Head coach Mike Smith said Friday that veteran tight end Tony Gonzalez has been excused from next week’s mandatory veteran minicamp at Falcons headquarters in Flowery Branch.

For the minicamp schedule and dates open to the public, click here.

Sports Illustrated’s new blog, Extra Mustard, profiled 14 professional athletes that are most deserving of a championship, due to their long-suffering title droughts. Wouldn’t you know it, tight end Tony Gonzalez — who just last year tasted the first playoff victory of his career — made the list.

Writes Michael Rosenberg:

He has done it with talent, but also with work ethic, toughness, diet and discipline. His practice habits are legendary; every dropped ball seems to stun him. Since whipping Tim Thomas in that NCAA tournament 16 years ago, he has missed one NFL game. One. Nobody “deserves” a title. But Tony Gonzalez has done as much as anybody in NFL history to earn one.

Hard to argue with that assessment. Entering what is surely his final year (no, really, this time we’re pretty sure), Gonzalez has as good a chance to reach that pinnacle as anyone else on the list with him.

It’s rare when tight end coach Chris Scelfo would ever find a positive in Tony Gonzalez’s absence, but during a crucial year — when it’s a virtual certainty that Gonzalez’s career will come to an end at the conclusion of the season — Scelfo is enjoying the chance to get a closer look during offseason training activities at some of the players behind the future Hall-of-Fame tight end.

And it sure is crowded in the shadow of Gonzalez, as the Falcons push toward training camp.

After drafting Stanford tight end Levine Toilolo in April, the Falcons are sitting with four potential backup tight end candidates and Scelfo’s job of trying to find the little things that stick out about each seems unenviable. Toilolo is finishing his degree at Stanford and has been away from the team’s headquarters since the end of rookie minicamp at the start of May, but Scelfo has been seeing a bunch from veterans Chase Coffman and Tommy Gallarda, and second-year tight end Andrew Szczerba.

“What (Gonzalez’s absence) does, it gives those guys an opportunity to improve every day because they’re getting every rep,” Scelfo said during OTAs this week. “They know coming into OTAs what they need to improve on and to see the improvement of those guys, to be able to see the improvement they’ve got to make, they’ve got to do it, and they’re doing it every day, so it’s a big benefit to them.”

Last season, Gallarda spent more time on the field than any of the three, platooning the backup spot with Michael Palmer behind Gonzalez. Gallarda, referred to on several occasions last year by the coaching staff as the best blocking tight end on the roster, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during the year and Coffman’s chance to step into the backup light came up.

Coffman, a different style of tight end with his pass-catching abilities, made one of the biggest and best of the season in the divisional playoff win over Seattle when his 16-yard catch set up a first-half touchdown for the Falcons.

“I think the biggest thing with Chase, coming out of college, he was injured and he’s been injured. I think we’ve done a good job of putting him in situations where he has a chance to succeed and he has the ability,” Scelfo said. “He had over 250 catches in college. He’s a good route runner. He can catch the ball. We’ve just got to be wise to the fact of what he can and can’t do, and that’s coaching.”

Add to the mix Szczerba, who spent most of his rookie season on the Falcons practice squad after Coffman had been added to the active roster, and Toilolo and it’s easy to see how things can get cloudy at the backup spot.

Scelfo said that there will be a lot of catching up to do for Toilolo when he is able to join the Falcons after graduation, but the veteran position coach is excited to have the 6-foot-8 tight end on board.

Toilolo spent time with Scelfo during the Falcons’ rookie minicamp the week after the draft, and in those few days together, Scelfo got a feel for the rookie’s potential.

“In the snapshot, I think from the first practice at rookie minicamp to the end, he did some things better than he did the previous practice,” Scelfo said. “If we stay on that incline, then he’ll be a good addition to our football team.”

UPDATE: Make that five tight ends behind Gonzalez. The Falcons announced Thursday afternoon that the team had signed Anthony Miller and waived-injured Adam Nissley. For more on that story, click here.

If you’ve ever looked at Tony Gonzalez and felt inconsequential in comparison, welcome to the club.

But if you’ve looked at Gonzalez and found yourself interested in trying to get to Gonzalez’s level of fitness, the future Hall-of-Fame tight end has made it much easier to get on the road to health.

Gonzalez launched a new fitness app called FitStar: Tony Gonzalez, that’s available in the iTunes Store. It’s a completely customizable fitness app with more than 60 exercises, some of which Gonzalez demonstrates himself.

You can click here to view the app in iTunes.

Best of luck in your quest to be as fit as Gonzalez.

The Falcons cracked the NFL Network’s list of Top 100 Players of 2013 last week when tight end Tony Gonzalez came in at No. 47. Another Falcon will be unveiled on the list Thursday night as the countdown continues with Nos. 40-31.

The Top 100 Players of 2013 can be seen at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network.

UPDATE: If you voted for Roddy White, you win bragging rights.

