Atlanta Falcons

Matt Ryan Flip to Mohamed Sanu Gives Falcons Early Lead (Video)

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 12:32 a.m. ET

Fansided, Cody Williams/FanSided via NFL Spin Zone

Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons offense got off to a hot start in the NFC Championship Game, complete with a flip to Mohamed Sanu for a touchdown.

Every bit of adulation that the Atlanta Falcons offense received coming into the 2017 NFC Championship Game has certainly been deserved. With Matt Ryan, an MVP candidate, at the helm and a balance overall attack, the offense is incredibly dangerous. Ryan showed the porous Green Bay Packers defense just how dangerous it actually can be.

On the first drive from the Georgia Dome on Sunday, the Falcons started on their own 20-yard line and then made it look easy. Ryan threw the ball eight times and the drive may not have taken as long as it did if Taylor Gabriel hadn’t dropped a pass in the flat with room to run. That didn’t faze the quarterback, though, who kept driving into the red zone where he then made a nifty little play to cap it off.

Inside the 5-yard line on third down, Atlanta wanted to set the tone with an early touchdown. At 5-of-7 on the drive, Ryan then dropped back to pass to make it happen. However, the play broke down a bit and hit couldn’t find an open man. Instead, the Falcons quarterback scrambled a bit—something totally out of character—and then flicked his wrist to flip a tricky pass to Mohamed Sanu right in front of him across the goal line:

Matty Ice escapes the pocket.
And flips it to Sanu for the TD!

What a play! #GBvsATL #NFLPlayoffs https://t.co/6afvWPn8FW

— NFL (@NFL) January 22, 2017

That may not be the play that might win Matty Ice the MVP, but that doesn’t mean it’s not pretty.

Ryan has been out of his mind all season long and it’s a good sign for Atlanta that he was able to come up big early on in the NFC Championship Game. He and the offense have looked unstoppable for much of the year—and the Falcons would love for it to stay that way to finish.