ATLANTA -- It wasn't a fairy tale season for the Falcons, but the team made sure to write a happy ending.
Atlanta closed out 2007 Sunday with a 44-41 victory over the playoff-bound Seattle Seahawks. The win was the first of Interim Head Coach Emmitt Thomas' career and, in spirit, did a little bit to erase the pain caused by quarterback Michael Vick's incarceration on federal dog fighting charges and the abrupt resignation of former coach Bobby Petrino with three games remaining on the schedule.
The Falcons painted the final chapter of the year with large, broad strokes that included three turnovers from the defense and 364 yards and eight scores from the offense. Quarterback Chris Redman led Atlanta to its best offensive outing of the season, completing 17 of 27 passes for 251 yards and a career high four touchdown passes.
Tight end Alge Crumpler caught two touchdown passes in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, taking advantage of a fumble and an interception by Seattle backup quarterback Seneca Wallace.
The team's 44 points were the most since putting 51 on Carolina in 1998.
Before the final horn, Thomas got the traditional Gatorade shower along the sideline. It could be seen as symbolic for victory and the washing away all the frustrations of the 2007 season.
"I knew it was coming, but I was trying to get away," the coach said. "They managed to hold me up and get the job done, but after a win like that I will take it. I was so happy that it didn't even matter."
"Holding up" and "getting the job done" could be larger themes to the last quarter of the season, which featured Petrino's resignation, a blowout loss at Tampa Bay, an overtime defeat last week at Arizona and Sunday's emotional shootout.
"Everyone on this team is a professional," Thomas said. "When (Owner and CEO Arthur) Blank asked me to take over this team I wanted to make sure we prepared this team the best we could, install some character to the team and show the players some love. I am so happy that we got a win this week because we were so close last week. They will head into the offseason with a win and will be able to come back next season and show people that they still have life in them."
The Falcons (4-12) surrendered a touchdown on the opening drive as Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks offense engineered a 10-play, 77-yard march that ended with a Shaun Alexander touchdown. Seattle faced no third downs on the drive and appeared on its way to another solid day.
But the Falcons regrouped.
Redman led the offense to three scoring drives in the second period. In fact, the team punted just once more the entire game and finished with five touchdowns and three Morten Andersen field goals.
"This was a great way to end the season, especially knowing that everybody put up their best effort," Redman said. "This has been a tough season, but everybody showed great resolve through it all. Coach (Hue) Jackson spoke in front of the team and gave us a great speech about not quitting and showing pride as professionals."
Hasselbeck and other Seahawks starters stayed in the game for the rest of the first half as the Falcons clawed their way to a 17-17 tie at intermission.
Atlanta then hit a second gear as the afternoon went on.
Seattle (10-6) won the time of possesion battle for the game but fell victim to two one-play drives to start the fourth quarter. Wallace's first turnover came when Jonathan Babineaux recorded a sack and a forced fumble, which was recovered by Montavious Stanley. That play gave the Falcons a first down at the Seattle 19 and led to Crumpler's second touchdown reception.
On the Seahawks next snap, Wallace threw an interception to Chris Crocker (his third of the season). On the next play Redman found wide receiver Roddy White for a 10-yard score. In doing so, White finished off a 1,202-yard receiving season -- the fifth-highest season total in franchise history.
Crumpler also scored on a 55-yard pass play on the first snap of the fourth quarter. That touchdown tied the game at 27. The Falcons went on to score a season-high 24 points in the fourth quarter (21 in the first 1:40). The team would not trail for the rest of the game.
"We got a win. That was the only thing I was worried about -- trying to get into the new year with a win under our belts," said Crumpler who finished the game with a team-high 67 receiving yards. "It was about us sticking together for three hours and we did that today."
The victory means more since it came on the season's final Sunday.
"I've longed to have a smile on my face at the end of a ball game at some point this season," Crumpler added. "With all the adversity and turmoil we've been through I just wanted us to be able to walk off the field with a smile on our face. Obviously there are no more games this season -- no playoffs, no Pro Bowls, nothing. This was it. Our guys stuck it out. The coaches that were here stuck it out and we were able to win the game."
Other milestones are almost too numerous to list.
Adam Jenning's 61-yard kickoff return marked a personal high and led to a 37-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
Warrick Dunn became just the seventh player in NFL history to record at least 10,000 rushing yards and 4,000 receiving yards in a career. He also recorded his fourth rushing touchdown of the season and rushed for 70 yards. As a team, the Falcons notched more than 100 yards rushing for the fourth straight game.
Wide receiver Joe Horn, who has been slowed by foot and hamstring injuries this season, notched his first touchdown as a Falcon and 58th of his career.
Andersen added another game to his scoring streak, which now stands at 360. It's the longest streak in the league.
The Falcons registered four sacks in the game, including the first from rookie Stephen Nicholas, two from John Abraham and one from Babineaux, who was playing agianst his brother, Seahawks defensive back Jordan Babineaux.
Of course, the Falcons will look to add to those individual victories in 2008, which begins in just more than 24 hours. And it couldn't come any sooner -- or with more good feeling -- than Sunday's final chapter, which will act as a prologue to another novel of Falcons history.
"The whole time we've been saying amongst ourselves 'Hey, we just have to face it and keep moving forward regardless of the circumstances,'" linebacker and team captain Keith Brooking said. "Eventually we're going to come out on top of this thing victorious and this organization will get it turned around. We just control what we can control and that's working every day and getting the best out of this day."
"It feels real good," added running back Jerious Norwood. "We came out fired up and have a little time off now. We can kind of get ready for next year. It's going to be a different team next year. We'll be ready to roll."
MORE FROM THE FALCONS-SEAHAWKS GAME:
- NEWS: Draft position narrowed, 2008 opponents set
- BOARDS: Talk about the Draft on FalconsLIFE
- GAMEDAY: All the coverage from the Falcons-Seahawks game
- STATS AND PLAY-BY-PLAY: NFL.com Game Center
- GAME NOTES: Updates and injury news from the Georgia Dome press box
- INACTIVES AND STARTERS: Inactives and starters from Week 17
- QUOTABLE: Thoughts on the game -- and the season -- from Falcons players and coaches
- VIDEO: Interim Head Coach Emmitt Thomas
- VIDEO: Quarterback Chris Redman
- VIDEO: Defensive end John Abraham
- VIDEO: Tight end Alge Crumpler
- VIDEO: Safety Lawyer Milloy
- VIDEO: Defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux
- AUDIO: Linebac ker Keith Brooking
- VIDEO: Falcons-Seahawks Highlights
- VIDEO: Can't Miss Play: Crumpler
