It’s hard to find fault with the Falcons offense the past two games. It rolled up 373 yards in a 41-14 victory over the Jaguars on Thursday night. That performance came four days after it churned out 394 yards in a 31-23 win over the Panthers.
Leave it to Matt Ryan to not be fully satisfied with the recent results.
“I still think we can be a lot better; I really do,” the quarterback said following Thursday night’s rout. “When we turn on the film and look at things after games, there are three, four, five, six plays that we look at that we could have executed better. We could have run this route better, could have thrown this ball better.
"That’s what we are trying to get to, but I think we are making steps in the right direction.”
Ryan has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 14 consecutive games, including seven in the past two. He is fifth in the NFL with 26 touchdowns and is just two from his career-high 28 last season.
The Falcons (9-5) are in solid position to make the playoffs as a wild-card entry with two games remaining. They currently are the fifth seed and still have an outside chance to catch the Saints, their next opponent, for the NFC South title. The Saints, however, need just one win from among their remaining three games, including Sunday against the Vikings, to clinch the division.
“I’m satisfied, but I’m not going to say that’s enough,” Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez said of the offense’s recent success. “We have to be able to do that next week and the week after that. This is the time of the year you want to start playing like that.”
The Falcons have shown inconsistencies this season. All along players and coaches pointed to the Packers’ postseason run last year as evidence that peaking at the right time is what matters. The Packers, on the verge of missing the playoffs late in the season, won six consecutive games en route to the Super Bowl title.
The Falcons have won two straight, and seven of their past nine games.
“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves but we feel like now things are coming together,” safety Thomas DeCoud said.
The Falcons enjoy the upside of a short week. They won’t play again for 11 days, until they travel to New Orleans for a Monday night showdown with the Saints. The break will enable players to rest until Monday. Coaches will get ready for the Saints, who defeated the Falcons 26-23 in November. The Saints have won four of the past five meetings between the rivals, and present a measuring stick to see just how far the Falcons have come.
“It gives us some time to prepare for a team that is probably playing just as well as any team in the National Football League,” coach Mike Smith said of the Saints.
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