Falcons (OT)...13 Buccaneers...10

The Atlanta Falcons made plenty of mistakes. Fortunately, they had Michael Turner and John Abraham.

Turner ran for 152 yards, Abraham had three sacks and the Falcons finished off a sloppy performance with Jason Elam’s 34-yard field goal in overtime, pulling out a crucial 13-10 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to tighten up the NFC playoff race.

Atlanta twice turned it over near the Tampa Bay end zone and had a huge breakdown on special teams late in the fourth quarter, allowing Tampa Bay to block a punt that set up Matt Bryant’s tying field goal with 48 seconds left in regulation.

But the Falcons (9-5) stuffed Tampa Bay on the first possession of overtime as Abraham sacked fill-in quarterback Brian Griese on third down. After the punt, Atlanta drove 55 yards for Elam’s winning kick, handing the Buccaneers (9-5) their second straight loss.

The Falcons pulled even with Tampa Bay behind first-place Carolina, strengthening their playoff hopes and ensuring their first winning season since 2004.

Turner had his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the season against a Tampa Bay defense that was looking for redemption after giving up 299 yards on the ground in a loss to Carolina.

Quoteworthy: “I’m not going to take any credit away from Atlanta, but I don’t feel like they were the better team.” -- Antonio Bryant, Buccaneers receiver