Week #5
Sunday, Oct.14, at Georgia Dome, 10:00am PDT
vs
31
OT
37

San Francisco 49er's receiver Terrell Owens out runs Atlanta Falcons defesive back Ronnie Bradford as he scores the winning touchdown on a pass from quarterback Jeff Garcia in overtime in Atlanta, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2001. The final score was 37-31. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
ATLANTA (AP) -- The San Francisco 49ers had done it all before against Atlanta.

Fall behind by double digits. Rally for the tying score in the final seconds of regulation. Complete a 52-yard pass and win in overtime.

Jeff Garcia threw his third touchdown pass of the game to Terrell Owens, a 52-yarder with 6:16 left in overtime Sunday, giving the 49ers a 37-31 victory over the Falcons.

"Whoa!" coach Steve Mariucci said. "We have been around some crazy games before, but that one takes the cake."

Actually, it was just a higher-scoring version of Week 1, when San Francisco (4-1) beat the Falcons 16-13 in overtime.

In that game, the Niners rallied from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit. Jose Cortez kicked a 20-yard field goal with 11 seconds left in regulation to tie it, then booted a 24-yarder on the first drive of the extra period after Tai Streets turned a short completion into a 52-yard gain.

"We are growing every single week," said Garcia, leading the Niners to their best start since 1998 -- the last season they made the playoffs.

The last two years, San Francisco was 10-22.

Garcia was brilliant again, completing 27 of 41 for 332 yards -- just 3 yards fewer than he had in the first game against the Falcons.

Owens didn't have a reception in the first half, but wound up with nine catches for 183 yards.

"I just kept with it," he said. "Once I get my hands on the ball, anything can happen."

Rallying from an early 14-0 hole, San Francisco tied the score at 31 when Garcia hooked up with Owens on a 17-yard TD with 17 seconds left in regulation.

The Falcons (2-3) caught a break in overtime when the Niners drove to Atlanta's 16 on their first possession, only to have Garcia fumble a snap.

Atlanta couldn't take advantage, going three-and-out to give Garcia another chance. He quickly redeemed himself.

On third-and-5 at the San Francisco 48, Owens got Falcons cornerback Ray Buchanan to bite on a fake to the inside, broke a tackle along the sideline from Ronnie Bradford and coasted into the end zone for the winning TD.

"I got challenged on the play and didn't make the play," Buchanan said. "It shouldn't boil down to that, but it did, and I'm man enough to live up to it."

Owens, who also caught a 33-yard scoring pass from Garcia late in the third quarter, dunked the ball over the crossbar after scoring.

The final 4:44 of regulation featured two lead changes before Owens scored the tying touchdown.

Kevan Barlow scored on a 4-yard run to put the Niners ahead for the first time, 24-23. The Falcons responded with Chris Chandler's 47-yard touchdown pass to Brian Finneran, with a 2-point conversion stretching Atlanta's lead to 31-24.

Finneran dunked the ball over the crossbar after his first career touchdown, a foreshadowing of Owens' move after the winning TD.

But first, the Niners had to tie it. They did with a 10-play, 72-yard drive. Garcia completed five straight passes and ran twice before an incompletion left San Francisco with second-and-10 at the Atlanta 17.

Owens cut toward the middle on a slant pattern, beating Darrien Gordon and hanging on to the ball after hits by Ashley Ambrose and Bradford. Owens gave the ball a spin to celebrate, saving his best move for last.

Chandler, who went out with a concussion the previous week in a 31-3 loss to Chicago, completed his first six passes to help stake the Falcons to a 14-0 lead.

Bob Christian caught a 5-yard scoring pass. Maurice Smith, starting his second game in place of Jamal Anderson, scored the first rushing touchdown of his career on a 3-yard run before the opening period was over.

Garcia scored on a 7-yard run in the second period, but Jay Feely kicked field goals of 39 and 24 yards to give the Falcons a 20-7 lead at halftime.

Feely's third field goal, from 36 yards with 8:49 remaining, pushed Atlanta to a 23-17 lead, setting up the wild finish.

Game notes

Atlanta's Michael Vick, the NFL's top draft pick, did not play for the first time this season. ... San Francisco's Garrison Hearst returned to the stadium where he suffered a severe ankle injury in the 1998 playoffs. He rushed for 78 yards and caught five passes. ... Niners safety Lance Schulters went out with a dislocated right shoulder in the first quarter. A trainer popped it back in, and Schulters returned to finish with five tackles and a sack. ... San Francisco won at the Georgia Dome for the first time since 1997, snapping a four-game losing streak.




 
FINAL
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
OT
Total
San Francisco
0
7
10
14
6
37
Atlanta
14
6
0
17
0
31
..... 
 
