Two touchdowns from Patrick DiMarco have handed the Atlanta Falcons a 14-7 lead over the Indianapolis Colts at the halfway stage of their NFL clash at the Georgia Dome this evening.
The visitors were without first-choice quarterback Andrew Luck through injury, and his replacement Matt Hasselbeck got off to a shaky start when his first pass attempt was intercepted by Paul Worrilow.
Hasselbeck's mistake was not to prove costly as Matt Bryant's 46-yard field goal hit the upright, but the Colts gifted possession straight back to their hosts when Worrilow recovered a Frank Gore fumble.
The errors continued to come in a sloppy start to the game, with Matt Ryan's attempted pass towards Roddy White in the endzone being tipped and intercepted by former Falcon Dwight Lowery.
The first points of the contest finally arrived right at the end of the opening quarter, and it was the hosts who got them as Ryan found DiMarco wide open in the endzone for a 15-yard score.
The same two players combined again to double Atlanta's advantage, with Ryan this time picking out DiMarco from a yard to put the hosts in control.
Chuck Pagano's side were able to get themselves on the board before the half was out, with Hasselbeck finding Ahmad Bradshaw for a seven-yard score shortly after the two-minute warning.
They couldn't claw any more of the deficit back before half time, however, as they entered the break trailing by seven.
Barney Corkhill
