Miller Shakes Off Flu, Leaves Packers Feeling Ill : NFC: Quarterback comes on in second half to throw key passes, including game-winner to Rison with 41 seconds left. Falcons rally for a 35-31 victory.

Chris Miller had the flu, but the Atlanta quarterback also had a burning desire to see the Falcons stay in contention for the playoffs.

Miller rescued the Falcons from a 14-point deficit twice in the second half with two touchdown passes to Andre Rison, the last covering 16 yards with 41 seconds remaining for a 35-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

Miller, who awoke with a 103-degree fever, stayed in the locker room in the first half, listening to the game on the radio before doctors gave him two bags of an intravenous solution.

“I’m OK now,” he said after the game. “A little tired and drained.”

Said Falcon tackle Mike Kenn: “I told the guys Chris was hurt, and we better make sure nobody even smells him. When I saw him before the game he was in the back room in the fetal position shaking like a wet rag.”

Atlanta Coach Jerry Glanville said Miller’s skin was gray and chalky.

“He looked like death,” Glanville said. “I told him after the first series to go over and sit down and don’t move and drink a whole can of Gatorade.”

Atlanta’s game-winning touchdown came from a break.

Green Bay punter Paul McJulien bobbled a snap and was forced to keep the ball, running out of bounds at the Packer 41, well short of a first down.

“It was a great snap,” McJulien said. “I just dropped it. There’s no excuse.

“I guess it was a lack of concentration, and I know that in this business sorry isn’t good enough. I let the team down when they really needed me.”

After being sacked on first down, Miller completed a 10-yard pass to Mike Pritchard and a 21-yarder to Rison before connecting with Rison for the game-winner.

With Mike Tomczak passing for three touchdowns, two to Sterling Sharpe, the Packers eventually took a 31-28 lead on Chris Jacke’s 27-yard field goal with 3:21 remaining.

The Falcons (8-5) then drove from their 22 to the Green Bay 27, where Norm Johnson was lined up to try to extend his string of 13 consecutive field goals.

Consecutive false starts by Oliver Barnett and Chris Hinton set Atlanta back 10 yards, putting Johnson out of range.

The Falcons then tried a desperation pass on fourth and 16, but Miller’s attempt fell incomplete.

The Packers (3-10) took over but couldn’t sustain a drive, leading to McJulien’s bobbled snap.

Green Bay had a 14-point lead twice in the game before blowing it in a hurry in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons struck for two touchdowns in 11 seconds to erase a 28-14 deficit.

After Miller passed 20 yards to Rison for a touchdown with 9:48 remaining, Joe Fishback picked up Charles Wilson’s fumble on the kickoff and returned it 16 yards for a score.

Elbert Shelley had stripped the ball out of Wilson’s hands on the return.

It was the second fumble the Falcons turned into a score. On Green Bay’s first possession of the game, Darion Conner sacked Tomczak, forcing a fumble that Jessie Tuggle recovered at the 22, setting up Erric Pegram’s four-yard scoring run.

“This loss is a very, very tough one for all of us, there is no doubt about it,” Packer Coach Lindy Infante said. “We came into a tough place and played our hearts out. We just made too many mistakes.”

The Packers dominated the game between’s Pegram’s score and the fourth-quarter burst by the Falcons.

Tomczak’s scoring passes to Sharpe covered four and 20 yards and his other touchdown pass was a 13-yarder to Perry Kemp. Darrell Thompson scored on a 40-yard run, the longest of his career.