There were plenty of numbers surrounding Tony Gonzalez last year — 95, 97, 99, all numbers he used to describe his chances of retiring from the game after the Falcons’ loss in the NFC Championship game.

More than a month after announcing his return, the number that matters today is 47 — the spot Gonzalez was voted into by NFL players among the 100 best of 2013.

VIDEO: Watch Players Around the League Speak About Gonzalez

NFL Network is once again counting down the top 100 players of the year and during Thursday night’s revealing of Nos. 41-50, Gonzalez’s name was called. The future Hall-of-Famer was the highest ranked Falcons representative last year at No. 53.

He’s currently the only Falcon represented on this year’s list, but Matt Ryan, Roddy White and Julio Jones could have good chances of making appearances before the list is topped off.

View the entire list of Top 100 Players of 2013 so far by clicking here.

The Falcons will finally be featured on the NFL Network’s “Top 100 Players of 2013″ on Thursday night as the countdown moves into the 40s, beginning at 8 p.m. ET, cracking the top 100 so far with one player.

Last year, tight end Tony Gonzalez (No. 53), wide receiver Roddy White (No. 65) and running back Michael Turner (No. 88) were the only Falcons represented. Conspicuously left off were quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones, among other worthy possibilities.

The “Top 100 Players of 2013″ is voted on by players only. You can view the list so far here.

As we are officially into the month of the NFL Draft, the mocks around the Internet are a-changing.

We’ve seen Stanford tight end Zach Ertz have a stranglehold on the majority pick for nearly the entire month of March, and in April’s first look at the Mock Monitor, that grip has slipped.

Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert and Washington cornerback Desmond Trufant are the two most popular picks among the mock drafts this week, each garnering four picks from our panel of experts. The two college prospects are about as different as possible when it comes to serving the Falcons’ needs, especially in 2013.

While Eifert would be the clear heir apparent behind future hall-of-famer Tony Gonzalez, Trufant would likely need to come in and play a significant role right away.

Click here to view this week’s Mock Monitor

The mocks show that the opinion is that the Falcons could go cornerback, tight end or defensive end with the No. 30 overall pick, although we’ve seen the defensive end position slip in popularity for the Falcons after last week’s signing of Osi Umenyiora.

ESPN.com draft guru Todd McShay updated his draft, saying that even with the Umenyiora addition, the Falcons could use another defensive end and projects them to take Florida State’s Cornellius “Tank” Carradine.

FoxSports.com’s Pete Schrager, who has been the lone mock draft expert to project the Falcons to trade the No. 30 overall pick, updated his draft this week and still has the Falcons set to trade away the selection to the New York Jets, who he has using it to take Florida State quarterback E.J. Manuel.

What’s your gut telling you this first week of April?

If you thought you could escape power rankings until the season, well, ESPN.com has terrible news for you.

The Worldwide Leader released its pre-draft power rankings Tuesday and the Falcons are right near the top after an offseason that has produced the return of Tony Gonzalez and the signing of running back Steven Jackson.

ESPN.com has the Falcons at No. 4, behind Seattle (1), San Francisco (2) and Denver (3).

With free agency still underway and the NFL Draft just about a month away, will the Falcons continue to climb? We’ll have to see, but it should come as no surprise that this team is being talked about among the league’s best.

What do you think?

UPDATE (2:54 p.m.) – NFL.com has also released power rankings today, with a slightly less favorable outlook on the Falcons up to this point. Eliot Harrison has the Falcons at No. 6 and falling behind San Francisco, Denver, New England, Seattle and Baltimore. You can view his rankings here.

So much has happened in the past week that should have influenced this week’s Mock Monitor, but much like the actual NFL Draft, you can never tell what’s going to happen until it does.

The mocks were stubborn for the most part this week as Stanford tight end Zach Ertz remained the majority pick for the second week in a row despite Tony Gonzalez announcing that he’d return for another season, furthering the thought that the Falcons will still be looking for his replacement, even at No. 30 overall.

Click here to view this week’s Mock Monitor

It’s important to point out, however, that there are several mock drafts that did not provide an update after this week of movement. ESPN’s Todd McShay and NFL.com’s Gil Brandt and Charles Davis all remain with Ertz because they didn’t update their mocks. When they do provide an update, will their position choice change? After all, CBSSports.com’s Rob Rang changed his pick to Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert after Gonzalez’s announcement.

Those who did make changes to their mocks this week overwhelming moved to the defensive side of the ball, with defensive end and cornerback being the two positions of choice.

Florida State defensive ends Bjoern Werner and Cornellius Carradine, along with Texas A&M’s Damontre Moore and Texas’s Alex Okafor all received nods to the Falcons.

PHOTOS: View images of this week’s Mock Monitor selections

New to the Mock Monitor this week is Mississippi State cornerback Jonathan Banks and North Carolina State cornerback David Amerson.

