The dream lives.

Matt Ryan completed 18 of 35 passes for 250 yards and three scores, leading the Falcons to a 31-3 rout of the hapless Buffalo Bills at the Georgia Dome on Sunday. Atlanta, which improved to 8-7 with the win, can clinch the first back-to-back winning seasons in franchise history with a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa next week.

Tampa shocked New Orleans in overtime later Sunday. As for this one, it was not much of a game.

Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was a game-time decision with an ankle injury, could not answer the bell for the Bills. Second-year signal-caller Brian Brohm, Buffalo's third-stringer, was pressed into action for the first time in his NFL career.

He was not sharp, completing 17 of 29 passes for 146 yards and two interceptions. His longest completions were a pair of 15-yarders to Lee Evans and Terrell Owens, who also caught No. 1,000 of his career in this one.

You had a feeling the Falcons had this one in the bag from the start, as Ryan found Roddy White for a 42-yard TD on Atlanta’s first offensive play from scrimmage. It was the first of two touchdown grabs for White, who became just the second Falcon to notch more than 1,000 receiving yards in three straight seasons.

Buffalo on the other hand looked like, well, the terrible Buffalo Bills. No rushing game. Very little from the offense. Terrible on defense. As a result, that vengeful Falcon will have to wait another week if he wants to extend the dreaded back-to-back winning season curse.

The Good: Atlanta’s defense was fantastic in this one.

With Brohm making his first NFL start, you knew that Buffalo would want to try to establish the running game to take the pressure off the young quarterback. But Fred Jackson was unable to get anything going on the ground, rushing 13 times for just 39 yards for the team from upstate New York.

The defense also pressured the young QB from the start, sacking him on the first drive. Brent Grimes and rookie Chris Owens picked off Brohm, and rookie Lawrence Sidbury took on the whole Bills team, beating them to the end zone on an 11-yard fumble return for a touchdown.

Matt Ryan was back on his game, finding the end zone three times for the first time since Week 2 against the Carolina Panthers. He has not thrown an interception in his last four games. Roddy White finally got back over the 100-yard mark, coming down with the football eight times for a season second-best 139 yards.

Roddy White had reason to celebrate on Sunday, gaining 139 yards against the Bills to put him over the 1,000-yard mark.

The Bad: There’s not much bad to take out of this one for the Falcons. But once again, the injury bug seemed to bite the Birds.

Atlanta lost tight end Tony Gonzalez to a calf injury and punter Mike Koenen to a head injury in the third quarter. With kicker Matt Bryant limited with a hamstring injury, defensive lineman Kory Biermann was pressed into kickoff duties for the Falcons.

Things got so ugly that Atlanta would have used backup quarterback Chris Redman to punt in the second half of the game. Fortunately, his services were not needed.

The zebras also loved to throw that flag in this one, throwing the yellow bean bag 16 times for 130 yards. Atlanta was flagged six times for 70 yards.

The Ugly: When you grow up in New York and go away to college upstate, you are going to run into a lot of Buffalo Bills fans. And those fans had a lot to be proud of about their team back in the day, even if they never got that elusive Super Bowl ring.

Not anymore.

The Bills are a terrible, terrible football team right now.

Let’s take a look at the box score: 40 net rushing yards, 138 net passing yards, a whopping 1-for-10 in third down efficiency. Their longest play from scrimmage was 15 yards. The Bills made it into Atlanta territory three times in the game and never made it into the red zone.

They simply didn’t have a chance.

Up next for the Dirty Birds: The Falcons spread their wings for the final time this season at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, taking on the upstart Buccaneers. Tampa, which upset the New Orleans Saints this week, will seek to spoil Atlanta’s hopes of notching back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in franchise history.

-- PHIL FOLEY