FLOWERY BRANCH – If the playoffs started today, the Falcons, winners of seven of their last nine games, would be headed to Dallas for a wild-card game with the Cowboys.
After disposing of the Jacksonville Jaguars 41-14 on Thursday night, the Falcons sat back and enjoyed the rest of the NFL’s Week 15 festivities.
They witnessed the Cowboys take control of the NFC East with a win over Tampa Bay coupled with the New York Giants loss to the Washington Redskins. The defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs and the New Orleans Saints inched closer to clinching the NFC South title.
Here’s how the NFC’s playoff picture looks with two games to play:
Green Bay (13-1) and New Orleans (11-3) would be the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds and receive first-round byes. San Francisco (10-3) plays Pittsburgh on Monday night and would be the No. 3 seed.
Dallas (8-6) would be the No. 4 seed leaving the Falcons as the No. 5 seed.
The No. 6 seed would be Detroit (9-5 after its come from behind squeaker over Oakland).
Green Bay and San Francisco have clinched the NFC North and NFC West division titles, respectively. The Saints have clinched at least a wild-card berth.
The Falcons could still defend their NFC South title with victories over New Orleans and Tampa Bay. The Saints would have to drop their regular-season finale to Carolina for both teams to finished 11-5 and then move on to the tie-breaking system.
Falcons coach Mike Smith, after playing on Thursday and then getting a Monday night game, welcomed the extra time.
“That will give us some time to prepare for a team that is playing just as well as any team in the National Football League, the New Orleans Saints,” Smith said.
A return to the playoffs would be the Falcons third trip in the last four seasons. However, after the 2008 and 2010 regular-seasons they were defeated by the eventual NFC Super Bowl representative in Arizona and Green Bay. Last season, the Falcons entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed and were defeated by Green Bay 48-21 in the divisional round.
If they enter as the No. 5 seed, it is unlikely they would host a playoff game.
But last season, the Packers got hot as the No. 6 seed and marched right through to the Super Bowl and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers for the title.
The Falcons are showing signs of getting hot at the right time. Over two games and almost five quarters, they dominated Carolina and Jacksonville by outscoring them 65-0.
“You want to be playing your best ball in December,” Smith said.
The win over Jacksonville guaranteed the franchise its fourth-consecutive winning season. While long-suffering fans were elated, Smith made it clear that the Falcons have much bigger fish to fry.
“Our expectations are much higher than having winning seasons, but I’m glad that we’ve been able to accomplish that as an organization and as a football team,” Smith said. “Believe me, I think I said it, it’s not one of those expectations that you even want to talk about. If you are where you think you are as an organization and football team, that is expected each and every year that you go out and compete.”
The Falcons never had back-to-back winning seasons before Smith took over in Jan. of 2008. The team was founded in 1966.
“I can’t speak to the people who came before, I know that since [general manager] Thomas [Dimitroff] and I have had the opportunity to be here, we’ve just kind of put our heads down and we go to work,” Smith said. “When you do that, usually good things happen. We are not finished, believe me. Our expectations and internal goals are much higher than having winning football seasons.”
The Falcons have been like that wobbly plane flying through the air this season. There have been several pockets of turbulence.
But their recent offensive explosions coupled with the fact that they held Green Bay to 25 points and New Orleans to 26 points in earlier meetings give them reasons for optimism.
“This was probably the most complete came that we played,” linebacker Curtis Lofton said. "For four quarters, we played pretty consistent. We are going to build off of this and take this momentum into New Orleans.”
The Falcons are aware of their playoff status.
“We’re in a good spot,” Lofton said. “Anytime you are relevant in December and you control your own destiny, that’s good. We just have to take care of our business and not worry about anybody else.”
The Falcons’ playoff push could receive a boost with the possible return of cornerbacks Brent Grimes (knee) and Kelvin Hayden (dislocated toe). Both have been working out with the trainers. Usually, that’s the last step before they return to practice.
“If they can get healthy in the secondary, that’s a starting point for the Falcons,” said ESPN analyst Jon Gruden. “I’m really impressed from the tapes I’ve seen of the Falcons defense. They have a lot of guys that are considered unknowns in football outside of John Abraham and maybe Lofton. But this young secondary is for real. If they can get healthy, they can make plays. [Defensive coordinator Brian] VanGorder and Mike Smith do a great job together, putting together weekly game plans to take away what you do best.”
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