Nfc Playoffs | Atlanta Falcons Tickets

Ryan Still Confident in Falcons’ Offense

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — Matt Ryan and the Falcons are expecting better offensive production in Atlanta’s important final regular-season game against Carolina.

The Falcons can win the NFC South division title and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs by beating the on Sunday. A loss wouldn’t be the end to the season, but it would definitely take away much of the luster.

Ryan has thrived in clutch situations this season, but when his last two passes fell incomplete in Atlanta’s loss to New Orleans Monday night, it put new importance on Sunday’s contest against the Panthers.

Ryan’s nickname gained popularity as he led Atlanta to six wins this season with go-ahead scores in the fourth quarter or overtime. “Matty Ice” needs another strong showing Sunday.

Ryan said the 17-14 loss to the showed that late-game victories can’t be taken for granted.

“There’s nothing given,” Ryan said Thursday. “There’s nothing automatic in this league. But with that said, we have the same expectation that in a tight game, late in the game, we’re going to make the plays that we need to win. We just didn’t do that at the end of the last game. We had some chances and just didn’t make the plays that we needed to.

“It’s a learning experience. It keeps us motivated and hopefully we do a better job of it this week.”

Ryan’s clutch performances helped lead to his first Pro Bowl selection this week. Late-game heroics from Ryan have become so common Atlanta players say they were shocked to see the Falcons stopped late in the loss to the Saints.

“There was never a doubt in our mind we were going to win,” said fullback Ovie Mughelli. “It just didn’t happen in this game. It hurt so much because we’re so used to winning after eight wins in a row.

“We fully expected to drive down there and somehow to at least get in field goal range. When it didn’t happen, I think a lot of us were stunned.”

The Falcons were held to 215 total yards and Ryan completed 15 of 29 passes for only 148 yards and a touchdown in the loss.

The Saints contained Roddy White, who leads the NFL with 109 catches. White was shadowed by an extra defensive back and had only three catches for 43 yards, including a 7-yard catch for a touchdown.

The Falcons say they must do a better job with their running game and passing to tight end Tony Gonzalez and receivers Michael Jenkins and Douglas when defenses focus on White.

The Falcons have five newly named Pro Bowl players from their offense: Ryan, Mughelli, Turner, White and Gonzalez. Ryan said an offense with so many weapons shouldn’t be held to 14 points.

“I think we just need to play better,” Ryan said. “We had opportunities to take advantage of some of the things they were doing against us, and we just didn’t play well enough.

“I think it comes down to us. … We need to execute better and if we do that we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

Falcons coach Mike Smith said the Panthers may try defensive strategies that worked for the Saints, including extra attention on White.

“That’s been going on for quite some time and over the last couple of weeks probably more snaps of it,” Smith said. “Again, when you’re a Pro Bowl player and you have the production Roddy has, you’re going to get that attention.

“We have to be prepared to make sure we have a plan to offset that. … I think when they take something away they’re going to leave something open, and we’ve got to make sure we can find it and go ahead and execute because they can’t take everything away.”

The Falcons won 31-10 at Carolina on Dec. 12.

If Carolina beats Atlanta and New Orleans beats Tampa Bay, the Falcons would lose home-field advantage and the first-round bye.

Ryan said there’s no danger of taking the Panthers lightly with so much on the line.

“I think everybody in here knows what’s at stake,” Ryan said. “We don’t need to talk about it. I don’t think anybody is looking further than this week.”

Notes: White and LB Curtis Lofton were given routine days off from practice. DT Jonathan Babineaux (shoulder) and center Todd McClure (ankle) also did not practice. DE (groin) and DE Kroy Biermann (calf) were limited. … Smith said he was proud to have seven players on the Pro Bowl team. He mentioned Babineaux, PK Matt Bryant and OT Tyson Clabo as also deserving.

Falcons Eager to Send Message to Super Bowl Champs

The defending champs have been looking up at the Atlanta Falcons for more than two months.

About time for the New Orleans Saints to send a message.

“We’ve got an opportunity late in the year to maybe re-establish the balance of power,” fullback Heath Evans said. “They came to our house and beat us the first time, and now we’ve got the test to try to do that to them. It won’t be an easy one, for sure.”

New Orleans (10-4) lost to the Falcons at home in the opening month of the season and has trailed the Falcons in the NFC South ever since an upset loss to Cleveland on Oct. 24.

While the Saints have won six out of seven since then, Atlanta (12-2) hasn’t stumbled at all. An eight-game winning streak has the Falcons on the verge of wrapping up their first division title since 2004 and home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.

They can accomplish both with a victory Monday night over their biggest rival.

“That’s a lot of good things,” Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan said. “When you put yourself in good position all year, you know games are going to mean something down the stretch. There’s certainly a lot at stake. … We know that.”

The Falcons have even given themselves some margin for error. They’ve already locked up a playoff spot. Even if they lose to the Saints, they will merely need to beat Carolina (2-13) at home in the regular-season finale to lock up everything that’s at stake in this one.

But New Orleans isn’t the only team trying to send a message Monday night.

“You never want to leave any doubt,” said Roddy White, the Falcons star receiver and chief provocateur. “That’s the tone in our locker room. We want to beat these guys again, because we don’t want to leave any doubt. You never want to lose to a team, then have them come back and play you again.”

Indeed, both teams realize there’s a very real possibility they’ll be facing each other again in a few weeks in the playoffs.

“We definitely want to finish this season off strong,” New Orleans running back Reggie Bush said. “The playoffs are coming up and if we’re able to beat Atlanta and kind of leave something in the back of their minds for the potential rematch in the playoffs, then that’s what we want to do.”

Atlanta comes in with an eight-game winning streak, its longest run since reaching the only Super Bowl in franchise history during the 1998 season.

The Falcons clearly believe they can make it back again, and they’ve sure put themselves in the best possible position with just two games left before the playoffs. One more win ensures a first-round bye and means they wouldn’t have to play another game away from the Georgia Dome this season — unless they make it to Dallas for the title game.

Not a bad place to be, either. At home, the Falcons are 6-0 this season, 19-3 in Mike Smith’s three years as coach and 19-1 with Ryan as the starting quarterback.

“Obviously with the record we’ve been able to amass playing at home, it’s an advantage for us,” tight end Tony Gonzalez said. “We need to go out there and exploit it.”

The Saints had hoped to come into this game with a shot at tying for the division lead, but a loss at Baltimore last week left them two games behind the Falcons with two to play. New Orleans has yet to secure a playoff berth, either, and would prefer not to go into the season finale against Tampa Bay in a must-win situation.

Either way, the Saints know they’ll likely face a much tougher road to the Super Bowl than they had a year ago.

Road is the operative word here. Last season, New Orleans claimed its spot in the title game with a pair of playoff victories at the Superdome. This time, it’s likely to be three road games standing in the way of a return appearance, even if the Saints knock off the Falcons.

Of course, winning in Atlanta would be good experience for what New Orleans could face in the postseason.

“We have to go on the road in a place they’ve played extremely well in. We have to find a way to win,” quarterback said. “Indeed, if that becomes our journey in the playoffs, say if we’re a five seed on the road, we have to be able to go into hostile environments and win games in playoff atmospheres. This will be one of those atmospheres.”

Atlanta is playing at home for the first time since a Nov. 28 victory over . The Falcons are eager to clinch the fourth division title in franchise history in front of the home folks.

“We’ve been on the road for a long time,” Gonzalez said. “It’s going to be good to get back home.”

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.