ATLANTA — The Atlanta Falcons may be looking more like a playoff team in the standings than on the field.

Atlanta (7-4) has won five of six games. There have been some struggles, including Sunday’s 24-14 win over Minnesota. The Falcons led the Vikings 17-0 and needed a goal-line stand to stop the Vikings’ comeback.

One week earlier, the Falcons led the Titans by 20 points before winning 23-17.

Coach Mike Smith said Monday the Falcons have moved up after a 2-3 start to become relevant for the final weeks of the regular season.

“We’ve always said that we always want to position ourselves to be a relevant team in November and December, and the teams that have sustainability are the ones that are relevant in November and December,” Smith said.

A favorable schedule could help the Falcons, who were No. 6 in the NFC playoff standings before Monday night’s Saints-Giants game.

The Falcons still play three teams — Carolina, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay — who are a combined 13 games under .500. This week they will face the Houston Texans, who are missing their top two quarterbacks. Matt Schaub already was out for the season with a foot injury when the Texans likely lost Matt Leinart for the season because of a broken collarbone in Sunday’s victory against the Jaguars.

The Falcons also had a break against Minnesota when Vikings star Adrian Peterson was held out with a sprained left ankle.

Smith said the Falcons are winning with more than good fortune. He said they have earned their wins.

“You can look back, big picture, and say this game could have gone this way, this game could have gone that way,” he said. “It doesn’t matter.”

Falcons linebacker Curtis Lofton said the good news is the team hasn’t peaked.

“As much as we like to blow a team out, we understand that can’t happen all the time,” Lofton said. “The concerning part for me as a team is our consistency throughout the game. We have to figure out a way to put four good quarters together, rather than in chunks. I believe when we do that, we will be where we want to be in terms of consistency and in all aspects of the game.”

The Vikings held Michael Turner to 60 yards rushing on 19 carries. Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan continued his strong play as he completed 27 of 34 passes for 262 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Ryan has nine TD passes with two interceptions in his last four games.

“It was obviously his best day percentage-wise, and he did a real nice job distributing the ball,” Smith said. “I think he had a real good feel for how they were going to try to defend us and did a great job throwing the football.”

Receiver Julio Jones did not have a catch in his return from a right hamstring injury, but Roddy White had 10 receptions for 120 yards and a touchdown. White, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, has 17 catches for 267 yards in his last two games.

White has delivered back-to-back impressive games after he received criticism for his two penalties and two drops in Atlanta’s overtime loss to New Orleans on Nov. 13.

“Roddy has had two very efficient games the last two weeks,” Smith said. “I think you see a very focused player out on the practice field, and I think that’s carrying over to his play on the field.”

Smith said he would have no update before Wednesday on cornerback Brent Grimes, who left the game with a right knee injury.

CBSSports.com wire reports
Nov. 27, 2011

ATLANTA — Mike Smith cracked a joke after the Falcons held on for another win that was probably closer than it should’ve been.

“We make it exciting enough for you?” the Atlanta coach said, managing a smile.

Then he took a swig of water and breathed a sigh of relief. His team held on in a game it absolutely couldn’t afford to lose.

Matt Ryan tossed three touchdown passes and the Falcons came through with a goal-line stand after Percy Harvin’s 104-yard kickoff return, preserving a 24-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Atlanta (7-4) had to beat the lowly Vikings to maintain its spot in a tight NFC playoff race. Minnesota (2-9) didn’t appear much of a threat without star running back Adrian Peterson, who was sidelined by a sprained left ankle. To make matter worse for the visiting team, three more players went down to injuries in the first half.

The game started according to plan for the Falcons, who raced to a 17-0 lead by halftime. Ryan hooked up with Harry Douglas on a 27-yard touchdown and Roddy White on a 6-yarder. The Vikings had only two first downs and 38 yards until their final possession of the first half, when they padded their numbers a bit against the prevent defense. Even then, Minnesota went to the locker room with five first downs and 97 yards.

Instead of putting the Vikings away, the Falcons let them back in the game.

“We know we’re a lot better than that,” tight end Tony Gonzalez said. “Sooner or later we’re going to hit our stride.”

Toby Gerhart, filling in for Peterson, scored on a 1-yard run late in the third quarter. Then, after Dominique Franks inadvertently touched a punt the Falcons were trying to run away from, allowing the Vikings to recover, Christian Ponder went to Harvin for a 39-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-13 to make it 17-14.

Ryan responded with two long completions to White before hitting backup tight end Michael Palmer with a 3-yard touchdown that extended the lead with 6:40 remaining.

Still, the Vikings wouldn’t go away.

Harvin took the ensuing kickoff 7 yards deep in the end zone, found a wall of blockers to the right and took off right in front of the Falcons bench. Christopher Owens made a diving tackle at the 3, and that might’ve saved the Falcons.

