Whatever happened to the Dirty Birds?

ATLANTA -- Remember the Atlanta Falcons?

Oh, yeah, that's the team that spent one proud season as the Dirty Birds, flapping their arms all the way to the Super Bowl. Just as quickly, they faded back to obscurity, a super fluke that won only nine games the last two seasons.

Whatever happened to them, anyway?

Well, the Falcons have rekindled memories of 1998 by winning three in a row and four of five, putting themselves in the middle of the NFC playoff race.

"We have a lot more belief in ourselves," said fullback Bob Christian, a holdover from Atlanta's only Super Bowl team. "When the game is close, we don't panic. We know we'll somehow find a way to win. That's very similar to 1998."

The Falcons (6-4), who would get the final playoff spot in the NFC if the season ended now, face a critical game Sunday against division rival St. Louis (8-2).

The NFC West-leading Rams dominated Atlanta the last two years, winning four straight by an average score of 41-17. Despite a sloppy 24-17 loss to Tampa Bay last Monday night, they're an eight-point favorite at the Georgia Dome.

Little fan support

The oddsmakers aren't the only skeptics. The local fans were hardly consumed by Falcons fever -- almost 20,000 tickets were still available late in the week.

"I'm not going to beg them to come," cornerback Ray Buchanan said. "I'm glad the game is blacked out in Atlanta. If it's not sold out, they shouldn't be able to see it."

Granted, it's hard to get excited about a team that has three seventh-round picks starting on the offensive line, gives most of the handoffs to an undrafted free agent, and throws to receivers who are 34 (Terance Mathis) and 36 (Tony Martin).

The Falcons don't have running back Jamal Anderson, the most prominent player from their Super Bowl team that lost to the Denver Broncos. He was sidelined for the season in Week 3 after tearing up a knee for the second time in three years.

No. 1 draft pick Michael Vick hasn't made much of an impact, either. While his jersey is a big seller at the concession stands, the rookie quarterback played in only two of the last six games, filling in when Chris Chandler was injured.

The formula

So, how's this team winning? Call it Dan Reeves' five steps to success:

Run, run, run. Atlanta is 11th in the league, largely because Maurice Smith (an undrafted second-year player from North Carolina A&T) has done a solid job filling in for Anderson.

Protect the football. The Falcons have just 14 turnovers and a plus-seven turnover differential.

Control the clock. A 40 percent success rate on third down keeps drives alive.

Don't let the other team in the end zone. Atlanta ranks 26th in yards allowed but has given up just 19.1 points a game, the league's 12th-best figure.

Create some breaks on the special teams. Darrien Gordon almost single-handedly beat Dallas with two long punt returns, while rookie Jay Feely is 18-of-22 on field goals.

"Winning breeds the right kind of things," said Reeves, the Falcons' coach since 1997. "A lot of time that boils down to thinking you can do it. When you've done it, then that gives you confidence that in the crucial situations, you can do it again."

This is the consummate Reeves team. He messed up some personnel decisions and certainly doesn't have the most talented players in the league, yet he gets the most out of them on Sundays.

At 56, Reeves still has a deft touch in the locker room. He stepped in to diffuse a potentially divisive episode during a Nov. 4 loss to New England at the Georgia Dome.

Chandler's wife, Diane, took offense at some derogatory cheers coming from the family section after her husband was injured.

Reeves addressed the issue in a team meeting the very next day, which appeared to soothe any hurt feelings. The issue quickly faded, and the Falcons haven't lost since.

"Dan had a lot to do with that," Buchanan said. "He got up and addressed it right away. If he hadn't done that, it could have blown up into something big."

Anderson's injury gave the Falcons another chance to fall apart. In 1999, they did just that after he went down in Week 2 with a knee injury.

"Enough guys were still here from 1999," Chandler said. "Having gone through it the first time, the initial shock value was not as great. We're still disappointed that Jamal got hurt. We'd like to have him. But we didn't go around hanging our heads."