kicked a 38-yarder to send the game to overtime.
The Falcons jumped ahead 10-0 in the first quarter but two turnovers deep in Tampa Bay territory kept the Bucs in the game.
Looking to build on a 10-0 lead, Ryan got greedy and went for the touchdown on second-and-8 from the Tampa Bay 34. The pass was underthrown and Aqib Talib picked it off at the 1.
With its advantage cut to a field goal, Atlanta squandered a huge chance to restore its 10-point lead in the third quarter. Ryan found Jason Rader alone down the right sideline, and the backup tight end hauled in the pass and headed for a touchdown.
But Bucs safety Jermaine Phillips stripped the ball from behind just as Rader was going in, and Phillip Buchanan picked it up in the end zone. The officials initially ruled TD, and Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden challenged. Even though several replays looks inconclusive, Terry McAulay apparently found an angle that showed the ball coming loose before Rader scored.
The ref overturned the call and gave Tampa Bay possession on a touchback.
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