Falcons, Patriots Head to Super Bowl

By ESPN

Matt Ryan tumbled into the end zone, slammed the ball to the turf with a thunderous spike, and let out a scream that showed just how much he wanted this game.

He wants the next one even more.

With another MVP-worthy performance and plenty of help from Julio Jones, Matty Ice guided the Atlanta Falcons to a 44-21 rout of the Green Bay Packers for the NFC championship Sunday, a showing that erased any doubts about whether Ryan can win the big games.

In his ninth season, he's finally headed to his first Super Bowl .

Call him Super Matty.

"We'll enjoy it because it's hard to get to this point. I know that from experience," Ryan said. "But our ultimate goal is still in front of us."

The Falcons (13-5) will face Tom Brady and the Patriots on Feb. 5 in Houston, just the second Super Bowl appearance in Atlanta's 51-year history. Eighteen years ago, they lost to Denver in John Elway's final game.

New England, heading to its ninth Super Bowl, blew out Pittsburgh 36-17. The Patriots opened as a 3-point favorite.

Ryan threw for 392 yards and four touchdowns, but it was his 14-yard scoring run -- his first TD on the ground since 2012 -- that really set the tone .

Jones was right in the middle of things, too. After barely practicing during the week because of a lingering toe injury, he finished off the Packers with a 73-yard catch-and-run on Atlanta's second snap of the second half, pushing the lead to 31-0 and essentially turning the rest of the Georgia Dome finale into one long celebration.

"He's a beast," Ryan said. "I've been lucky to play with him as long as I have. He was impressive today. I know he wasn't feeling his best, but he's a warrior."

Jones finished with nine catches for 180 yards and two scores, which included a toe-dragging catch for a 5-yard touchdown with 3 seconds left in the first half, sending the Falcons to the locker room up 24-0.

After the break: the play that showed every one of Jones' remarkable skills . He blazed down the middle of the field, shook off LaDarius Gunter's attempt to grab him on a cut toward the sideline, hauled in the pass from Ryan, broke Gunter's diving attempt at tackle, and defiantly knocked away Damarious Randall's with a brutal stiff-arm.

"I didn't practice that much throughout the week," Jones said, "but today I came out and gave it all I had."

Ryan sparked more delirious chants of "MVP! MVP! MVP!" as he carved up an injury-plagued Packers secondary that had no way of stopping a team that averaged nearly 34 points a game during the regular season and romped to a 36-20 victory against Seattle's Legion of Boom last week.

The Packers, riding an eight-game winning streak and coming off a thrilling upset of the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys , got a taste of what they'd be in for on Atlanta's very first possession. Driving 80 yards in 13 plays, the Falcons converted three third downs, the last when Ryan scrambled away from pressure and flipped a shovel pass to Mohamed Sanu for a 2-yard score.

Aaron Rodgers pushed the Packers quickly into Atlanta territory with a 27-yard pass to Jordy Nelson, who missed the previous game with a rib injury. But Mason Crosby, who hit two field goals longer that 50 yards in the closing minutes against the Cowboys, pushed a 41-yard attempt right of the upright to snap a playoff-record streak of 23 straight field goals.

The Falcons drove the other way, settling for Matt Bryant's 28-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead. Then, with Green Bay poised to make a game of it, Atlanta's much-maligned defense -- one of the lowest ranked in the NFL -- came through a momentum-swinging play. Fullback Aaron Ripkowski was breaking tackles and rumbling toward the end zone when Jalen Collins stripped the ball from behind and fell on it just across the goal line for a touchback.

"Their offense is hot right now," Rodgers said. "Playing a team like that, you've got to start faster. We had no points in the first half. You're not going to win many games like that."

After the fumble, Ryan hooked up with Jones three times for 56 yards and finished it off from the 14 with some surprisingly nimble running skills, faking out one defender with a pump fake before sprawling into the end zone.

"I just saw a lane open up," said Ryan, who had a 1-4 record in the playoffs over his first eight seasons. "That's the longest run I've had in a while. It came at a good time."

Patriots 36, Steelers 17

The Tom Brady redemption tour is headed to the Super Bowl.

