Are the Falcons getting hot at the right time...?

                                                                         Atlanta Falcons DT Corey Peters runs in for six: Photo/ David Goldman /AP

Had to miss this game due to an already scheduled event, but thank you for DVR. And I tried hard not to indulge in checking my phone for updates either. Upon sitting down to watch the game, it didn't take long to figure out where this game was heading. At the half it was 34-0. Wow, Falcons (9-5) ended up winning 41-14 over the Jacksonville Jaguars (4-10) to still hold onto the 5th spot in the NFC playoff hunt. Since this game was the Thursday Night Contest, no matter what the other teams did in week 15, the dirty birds would still hold on to the 5th spot. The defense has looked like they are coming into their own. In the last game and a half, going back to halftime of the Carolina game, and including the Jaguars game, a total of six quarters. The Atlanta D has given up one TD. And that was mop up duty late in the game versus Jacksonville when all the backups were playing. But again, then you can say that the Falcons defense has been dominant because of who they played the last two contests. But overall, the D has turned it up a notch lately. Over 14 games and two more divisional contest left to play, the Falcons rank 9th in overall defense. Not bad for an Atlanta Falcons team that usually struggles on D. The offense this year has been shaky, but over the last six quarters has turned it up scoring 72 points. I always like looking at offensive numbers. Quarterback Matt Ryan is on pace to break his season high from last year. Last year he threw for 3,705 yards while throwing 28 TDs. This year in 14 games he has completed 307-505 attempts, a completion percentage of 60.8 of his throws with 26 touchdowns with 12 picks. He should surpass last years total with the remainder of the games. If both starting wideouts Roddy White (1,100 yds), Julio Jones (755 yds), and TE Tony Gonzalez (826 yds) all bring their (A) game to the remainder of the two games, the Falcons could have their top three catchers with over 1000 yards. I haven't seen that as a Falcons fan. And I can't forget top running back Michael Turner that has another 1000 yard season running the ball. He has 1129 yards so far with nine endzone scores.

What is so interesting to me is that as we get down to the playoff hunt to see who secures the 12 spots for the post season, there is always one team each year that gets hot right at the correct time, and it isn't usually one of the top seeds from both conferences. The two teams that come to my mind are Super Bowl Champs New York Giants from Super Bowl XLII (42) and last year's Super Bowl Champs Green Bay Packers. Both of these teams were sixth seeds and got hot at the right time, and won their way through the playoffs on the road to win the Lambordi Trophy. I don't even want to mention last year's Atlanta playoff game, because Green Bay beat us. But the two teams that come to mind this year from the NFC are the Atlanta Falcons and the Detroit Lions. Falcons are the fifth, and the Lions are the sixth seed. The Lions have too much attitude problems, I don't think that will hold up too well, because that leads to a lot of yellow flags, thus, losing games. Now I might be premature in saying this. But if the last two games have been an indication, maybe Atlanta could be that team that could go all the way. But again, they have to win the last two games. If the Falcons pull a miracle against The New Orleans Saints (11-3) this Monday night, then I'm very optimistic. I'm not expecting a win, but we will just have to wait and see. Game time is set for Monday night in New Orleans at 8:30 est.