Streaking Falcons Aiming for ‘Summa Cum Laude’

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga.. Fullback Ovie Mughelli says the Atlanta Falcons want to graduate from the regular season at the top of the NFC’s class.

“We’re trying to get summa cum laude and graduate from the regular season with high honors,” Mughelli said Thursday.

The Falcons (9-2) are on track for straight A’s. Their five-game winning streak is the team’s longest since its 1998 season. They will try to protect the NFC’s best record on Sunday at Tampa Bay (7-4).

The Falcons could lock up home-field advantage through the NFC playoffs by finishing 14-2 with five more wins. That’s a lofty goal, but the schedule is manageable.

Atlanta’s only other remaining test against a team with a winning record is a Dec. 27 home game against New Orleans (8-3), now one game behind the Falcons in the NFC South. The Falcons have two games remaining against Carolina (1-10) and a visit to Seattle (5-6).

The visit to Tampa Bay begins a stretch of three straight road games for the Falcons, including games at Carolina and Seattle.

If the Falcons can keep stretching their winning streak in the regular season and then take advantage of home-field advantage in the playoffs, their next road trip could be to Dallas for the Super Bowl.

Most Atlanta are following coach Mike Smith’s mandate of focusing on one game at a time, but tight end Tony Gonzalez acknowledged he has looked ahead to that possible trip to Dallas.

“I have ran that over in my mind,” Gonzalez said. “We’re trying to stay focused in the moment but it’s human nature, you start to think about what could be and there’s nothing wrong with that because you’ve set your goals to get there, if you set high goals.”

The Falcons are peaking on offense just in time for the December stretch. Their 10 turnovers are the fewest in the NFC, including no turnovers in the last four games — a franchise record.

The Falcons are protecting the ball during time-consuming drives. Their 24 drives lasting 5 minutes or longer are the most in the NFL.

Michael Turner ranks fifth in the league with 974 yards rushing, while Matt Ryan is having his best season with 19 touchdown passes and only five interceptions.

But Mughelli said the Falcons can play better on offense.

“The one thing we haven’t done is put teams away,” Mughelli said. “We’ve got to do that with bad teams, we’ve got to do it with good teams. We’ve got to do it anytime we have the opportunity, to put that nail in the coffin.

“In a couple of games as you look through the season, we haven’t done that and we’ve had to just hope and pray our defense holds onto our lead. We have to learn to get that killer instinct. We have it, we just need to work on it a little more and execute a little more to enforce it.”

The Falcons beat Arizona 41-7 in Week 2 and have only one other win by more than 10 points, a 34-17 win at St. Louis on Nov. 21.

The five-game winning streak also includes narrow wins over Cincinnati, Tampa Bay, Baltimore and .

Receiver Roddy White said the Falcons, who have losses at Pittsburgh and at Philadelphia, also have to disprove doubters who say they’re a top team only at the Georgia Dome.

“Everybody knows we’re tough at home but they question us on the road and things like that,” White said. “We just have to continue to work hard and get better each week.

“The expectation is to win, to win every game from here on out and put ourselves in a good position at the end of the season.”

Notes: Running back Jason Snelling (hamstring) was held out of practice for the second straight day. Smith said he hopes Snelling is ready for “limited snaps” in Friday’s practice. Snelling is second on the team with 300 yards rushing and two touchdowns and third with 35 catches for 239 yards and two touchdowns. … Another backup running back, Antone Smith, also was held out with a hamstring injury.

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Ryan, Streaking Falcons Protect NFC’s Best Record

ATLANTA. Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons plan to enjoy January in the Georgia Dome.

The Falcons (9-2) are motivated to protect the NFC’s best record — they want home-field advantage in the playoffs.

They aren’t getting ahead of themselves, though, not with three straight regular season road games in December, including this week’s visit to Tampa Bay.

Ryan’s hot hand gives the streaking Falcons hope they can extend their five-game winning streak. His only incompletion in the second half of the 20-17 win Sunday over the was a throwaway before Matt Bryant’s game-winning field goal.

Ryan has no interceptions in the last four games, helping the Falcons post their first four-game stretch with no turnovers in franchise history.

Ryan completed a career-best 86 percent of his passes — 24 of 28 — for 198 yards with a touchdown against Green Bay.

“He’s just not making any mistakes,” said Falcons receiver Roddy White of the third-year quarterback.

The Falcons are 19-1 when Ryan starts at the Georgia Dome the last three years and 19-3 overall at home under coach Mike Smith.

“It is an emphasis for us, knowing we have to win at home because it’s difficult to go on the road,” Smith said Monday.

The Falcons’ five straight wins includes only one by more than 7 points. It’s their longest winning streak since their 1998 season.

The Falcons know the best path back to the Super Bowl is with as many home playoff games as possible. That’s why beating Green Bay was especially important.

“It was a big win because they’re a good football team,” said Ryan of the Packers. “We know if we continue to take care of our business we’re going to play more teams like that down the road.”

