Tampa, Fla. ? Michael Vick relished the role of spoiler.

“It feels great,” the Atlanta quarterback said.

Vick and the Falcons beat Tampa Bay, 30-28, Saturday, ending the Buccaneers’ hopes of overcoming injuries, the jettisoning of Keyshawn Johnson and other distractions to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

“For us to come down here and knock them out of playoff contention was big for us,” Vick said. “That was our goal all week — if we can’t go, they can’t go.”

It has been a miserable season for Atlanta (4-11), which lost Vick for the first 11 games because of a broken right leg. Coach Dan Reeves was fired 11 days ago, and the Falcons were coming off a 38-7 loss to Indianapolis in their debut under interim coach Wade Phillips.

But with Vick in the lineup, there’s always hope.

The third-year pro threw for 119 yards and two touchdowns against a Tampa Bay defense that shut him down twice last year. The Falcons’ defense did its part, too, intercepting four of Brad Johnson’s passes and scoring once.

A furious Tampa Bay rally fell short when Travis Hall batted down Johnson’s two-point conversion pass with 27 seconds remaining.

“I just did a good job feeling the protection, beating my guy outside and getting upfield quick and was able to get in Brad Johnson’s face,” Hall said. “It felt great because it wasn’t like just barely a tip. It was like one of those total volleyball rejections.”

With the Bucs trailing 30-7 going into the fourth quarter, Johnson threw three TD passes in the last 11 minutes, including an 11-yarder to Jameel Cook that gave Tampa Bay (7-8) a chance to send it into overtime.

But as they have on numerous other occasions this season, the defending champs couldn’t make one more play.

One week after being held to just 47 yards passing and 30 rushing in Atlanta’s loss to the Colts, Vick completed eight of 15 passes and ran 12 times for 38 yards.

He threw TD passes of six yards to Alge Crumpler and 13 yards to Brian Finneran in the first half, then led a long third-quarter drive that produced Jay Feely’s 37-yard field goal for a 30-7 lead.