Falcons Near Home-Field Advantage for NFC Playoffs in Clobbering Seahawks

Filed under: Atlanta Falcons, NFC South

SEATTLE -- Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan says there "is still work to do,'' but coming out of a stretch of four games in five weeks on the road with a 34-18 win over Seattle and an eight-game winning streak intact does feel pretty good.

So does the fact that Ryan's Falcons became the first team to lock up a spot in the playoffs while the issue was in doubt in Seattle. The Falcons became officially playoff bound when the Eagles rallied to beat the Giants in a game that ended early in the first half of the Falcons' battle with the Seahawks.

"It's good,'' Ryan said of his team's status with an NFL best 12-2 record and a two-game lead in the NFC South over defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans, a loser in Baltimore Sunday. "Obviously we wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to continue to play. We still feel like there's work to do in the next two games, and that's where our focus is right now.''

Ryan tossed three touchdowns, two in the first half after Seattle had gotten off to a 7-0 start, and wound up with 174 yards on 20-of-35 in the passing game.

Coupled with some big defensive big plays -- cornerback Brent Grimes intercepted a pass and tipped a ball on an interception by safety William Moore and Justin Babineaux recovered fumble in the end zone -- Ryan has coach Mike Smith's team in an enviable position with just two games to play.

Smith is the first one, however, to say that this is closer to the end of the beginning than to the beginning of the end.

"We have clinched a playoff berth, but there is still a lot of football to be played,'' Smith said. "There are two games left, and there is a lot out there that is going to affect a lot of teams throughout the league. That's what our focus has to be. We cannot content ourselves with where we're at today. That's where we want to be tomorrow and the day after.''

The Falcons, who described this game as a "business trip'' coming into the game, were ready for the Seahawks, but they couldn't stop Seattle on the first drive when quarterback Matt Hasselbeck drove the team down the field for an opening score.

It was all business for the Falcon defense from that point on. Seattle got just one more touchdown, the rest of the way, and that came with Atlanta holding a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter after the Seahawks had changed quarterbacks, bringing in Atlanta native Charlie Whitehurst to replace Hasselbeck.

"It was all business-like,'' Smith said. "That's the thing I really like about our team. They understand where we are at and what we need to do. The older players are mentoring the younger players, so they understand the importance of it.''

Winning on the road has become routine for Atlanta, but the goal now is to set it up so that the path to the Super Bowl goes through Atlanta.

 

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