NFL WEEK 9: High-flying birds

Atlanta (8-0) pulls away, holds off Dallas

Monday, November 5, 2012

— This week’s results THURSDAY’S GAME San Diego 31, Kansas City 13 SUNDAY’S GAMES Green Bay 31, Arizona 17 Chicago 51, Tennessee 20 Houston 21, Buffalo 9 Carolina 21, Washington 13 Detroit 31, Jacksonville 14 Denver 31, Cincinnati 23 Baltimore 25, Cleveland 15

Indianapolis 23, Miami 20

Seattle 30, Minnesota 20

Tampa Bay 42, Oakland 32

Pittsburgh 24, NY Giants 20

Atlanta 19, Dallas 13

OPEN NY Jets, New England, San Fran

cisco, St. Louis MONDAY’S GAME

All times Central

Philadelphia at New Orleans, 7:30 p.m.

ATLANTA - Unbeaten Atlanta scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Dallas Cowboys en route to a 19-13 victory at the Georgia Dome Sunday night.

“We didn’t do enough to win this game,” Coach Jason Garrett said of the Cowboys (3-5). “We have to find a wayto make enough plays to win. They are a very talented team. They won eight games for a reason.”

Atlanta (8-0) won as Michael Turner scored on a 1-yard run and Matt Bryant kicked two field goals in the fourth quarter to break open a close game.

Turner finished with 102 yards on 20 carries, includinga long of 43 yards. Matt Ryan threw for 342 yards, but no touchdowns. Roddy White had 7 catches for 118 yards and Julio Jones had 5 catches for 129 yards.

“They have a lot of weapons,” Garrett said. “They did a good job making moves in the open field and the yards after catch.”

Tony Romo passed for 321 yards and no interceptions. Miles Austin and Jason Witten each had 7 catches and Kevin Ogletree had 3 for 96 yards and 1 touchdown.

The Cowboys defense, similar to the previous weeks, controlled the game, but wilted late with a couple of key missed tackles.

“I thought our defense did a good job early forcing them to kick field goals,” Garrett said.

Dallas forced a punt on Atlanta’s first possession and Dwayne Harris returned the punt 33 yards to the Atlanta 31.

Seven plays later, Dan Bailey made a 23-yard field goalto make it 3-0 at the 10:46 mark.

Atlanta drove to the Cowboys’ 18, but on a third-and-2 play, Bruce Carter dropped Michael Turner for a 1-yard loss. On fourth down, Matt Bryant’s 37-yard field goal was wide right.

Dallas took over and struck quickly when Romo completed a 65-yard pass to Ogletree to the Falcons’ 18. Four plays later, Bailey made a 32-yard field goal for a 6-0 lead at the 3:42 mark.

Atlanta made it 6-3 on a 45-yard field goal by Bryant on the second play of the second quarter.

Dallas moved to the Falcons’ 37, but Ogletree dropped a pass from Romo on thirdand-7. Bailey missed a 54-yard field goal wide left.

Atlanta drove to the Cowboys’ 36, but was forced to punt.

From their own 3, the Cowboys moved to midfield where they punted on fourthand-inches.

Atlanta moved from its 12 to the Dallas 28 in 48 seconds where Bryant made a 47-yard field goal on the final play of the half to tie the game at 6-6.

“Obviously, we’d rather have touchdowns than field goals,” Garrett said.

Atlanta drove 81 yards in six plays with Turner scoring on a 1-yard run on the second play of the fourth quarter to make it 13-6.

Atlanta drove to the Cowboys’ 18 after another Dallas punt, but a sack, short run and an incompletion forced Bryant’s 36-yard field goal to push the Falcons lead to 16-6 with 7:49 left in the game.

Dallas went to its hurryup, no-huddle offense and it paid off.

Dallas drove 78 yards in six plays, with Romo completing a 20-yard touchdown pass to Ogletree for the touchdown to make it 16-13 with 5:21 left in the game. Romo completed all six of his passes, including two to Jason Witten, who became the Cowboys’ all-time leading receiver on the drive, passing Michael Irvin.

Atlanta got the ball back with 5:21 to play and reeled off three third downs, including two on short passes to Jacquizz Rodgers, to put the game away. Bryant made a 32 yard field goal to make it 19-13 with 17 seconds left.

Four plays later, the game ended with a completion to Felix Jones at the Atlanta 21.

“We have to stay together and go back to work,” Garrett said.

Sports, Pages 15 on 11/05/2012