With 1:42 seconds left in the game, Matt Ryan and Atlanta's offense took over from their own 32-yard line trailing 22-17. Ryan led the Falcons down the field and found tight end Austin Hooper in the end zone with five seconds on the clock.
Hooper's touchdown was eventually reversed and the Falcons still had time to run one more play.
"Obviously, I'm biased, I [wanted] to score the game-winner at home but at the end, Julio scored it for us," Hooper said. "Tremendous leader, tremendous brother in the locker room and we won, it really would have haunted me if we didn't. So, the fact that we won, all is well."
It was only fitting that the final throw of Ryan's day was to Julio Jones, who dominated the 49ers' defense all day. Jones finished with 13 catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns.
In typical Jones fashion, he started his post-game interview by recognizing his teammates for their part of the game-winning play.
"Eleven guys doing the right thing and being resilient," Jones said. "Hoop did a great job by running his route and taking his guy out of the picture. I came underneath Hoop, before the play, Matt told everyone try to get into the end zone and score. He delivered a strike to me and it was a touchdown."
Jones, safety Ricardo Allen and coach Dan Quinn said they thought Hooper's catch was a touchdown but at the end of the day, they were all just happy with the win at the end of the day.
Ryan described Jones' 5-yard touchdown as a "special play" and simply just a play "great players" make.
"Just a physical, strong catch by him. A great job of body awareness of knowing where he was at and making sure that the ball was across the plane," Ryan said.
The Falcons improve to 5-9 on the season and although they have been eliminated from the postseason, the way they finish the season is important to players in the locker room.
"Records aren't indicative of what a team is made of," Hooper said. "We got a lot of fight, we have a lot of grit, we have a lot of talent on this team. Just because we messed it up in the past doesn't mean we have to mess it up all the way."
