Five reasons the Falcons have shot to 3-2 start

Falcons coach Mike Smith talks about the process. The process of practicing. The process of lining up for drills. The process of watching film.

Winning a game on the road was a big step in the process for Smith, in his first season as an NFL head coach.

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Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

Falcons rookie Matt Ryan has managed the huddle well and controlled the offense proficiently.

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“The next step for our football team is to put together back-to-back wins,” Smith said.

Here are five reasons why the Falcons’ process has them off to a 3-2 start:

• The Burner: The Falcons look like geniuses for signing Michael Turner to a $34.5 million contact. He’s powered the offense and allowed rookie quarterback Matt Ryan to learn on the job.

He’s averaging 5.3 yards per carry and has scored six rushing touchdowns.

“From the very beginning, we said that we wanted to be a team that could run the football,” Smith said. “When you can run the football I think you’re going to have an opportunity to be in every game.”

•Ryan’s learning curve: There’s a long history of rookie starting quarterbacks not having immediate success in the NFL. But Matt Ryan has already matched Peyton Manning’s rookie win total.

“I’ve had a number of compliments from players and coaches and personnel people across the league, thinking that we’ve got a good quarterback,” Smith said. “That’s a compliment to our organization for making the decision to draft Matt. He started out, through the first five games and has played very, very well.”

After a shaky road showing in Tampa Bay, Ryan played much better in Carolina but was hurt by six dropped passes. Against Green Bay he was nearly unflappable.

“He’s really living in the now,” Smith said. “That’s what we talk about. You got to live play-to-play and day-to-day with the development of our football team.”

• Passion paly: The Falcons have played spirited football, even at Tampa Bay when they fell behind. The team kept battling in the second half.

“The other thing that our guys have done is that they’ve played hard and they’ve played with passion,” Smith said. “They have competed in all five of our football games. I think when you do that, you are also increasing your chances of being successful.”

• One-man wrecking crew: Defensive end John Abraham has seven sacks, but the sacks don’t tell the entire story.

“[Against Green Bay] he caused a penalty, a holding penalty,” Smith said. “He also caused an intentional grounding penalty which doesn’t count as a sack. … So it was a very big play for us and then the next play we end up getting the interception. He also hit the quarterback five times and had a tackle for a loss.”

The Falcons are using Abraham to rush from either the left or right end.

• Elam is automatic: Field goal kicker Jason Elam has made all 11 of his field goal attempts.

“It’s been very big for us,” Smith said. “Knowing that if we get the ball inside of a certain range, depending on the weather conditions, that we are going to have opportunity to score points is big.”