The Falcons are in a new position as favorites in the NFC South

The Atlanta Falcons haven’t won their division since 2012, when they finished with a 13-3 record and locked up the top seed in the NFC. The Falcons appear poised to take the NFC South this season, and that’s a different experience for a team that hasn’t even finished with a winning record since that 2012 season.

The Falcons currently hold a 1.5-game lead over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the division. When the two teams face off Thursday night, the Falcons can build on that lead if they continue their promising start to the season.

Last season, the Falcons started strong with a 6-1 record, but problems scoring in the red zone and offensive turnovers contributed to a six-game losing streak. Atlanta entered the 2016 season hoping to improve on last year’s 8-8 record, and so far, the offense is showing no signs of going stagnant.

The Falcons sit at the top of the league in points per game with 32.8 and yards per game with 425.2. Matt Ryan, who has thrown for more than 200 yards in 47 straight games, leads the NFL in passing. His favorite target, Julio Jones, is second in receiving yards.

Ryan is playing so well that he’s firmly entrenched in the midseason MVP discussion.

Falcons players insist that individual stats don’t matter, but the fact that Ryan is playing at an MVP level certainly has benefited the team. Still, he sees room for improvement.

“I think I’ve done some good things, for sure. In certain situations, I’ve done some good things,” Ryan said. “It’s like anything — there’s always better out there, and at the end of the day, the stats and all that kind of stuff doesn’t really matter.

“It comes down to whether or not you did your job, whether or not you helped your team win, and for me, that’s the focus every week — just trying to do my job and do whatever I can to help us win.”

Head coach Dan Quinn agrees that the stats aren’t important, but there are key elements of Ryan’s game where he’s seen dramatic improvement.

“I think when you put the tape on it’s the culmination of those things, the decision-making, the accuracy when the fourth quarter comes,” Quinn said.

“The stat part of it we don’t get so enamored with. What we’re trying to do constantly is to see how can we find ways to attack and improve.”

So far, Ryan is helping his team win. The Falcons are 5-3 and coming off of a confidence-building win over the Green Bay Packers, where Ryan hit Mohamed Sanu for a game-winning touchdown with 31 seconds remaining. That ended a two-game losing streak for the Falcons, who dropped both games by a total of five points.

Their only other loss this season was in Week 1, against the same division foe they’re preparing to play Thursday night.

A year ago, this was a team that started losing and couldn’t seem to correct the issues that plagued it. This year, this isn’t a team that’s thinking ahead to win the division or go to the playoffs. This is a Falcons team that is singularly focused on the task at hand: beating the Bucs.

Atlanta will be missing some key players on offense, with running back Tevin Coleman ruled out with a hamstring injury and tight end Jacob Tamme sidelined with a shoulder injury. What’s different about this year’s offense, however, is the sheer number of targets Ryan has to work with in the passing game.

The Bucs will have to contend with Jones, who is a defensive coordinator’s nightmare. Defenses have to dedicate extra personnel to covering the star receiver if they want to avoid the mistake the Panthers made by leaving Julio in man coverage. The result was a 12-catch, 300-yard day for Jones.

But when teams do put extra coverage to Jones, someone else is going to be open.

“The term that we use is who can be the other group that can ‘set it off.’ So we try to have that competition going within the group,” Quinn said. “We’ve had some games where the running backs set it off, we’ve had some games where the tight ends did, and certainly the receivers.

“They love that challenge that comes with it, knowing different plays call for different looks based on our personnel that might be in the game and how they play it.”

In any given game, Ryan is hitting seven or eight different receivers. Guys like Taylor Gabriel and Justin Hardy may not be household names, but they’re stepping up and making big plays when they get the opportunity.

Thursday night is an opportunity for everyone on the team — not just to get revenge for the 31-24 loss to the Bucs in the season opener, but also to show that the Falcons are now ready to embrace life as NFC South favorites.