Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, the Falcons remain bullish on their playoff chances.
“We honestly think that we have a chance to make the playoffs and make a good run,” center Peter Konz said. “If we didn’t believe that, we don’t deserve to be here. We don’t deserve to be playing for the city.”
The Falcons (2-6) have dropped five of the past seven games and only have victories over St. Louis (3-6) and Tampa Bay (0-8). They are set to face a stout Seattle (8-1) team at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Georgia Dome.
As far as the playoffs, the Falcons, the defending NFC South champs, have a 1.1 percent chance of repeating and 3.5 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to the website MakeNFLPlayoffs.com.
“I think this team is very mature and is handling it very well,” Konz said. “I think we are excited because we have new life. We’re excited because we get to go out and play.”
The Falcons did open last season with an 8-0 winning streak. They’d have to match the mark over the second half of the season to keep their playoff hopes alive.
“We’re going to go out to practice and have ‘perfect Wednesdays,’” Konz said. “That’s what we are calling it now.”
Konz was asked to expound on the themed practice.
“It’s just an emphasis on our technique,” Konz said. “An emphasis on our plays and understanding what we need to get done because there have been too many mistakes, and mistakes lead to bad practices. Bad practices lead to bad games. So, you know what, we’re going to come in and have a perfect Wednesday, and we are going to start our streak right now with winning.”
Falcons coach Mike Smith said that Konz and his offensive line mates had one of their better outings in the 34-10 loss to Carolina on Sunday.
“There were some positives you take from the game, the offensive line playing pass protection and we ran the ball more effectively,” Smith said. “Not as good as we’d like to, but I think we ran the ball more effectively.”
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was sacked once and hit just three times by the Panthers.
Left tackle Sam Baker returned to the starting lineup after missing the past three games. Lamar Holmes went back to right tackle for Jeremy Trueblood.
“We have to go back to details,” Baker said. “We have to go back to the little things.”
After rushing for 18 yards on 18 carries against Tampa Bay and for 27 yards on 14 carries against Arizona, the Falcons rushed for 78 yards on 20 carries for a respectable 3.9 yards per carry.
They’ll have to run the ball much better if they indeed do plan to turn their fortunes around.
“That’s always something that the offensive line can take pride in,” Baker said. “We can do an even better job. We have to get it polished up and we can improve on it.”
Baker might be able to stabilize the unit. He’s started only four games this season while battling knee and back injuries. It was hard for Baker to watch as his unit struggled.
“It was really tough,” Baker said. “I was trying to do all that I could, as far as watching tape and telling them what I’m seeing from the sidelines, but it was definitely rough.”
The Falcons knocked the Seahawks out of the playoffs with a 30-28 victory in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs last season at the Georgia Dome. Both teams were expected to contend this season for the NFC’s Super Bowl bid, but the Falcons are now super long-shots.
“They are a really good group,” Baker said. “We’ve played them a lot since coach (Pete) Carroll has been there. For us, we are looking forward to the challenge. We want to go back to work on Wednesday.”
Despite the record, Konz remains upbeat.
“The thing that I love about our team and the Atlanta Falcons right now is that we’re not having any doubts,” Konz said. “Right now, in our minds, we have one game to win and that’s this Sunday in the Georgia Dome against Seattle.
“We go to the Georgia Dome and get a win. That’s all there is left to do.”