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Quarter
ATL TD Bob Christian, 5 Yd pass from Chris Chandler (Jay Feely kick is good), 09:58. Drive: 8 plays, 81 yards in 5:02.
ATL TD Maurice Smith, 3 Yd run (Jay Feely kick is good), 00:55. Drive: 8 plays, 92 yards in 4:58.
2nd Quarter
SFO TD Jeff Garcia, 7 Yd run (Jose Cortez kick is good), 09:27. Drive: 11 plays, 80 yards in 6:28.
ATL FG Jay Feely 39 Yd, 04:14. Drive: 7 plays, 11 yards in 2:32.
ATL FG Jay Feely 24 Yd, 00:12. Drive: 9 plays, 69 yards in 1:33.
3rd Quarter
SFO FG Jose Cortez 27 Yd, 09:19. Drive: 13 plays, 67 yards in 5:41.
SFO TD Terrell Owens, 33 Yd pass from Jeff Garcia (Jose Cortez kick is good), 00:51. Drive: 3 plays, 42 yards in 1:20.
4th Quarter
ATL FG Jay Feely 36 Yd, 08:49. Drive: 4 plays, 1 yards in 2:08.
SFO TD Kevan Barlow, 2 Yd run (Jose Cortez kick is good), 04:44. Drive: 9 plays, 74 yards in 4:05.
ATL TD Brian Finneran, 47 Yd pass from Chris Chandler (Chris Chandler pass to Shawn Jefferson for 2 Pt. Conversion), 02:22. Drive: 6 plays, 72 yards in 2:22.
SFO TD Terrell Owens, 17 Yd pass from Jeff Garcia (Jose Cortez kick is good), 00:17. Drive: 10 plays, 72 yards in 2:05.
Overtime
SFO TD Terrell Owens, 52 Yd pass from Jeff Garcia, 06:16.

 
 
Team Statistics
SFO
ATL
1st Downs 27 21
Rushing 10 5
Passing 16 12
Penalty 1 4
3rd-Down Conversions 10-15 6-14
4th-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0
Total Net Yards 517 342
Total Plays 77 62
Average Gain 6.7 5.5
Net Yards Rushing 187 88
Rushes 35 24
Avg. Per Rush 5.3 3.7
Net Yards Passing 330 254
Comp.-Att. 27-41 19-36
Yards Per Pass 7.9 6.7
Sacked-Yards Lost 1-2 2-14
Had Intercepted 0 1
Punts-Average 4-49.2 5-43.2
Return Yards 167 167
Punts-Returns 1-19 3-36
Kickoffs-Returns 7-134 6-131
Int.-Returns 1-14 0-0
Penalties-Yards 8-70 4-30
Fumbles-Lost 4-2 1-0
Time Of Pos. 36:57 31:47

 

Passing
49ERS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Jeff Garcia 27 41 332 65.9 8.10 1 2 3 0
FALCONS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Chris Chandler 19 36 268 52.8 7.44 2 14 2 1

Rushing
49ERS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Garrison Hearst 12 78 6.5 31 0 0
Jeff Garcia 14 70 5.0 25 1 0
Kevan Barlow 8 38 4.8 20 1 0
Fred Beasley 1 1 1.0 1 0 0
FALCONS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Maurice Smith 20 50 2.5 24 1 0
Chris Chandler 2 22 11.0 22 0 0
Bob Christian 2 16 8.0 14 0 0

Receiving
49ERS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Terrell Owens 9 183 20.3 52 3 0
Tai Streets 4 51 12.8 28 0 0
Garrison Hearst 5 35 7.0 10 0 0
Fred Beasley 2 20 10.0 15 0 0
J.J. Stokes 2 17 8.5 13 0 0
Eric Johnson 3 11 3.7 6 0 0
Justin Swift 1 8 8.0 8 0 0
Kevan Barlow 1 7 7.0 7 0 0
FALCONS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Shawn Jefferson 6 74 12.3 25 0 0
Alge Crumpler 2 58 29.0 47 0 0
Terance Mathis 4 50 12.5 19 0 0
Brian Finneran 1 47 47.0 47 1 0
Bob Christian 3 15 5.0 8 1 0
Rodney Thomas 1 15 15.0 15 0 0
Reggie Kelly 1 9 9.0 9 0 0
Maurice Smith 1 0 0.0 0 0 0

Kicking
49ERS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
Jose Cortez 1 1 100.0 -- 4 4 100.0 7
FALCONS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
Jay Feely 3 3 100.0 -- 2 2 100.0 11

Punting
49ERS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TB
Jason Baker 4 49.2 -- -- -- --
FALCONS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TB
Chris Mohr 5 43.2 -- -- -- --

Kick/Punt Returns
49ERS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Vinny Sutherland 6 128 21.3 -- -- 1 19 19.0 -- --
Paul Smith 1 6 6.0 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --
FALCONS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Darrick Vaughn 5 117 23.4 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --
Brian Kozlowski 1 14 14.0 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --

Defense
49ERS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS TD
Jason Webster 6 6 0 0.0 0 0 1 -- --
Jeff Ulbrich 6 5 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Lance Schulters 5 5 0 1.0 8 0 0 -- --
Zack Bronson 4 3 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Julian Peterson 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Ahmed Plummer 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Ronnie Heard 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Andre Carter 4 2 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jamie Winborn 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Anthony Parker 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
John Engelberger 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Bobby Setzer 2 1 1 1.0 6 0 0 -- --
Dana Stubblefield 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Chike Okeafor 1 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
FALCONS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS TD
Keith Brooking 9 6 3 0.0 0 1 0 -- --
Ronnie Bradford 8 7 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Mark Simoneau 8 7 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Ashley Ambrose 6 6 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Marty Carter 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Ray Buchanan 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Travis Hall 4 2 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Patrick Kerney 4 3 1 1.0 2 0 0 -- --
Gerald McBurrows 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Henri Crockett 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Shane Dronett 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Conrad Hamilton 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Matt Stewart 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Brady Smith 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Edward Jasper 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Chuck Wiley 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Darrick Vaughn 1 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --

....