For the second time in the Falcons’ history, a first-year coach opened with a 3-0 record.
Coach Dan Quinn accomplished that feat Sunday to join Jim Mora, who guided the Falcons to a 3-0 mark in 2004. Mora’s team went on to finish 11-5 and become the second team in franchise history to reach the NFC Championship game.
The Falcons are one of seven teams still undefeated in the NFL. New England, Green Bay, Denver, Carolina, Arizona and Cincinnati also are 3-0.
Since the league went to the 12-team playoff system in 1990, 75 percent of the teams (93 of 124) who started the season 3-0 have made the playoffs. Last season, the Eagles were one of three teams to start 3-0, but faded and didn’t make the playoffs.
Quarterback Matt Ryan has led the team to a fast start before. Mike Smith’s team opened the 2012 season 8-0 before making the franchise’s third appearance in the NFC title game.
The 2010 Falcons, who finished 13-3, lost their season opener at Pittsburgh, before ripping off four consecutive wins.
“It feels really good,” left tackle Jake Matthews said of this season’s success. “We are playing with a lot of confidence, especially up front.”
Matthews, who was a rookie last season after he was selected sixth overall in the NFL draft, started as the Falcons open 2-1 before losing five consecutive games. The team finished 6-10, and Smith, the winningest coach in team history, was dismissed.
Matthews believes the early victories are bringing the team together.
“We are just getting closer every week,” Matthews said. “We have to keep trusting in these games plans because they have really been working for us.”
Matthews doesn’t have a sense of impending doom that beset the team last season after a rash of injuries.
“We just have to keep growing and getting better every week, I think we are going to have a lot of success,” Matthews said. “We have to keep it up.”
Tight end Levine Toilolo, who started all 16 games last season, senses a calmness over this team.
“Anytime that you are winning, you have to love it,” Toilolo said. “It’s great when you see the hard work paying off. It’s always good to be in the win column.”
Quarterback Matt Ryan, a voice of reason, will make sure the Falcons don’t get caught up in their own hype. He’s the resident anti-hype master.
“My focus and my message to everybody else at this point is that it doesn’t matter,” Ryan said. “We have to find a way to beat (the opponents), and the best way to do that is have great preparation.”
The 3-0 start certainly beats the alternative.
Teams who start the season 0-3 have a difficult time rebounding to make the playoffs. Since 1990, only three teams — the 1992 San Diego Chargers, the 1995 Detroit Lions and the 1998 Buffalo Bills — have completed a turnaround after starting 0-3.
Also, the 1982 New York Jets and the 1982 Buccaneers rebounded from 0-3 starts to reach the playoffs.
The Falcons already have some detractors, who question their three comeback victories in the fourth quarter. Before the game against the Cowboys, Pat Kirwan noted on the “Moving the Chains” show on SiriusXM NFL radio that the Falcons do not have an “elite roster.”
“I think Jim Mora started out pretty good in his first year with the Falcons,” Kirwan said. “You have to be real careful about anointing anybody too early. What’s the old expression, it’s not who you play, it’s when you play them.”
In the annual, can they go 17-0 story, USA Today Sports predicted that the Falcons will split with Carolina.
“Falcons should just be happy they’re winning again,” USA Today wrote.