“That was the most pivotal play of the game,” Smith said. “We were able to put our defense out there and live to play another play.”

The Vikings got it to the 1 and decided to go for the touchdown on fourth down. But Sean Weatherspoon burst into the backfield and stuffed Gerhart right after he took the handoff, throwing him for a 2-yard loss. The Falcons ran out the clock.

“When the guy comes screaming off the edge like that, you have no chance,” Gerhart said.

The game was a near repeat of Atlanta’s performance the previous week against Tennessee, and doesn’t bode well for this team — considered a Super Bowl contender before the season — making a long run in the playoffs even if they do get in.

The Falcons built a 20-point lead on the Titans but staggered to the finish, barely preserving a 23-17 win.

Now, another close call.

“At the end of the day, we had more points than they did,” Smith said. “That’s the most important stat.”

Vikings rookie coach Leslie Frazier admitted it was mistake to go for a touchdown on fourth down, instead of kicking a chip-shot field goal that would’ve made it a one-score game.

“That’s purely on me,” he said. “I let my emotions get the best of me.”

The Vikings looked a lot better over the final two quarters than they did in the first two, though they were still outgained 335-226 in total yards.

“The first half was ugly,” Gerhart said. “There’s no rhythm. We came back after halftime and wanted to get the ball back and wanted to get a little momentum. Unfortunately, they stopped that momentum at the end of the game.”

Ryan completed 27 of 34 for 262 yards and had his best efficiency rating of the season. White, showing signs of turning around a disappointing season, had his second straight big game with 10 catches for 120 yards.

“It’s kind of the nature of NFL. Teams execute at a high level and things are going exactly as planned. Then there are times where you don’t execute as well as you would like,” Ryan said. “The most important thing is how we responded to that and played in the fourth quarter. We did a great job when we needed to score.”

Ponder was 17 of 25 for 186 yards but was sacked four times and had to scramble away from pressure several more times. Gerhart managed only 44 yards rushing, while Harvin had eight catches for 95 yards to go along with his big play on the kickoff, which was the longest non-scoring return in the NFL since at least 1991.

Since then, according to STATS LLC, Kevin Faulk in 1999 and Eddie Royal three seasons ago had the longest returns that failed to reach the end zone, each covering 95 yards.

Notes

• Falcons CB Brent Grimes (right knee) went out in the first half and didn’t return.
• The Vikings lost S Tyrell Johnson (hamstring), CB Asher Allen (shoulder) and deep snapper Cullen Loeffler (back). DE Jared Allen took over the snapping duties from Loeffler.
• Harvin took advantage when the Falcons dropped linebacker Curtis Lofton into coverage on the fourth-and-13. He had no chance of keeping up with the speedy receiver. “We’ll take that matchup every day,” Ponder said.

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The Minnesota Vikings’ defense is trying. They really are. But they’ve gotten hit by a spate of injuries early on, and are apparently going to have to start pulling people out of the stands here in their game against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Falcons’ most recent touchdown drive moved 68 yards in ten plays, taking a shade over six minutes to complete. Matt Ryan looked outstanding on the drive for Atlanta, connecting with all-everything tight end Tony Gonzalez numerous times. The final play of the drive was a six-yard strike from Ryan to Roddy White, who was wide open in the back of the end zone.

The Vikings have gotten even more beaten up in this one. Cornerback Asher Allen injured his shoulder, and nobody knows whether he is going to be back. Safety Tyrell Johnson appeared to pull a hamstring on a play that should have been a huge touchdown pass from Ryan to White. Even long snapper Cullen Loeffler has been knocked around, suffering a bruised tailbone after getting absolutely lit up on a punt return in the second quarter. If you’re scoring at home, Jared Allen is listed as the team’s alternate long snapper, if it becomes necessary.

But, with a little less than four minutes left in the first half at the Georgia Dome, the Minnesota Vikings trail the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 14-0.

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After the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons exchanged punts on their first possessions, the Falcons have taken the lead at the Georgia Dome late in the first quarter.

The Falcons started out at their own 20-yard line, and moved down the field in nine plays, thanks largely to the running of Michael Turner. The Falcons also got an assist from a 15-yard face mask penalty on Jared Allen on the drive.

The Falcons got their touchdown on 2nd-and-19 on the Minnesota 27 after a penalty pushed them back. Matt Ryan took the shotgun snap, scanned the field, and four receiver Harry Douglas across the middle. Douglas broke through an E.J. Henderson tackle, and danced into the end zone to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead.

The Vikings will start out at their own 20-yard line, and hope to put together a much better drive than their first effort, when two passes to Percy Harvin and an incompletion netted the Vikings minus-four yards.

With a shade more than six minutes left in the first quarter at the Georgia Dome, the Minnesota Vikings trail the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 7-0.