After beginning the 2016 season suspended for four games for his role in the "Deflategate" scandal, the New England quarterback relentlessly carried the Patriots to an unprecedented ninth appearance in the title game, and his seventh.

Brady threw for a franchise playoff-best 384 yards and three touchdowns in a 36-17 rout of the helpless Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in New England's sixth consecutive AFC championship game.

The Patriots, who have won nine in a row, are early 3-point favorites heading to face Atlanta in two weeks in Houston, seeking their fifth NFL title with Brady at quarterback and Bill Belichick as coach. Belichick's seventh appearance in a Super Bowl will be a record for a head coach.

Brady was banned by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell when New England (16-2) went 3-1 to open the schedule.

Since his return in Week 5, the only defeat came at home to Seattle, and Brady, 39, had one of the best seasons of a Hall of Fame-caliber career.

He punctuated that in dreary weather similar to the 2014 conference title game that precipitated the deflated footballs investigation by flattening Pittsburgh's secondary.

"This is my motivation right here, all these fellas in front of me, these guys," Brady said, pointing to his teammates and ignoring mentions of "Deflategate." "The boys showed up to play today."

Brady's main weapon was Chris Hogan. The previously unheralded receiver found open spaces everywhere on the field against a leaky secondary. Hogan caught nine balls for 180 yards and two scores.

"It's been a long journey, but I've worked really hard to get to this point," said the product of Monmouth -- yes, Monmouth. "I couldn't be happier to get to be a part of this thing, this team -- this whole thing."

Top wideout Julian Edelman added eight receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown as Brady tied Joe Montana's playoff record with nine three-TD passing performances. Brady also had his 11th 300-yard postseason game, extending his NFL record, completing 32 of 42 throws.

"We won a lot of different ways under a lot of different circumstances," Brady said. "Mental toughness is what it is all about and this team has got it. We'll see if we can write the perfect ending."

The ending for Pittsburgh (13-6) was anything but perfect. It lost star running back Le'Veon Bell late in the first quarter to a groin injury.

That didn't seem to matter much in a record 16th conference title match for the Steelers, who made mistakes in every facet of Sunday's game. The 19-point loss ended their nine-game winning streak

The franchise that has won the most Super Bowls, six, and the most postseason games, 36, never seemed likely to challenge in the misty rain.

"We've got to be capable of overcoming those things," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "Injuries and so forth are part of the game. The reality is we didn't make enough plays in any of the three phases. The game kind of unfolded in the way they would like it to as opposed to the way we would like it to. Not only in score, but in style of play and so forth. We didn't get a lot accomplished tonight."

Hogan's second touchdown came on a flea-flicker and he easily beat safety Mike Mitchell to the corner of the end zone. At that point, Hogan had seven catches for 117 yards and the first multi-touchdown game of his four-year career.

His first score made it 10-0 and came after Brady could have taken a nap before throwing, a common occurrence against a nonexistent pass rush. Hogan was all alone in the back of the end zone for the 16-yard score.

Pittsburgh had drawn to 10-6 on DeAngelo Williams' 5-yard run to cap an 84-yard drive. Veteran Williams is a nice security blanket in the backfield, though he's no Bell these days.

Still, he contributed on a 70-yard drive toward the end of the second quarter that appeared to be capped by Jesse James' TD reception. But video review showed James down at the 1, and the Steelers couldn't get into the end zone, Chris Boswell connecting for a 23-yard field goal.

The Steelers never threatened to get back into it. LeGarrette Blount punctuated the romp with a bruising 18-yard run on which he carried nearly the entire Pittsburgh defense with him. He then scored from the 1.

By the end, the crowd was chanting "Where is Roger?" and celebrating yet another Super Bowl trip for the Patriots.

Soon after, tight end Martellus Bennett was boogeying with the cheerleaders, pompoms in hand , and owner Robert Kraft was accepting the Lamar Hunt Trophy.

"For a number of reasons, all of you in this stadium understand how big this win was," Kraft said. "And we have to go to Houston and win one more."

Sunday, February 5

Super Bowl

Atlanta vs. Boston, 5:30 p.m. (FOX)