[dogwood30]

TODAY IN THE NJLMFL- NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Los Angeles Rams at Atlanta Falcons........Georgia Dome

The Los Angeles won their 5th NFC crown tonight with a 24-19 victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Atlanta Falcons. Stephen Jackson had the big night for the Rams scoring 3 TD's.

RECAP
1st Quarter
Rams took the opening kickoff to their own 33. Stephen Jackson broke off a 30 yard run to the Atlanta 37. After Jackson gained another 7 on the ground QB Vince Ferragamo completed his first pass of the day for a TD hitting Jackson out of the backfield for a 30 yard score and a 7-0 Rams lead. Atlanta's KR Alan Rossum returned the kick to the LA 47 but Atlanta went 3 and out. The Rams got the ball back and ran out the quarter.

2nd Quarter
On the first play of the 2nd quarter the Falcons blocked the Rams punt and Scott Case recovered on th LA 21. The Falcons could not convert the big break into a TD so they settled for a 31 yd FG by Jay Feely to make it 7-3. The Rams started their next drive at their own 27 and were able to move it to the Atlanta 45 with Ferragamo hitting Jackson for 17 yards and Henry Ellard for 9. The drive stalled and the Rams punted to the Falcons 12. Again the Falcons went 3 and out as Matt Ryan could not complete a pass. Atlanta punted and Nolan Cromwell returned the punt from his own 49 to the Atlanta 43. On 3rd and 11 Ferragamo hit Henry Ellard for 25 yards to the Atlanta 19 with 1:24 left in the half. On the next play Stephen Jackson cut left and ran for a 19 yard TD and a 14-3 Rams lead. With less than a minute to go in the half matt Ryan got hot. Starting from his own 20 Ryan hit Alfred Jenkins for 15 yards to the 35 and Atlanta took their first timeout. Ryan then scrambled for 4 yards and got out of bounds at the Atlanta 39. Ryan scrambled again for 12 yards to the LA 49 and took timeout #2 with :18 left. Ryan then hit Jenkins down to the Rams 22 and he got out of bounds with :10 to go. Ryan then ran it 11 yards to the Rams 11 and used their final timeout. Jay Feely hit a 28 yarder to make it 14-6 Rams at the half.

3rd Quarter
The Falcons came out smokin' when Alan Rossum returned the second half kick 63 yards to the Rams 33 yard line. On first down William Andrews who had been held in check in the first half blew through a big hole and ran 33 yards to paydirt and less than a minute into the half it was a 14-13 game. The Rams started from their own 34 and began to pound their running game at the Falcons. After runs by Jackson and Dickerson moved the ball to the Rams 47 Ferragamo hooked up with Flipper Anderson for 38 yards to the Atlanta 15. The Falcons dug in and stopped the Rams and Jeff Wilkins kicked a 25 yd Fg to make it 17-13 LA. After the kick Atlanta went 3 and out as the Rams secondary blanketed the Falcons recievers. The Falcons punted and the Rams took over at their own 29. Dickerson and Jackson ran 3 times for 14 yards getting a first down at their own 43 as time ran out in the 3rd.

4th Quarter
On the first play of the final quarter Jackson broke off another long run. This time 48 yards all the way down to the Atlanta 8. After Dickerson gained 1yard Jackson finished off the drive with a 7 yard TD run for his third score of the game and it was 24-13 with 12:04 to go.Atlanta returned the kick to their own 40 but were flagged for a personal foul which pushed them back to the 25. Ryan misfired on two passes and then ran for 5 yards to their own 30. It was 4th and 5 from their own 30 with 5:38 left so Coach Jerry Glanville decided to let the season ride on 4th down. Ryan came through hitting Jenkins for 14 yards to the 44 and a first down. On the next play Ryan found Jenkins again for 40 yards to the LA 16. Andrews then lost a yard and Ryan threw incomplete. On 3rd down Ryan was sacked by Jack Youngblood and fumbled .Larry Brooks scooped up the loose ball at the 24 and ran it back 26 yards to midfield. With just 3:57 left LA was moving in for the kill. Dickerson ran twice for 4 yards forcing Atlanta to burn 2 timeouts then Jackson made his only mistake of the game when he fumbled and Atlanta's Claude Humphrey recovered at the Falcons 44 with 3:12 to go. Ryan ran for 6 yards then hit Andrews for 17 yards and a first down at the Rams 36 at the 2:00 warning. On the next play Ryan hit Alfred Jenkins on a perfect post route and with a good mve scored from 36 yards out to make it 24-19 with 1:38 to go and their was still hope. The Falcons went for 2 and Ryan was stopped just short of the endzone and the 2 point try failed keeping it a 24-19 game. Atlanta tried an onsides kick but Flipper Anderson recovered fro the Rams. Three short runs by Dickerson ran out the clock and gave the Rams the NFC Title. The Rams and Titans will now meet in Super Bowl 49 in San Diego.

STATS
LA- Jackson 13-129 yds 2 TDs plus a 30 yd TD reception
LA- Dickerson 16-29 yds
LA-Ferragamo 7-9 for 131 yds 1TD
ATL- Andrews 6-42 yds
ATL- Anderson 1-0 yds
ATL Ryan 7-47 yds
ATL- Ryan 6-14 149 yds 1TD 1F

SCORING

Los Angeles 7-7-3-7- 24
Atlanta 0-6-7-6-19

1st QTR

LA- Jackson 30 yard pass from Ferragamo (Wilkins kick). 7-0 8:54

2nd QTR

ATL- Feely 31 yd FG................................................ ....7-3 12:19
LA- Jackson 19 yard run (Wilkins kick)............................14-3 1:03
ATL- Feely 28 yd FG................................................ ...14-6 :00

3rd QTR

ATL- Andrews 33 yard run (Feely kick)............................14-13 14:16
LA- Wilkins 25 yd FG................................................ ....17-13 5:39

4th QTR

LA- Jackson 7 yard run (Wilkins kick)...............................24-13 12:04
ATL- Jenkins 36 yd pass from Ryan (2 pt try failed)............24-19 1:38

Photos
1. Ferragamo to Jackson 30 yd TD
2. Jackson 19 yd TD
3. Jackson 7 yd TD
4. Jenkins beats Irvin
5. Dickerson runs out the clock.
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