Falcons Slip, Slide Past Bucs : Miller Hits Haynes With Scoring Pass for a 17-10 Victory

ATLANTA —  Michael Haynes wound up on his back, but ended up exactly where he wanted to be.

Haynes, a rookie from Northern Arizona, fell down but still held on to a 37-yard touchdown pass with 11:20 left Sunday to give the Atlanta Falcons a 17-10 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“Well, it was kind of mushy out there,” Haynes said of the field conditions after rain fell most of the game. “Chris put the ball in there, but I had to kind of throttle down for it.

“My feet slipped out from under me, but I got on into the end zone. I was glad to make the catch. It was kind of fun.”

It was the fourth victory in five games for the Falcons (5-8). The Buccaneers (3-10) lost for the seventh time in eight games.

Atlanta’s winning touchdown came three plays after John Settle ran 48 yards to the Tampa Bay 42. The Falcons drove 90 yards to score after Ray Criswell’s 33-yard punt was downed on the Atlanta 10.

“We did the right things again at the end and I’m happy for our football team and I don’t know how you looked at it, but I thought it was beautiful,” Atlanta Coach Marion Campbell said.

The Buccaneers trailed, 10-0, at halftime but tied the score in the third quarter on a 24-yard field goal by John Carney and a 2-yard touchdown run by Lars Tate, capping an 80-yard drive that featured the passing of Vinny Testaverde.

Testaverde had passes of 24 yards to Mark Carrier, and 24 and 29 yards to Ron Hall to set up the score.

The Falcons took a 3-0 lead on a 40-yard field goal by Greg Davis and made it 10-0 on an 8-yard scoring run by Settle with 46 seconds left in the first half.

Tampa Bay had a chance to tie the score when Dan Turk recovered a fumble by Atlanta’s Lew Branes at the Falcon 49 on a punt.

However, Scott Case intercepted a pass by Testaverde three plays later. Case intercepted another pass by Testaverde with 1:28 left, and Atlanta ran out the clock.

“I think we lost to a better team,” Tampa Bay Coach Ray Perkins said. “We knew they were playing good defense coming in. It was our worst defensive game all season.”

Testaverde, who completed 12 of 29 passes for 190 yards, threw 3 interceptions, running his NFL-leading total to 31. Testaverde also ran for 58 yards in 5 carries.

Miller completed 14 of 24 passes for 121 yards, with 1 interception, while Gerald Riggs rushed for 92 yards in 18 carries and Settle added 83 yards in 12 rushes.

The game drew only 14,020 fans, with 13,360 no-shows.