Atlanta is one game ahead of New Orleans and two games ahead of Tampa Bay in the NFC South. The Falcons visit the Buccaneers this week.

The Falcons didn’t panic after the Packers tied the game with a 16-play drive that ended with only 56 seconds remaining. Overtime was not in Atlanta’s plan.

“We’ve been in those situations quite a bit this year and we’ve been successful in those situations,” Ryan said.

Ryan has led the Falcons to a game-winning score in the fourth quarter or overtime in five games this season.

“We’re used to it,” White said. “We were calm, cool and collected on the sideline.”

No nerves?

“No, we got Matty Ice,” White said. “Ice cold. He just keeps moving the sticks.”

Ryan has thrown seven touchdown passes in the streak of four straight games without a turnover.

His passer rating has been over 100 in three straight games. He said he didn’t realize he was close to perfect in the second half.

“I didn’t even realize I hadn’t thrown an incompletion until the end of the game,” Ryan said. “I was just going out there trying to make good decisions and be accurate with the ball.”

Michael Turner also is on a roll. He had 23 carries for 110 yards and a touchdown against Green Bay. It was his fourth 100-yard performance in the last five games.

After the game, Turner shook his head when asked if the players were motivated to post their third straight winning season for the first time in franchise history. Before the current run, the Falcons never managed back-to-back winning seasons.

“We’re not the Falcons of old,” Turner said.

Turner signed as a free agent from San Diego before the 2008 season. Turner, Ryan and Smith are in their third seasons in Atlanta.

“Once we got together, we started winning,” Turner said. “We’re building a new tradition. Three winning seasons in a row, we’re not even blinking right now. We’ve got our eyes set on something bigger.”

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Falcons Keep Low Profile Despite NFC-Leading Mark

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga.. The Atlanta Falcons are at their best when playing takeaway.

The NFC-leading Falcons (8-2) have outscored opponents 73-30 in the fourth quarter. Coach Mike Smith attributes much of the late success to a turnover margin that ranks second in the league.

When winning the turnover battle, Atlanta is 17-1 in three years under Smith. This season, the Falcons have a plus-10 margin in takeaways, which trails only Philadelphia.

Coming off a 34-17 victory at St. Louis, the Falcons have a four-game winning streak and lead New Orleans and Tampa Bay by one game in the NFC South heading into Sunday’s big contest against another division leader, the .

Like every coach, Smith recites a familiar mantra to his players every spring when they report for mini-camp: Win the turnover battle, and you win games.

The team has clearly taken the message to heart. Atlanta is 7-0 this season when it has fewer turnovers than the opponent.

“We’re plus-one this week, so we’re now plus-10,” Smith said Monday. “We’re second in the league, and when you get the turnovers and don’t turn the ball over and you’re on the plus side, you’re basically stealing possessions.”

Not that it’s been easy. The Falcons have needed fourth-quarter magic to beat St. Louis, Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Cincinnati.

Safety William Moore was the latest hero, picking off Sam Bradford’s shuttle pass at the Atlanta 1 before Michael Turner’s 39-yard touchdown run one possession later sealed the win.

“We just got away for a minute in the end there,” Turner said, “but it was pretty tight throughout the whole game.”

The Falcons aren’t just satisfied with multiple takeaways and minimal giveaways. Ranking second in time of possession, second in third-down offensive efficiency and seventh in rushing, Atlanta has found a strong formula for winning.

Defense creates turnovers. Offense scores points.

But it also helps that quarterback Matt Ryan is becoming a master at making the correct pre-snap reads, calling plays from no-huddle formations and making use of several targets.

Ryan benefits from having three elite playmakers in Turner, NFL receiving leader Roddy White and tight end Tony Gonzalez, but he also gets starting wideout Michael Jenkins and several reserves involved in the passing game.

Against the , a four-man tandem of reserves — tight end Justin Peelle, running back Jason Snelling and receivers Brian Finneran and Eric Weems — combined to catch seven passes for 70 yards, two touchdowns and three third-down conversions.

If there was one complaint about Sunday’s win, the Falcons scored just two touchdowns in five red-zone opportunities. But Ryan was still pleased to put up points on four straight first-half possessions as he changed the offensive tempo, switching out of the no-huddle.

“We had some quick snaps, but we also used some clock and also some dummy cadences to kind of get a look from them,” Ryan said. “I think we were more effective in our no-huddle, but we also had great field position.”

It was enough for the Falcons to return home with their 11th victory in 13 games dating to Week 15 last season.

Maybe the national buzz hasn’t swept up the Falcons. They don’t mind a bit.

“It was a good win for us, but again we’ve got another tough opponent this week,” Ryan said. “We’re going to need to get back to work and prepare the way we have all year.”

Notes: Smith said the decision to rest team sacks leader (groin) was easy. It was the first game Abraham has missed under Smith. “We believed it was in our best interests to hold him out, knowing that we’ve got a long, hard part of our season coming up, especially now with three of the next four games on the road,” the coach said.

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