We’ll see next week how much things get shaken up if more updates come through.

Your turn to vote.

Roddy White was enjoying his first day of a life-changing experience in Africa when he received a text message. His phone showed that Tony Gonzalez had sent him the message, which read, “Let’s go get us one.”

Right then, White knew that Gonzalez had decided to return for another season.

“I’m happy. He’s an integral part of our offense. We need that guy,” White told Freddie Coleman on SportsCenter Tonight on Tuesday. “He’s been killing it ever since he got there. He’s ageless, Tony Gonzalez. He makes a lot of plays, and we need him. We need him to get where we want to be and that’s the Super Bowl.

“I thought he was going to come back. Any time you get that close and you get the opportunity with the same guys that we have on our team — all our core parts are still in it and everybody’s excited and anxious to get back. You want to give it one more crack. When you’re 10, 11 yards away from the Super Bowl, you want to give it one more shot just to get there and see what can happen.”

As the Baltimore Ravens were set to begin what would become their march to the franchise’s second Super Bowl title, linebacker and emotional leader of the team Ray Lewis announced that this run would be the last of his career, regardless of the outcome.

Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez didn’t quite say the same, as he put his chances of return at between 3-5 percent at various points in the season, but made it clear that he wanted to ride out as a Super Bowl champion. Coming up 10 yards short of making it to that big game certainly played a factor in Gonzalez’s decision to return, and Lewis can relate.

Lewis is making the rounds at ESPN on Wednesday in his new gig as an analysts for the sports media giant and he appeared on Mike & Mike in the Morning, where the topic of Gonzalez’s return came up.

While Lewis came up short of saying that, if the Ravens hadn’t won the Super Bowl, he would have returned, but he did convey that he understands why he ended up making the decision he did (click the text below to listen to Lewis’ full Mike & Mike appearance).

“Take a guy like Tony, who’s had one of the greatest careers probably a tight end will ever have and the one thing under his belt that he wants to feel one time is what that world championship feels like. And why wouldn’t you come back if you’re still playing at the level he’s playing at? If they won that game last year and went to the Super Bowl and won it, Tony’s done and he rides off in the sunset. But why not come back?“

Lewis’ announcement that he would retire when the Ravens’ playoff run ended clearly served as inspiration for his teammates to win the whole thing for him. Will Gonzalez’s return for one more ride do the same for the Falcons?

With the percentage of return dwindling eventually down to just 3, there wasn’t a whole lot of hope that tight end Tony Gonzalez would return to the Falcons for one more ride after coming up just short of the Super Bowl in 2012.

Smith — a positive person by nature — wouldn’t allow the 97 percent that said Gonzalez was going to hang it up sway him from trying to convince the future Hall-of-Famer to return. On Tuesday morning, he received the phone call that proved his belief in that 3 percent chance of Gonzalez coming back was not in vain.

PHOTOS: Tony Gonzalez’s first four years in Atlanta

“I think, in Tony’s mind, from what I read from reports from him is that he felt like there was some unfinished business,” Smith said. “We all feel that way. In the offseason, you try to build your football team through a number of ways and, in my mind, we just signed one of the biggest free agents acquisitions in terms the guys that are available.”

Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff has said on several occasions that the Falcons are focused on retaining their own during the free agency period, and Gonzalez was a big, big piece of that strategy. Coming off one of his best seasons, with 93 receptions, 930 yards and eight touchdowns at the age of 36, Gonzalez — who just recently turned 37, seemed to wrestle with the decision to come back.

Smith said Tuesday that Gonzalez doesn’t want to miss training camp, but did say that he made promises to his family that the team will work around. With everything falling into place, Smith said the Falcons and Gonzalez have a deal in principle and that hammering out the contract should be short work.

VIDEO: The Great 88 Not Done Yet

“It is good to be back,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “After speaking with my family we decided to give it one more shot. Being part of such a great team and organization was too much to pass up. I would also like to say thank you to all of the fans for their support over the last several weeks.”

The team and Gonzalez were in constant contact since the end of the NFC Championship game. With free agency beginning today and the draft drawing close, the team had plans to move on with or without Gonzalez, but the decision by Gonzalez to return Tuesday came at a perfect time for the team to prepare for the two important growth periods during the league year.

“I’m a very positive thinking guy, so I don’t let negative thoughts come into my mind very often. But I’m a realist as well, knowing that it’s a decision that Tony would have to make,” Smith said. “But my thoughts were Tony’s coming back, and that’s really more of my makeup in terms of being positive about the situation.”

News that Tony Gonzalez would return to the Falcons for another season spread like crazy around the Web. Below is a sampling of players and fans reacting to news that Gonzalez is coming back.

Four years ago when Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff made the trade for future Hall-of-Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez, he knew what he was getting — a hard-worker whose career resume spoke for itself.

What Dimitroff may not have expected was how Gonzalez would change his own perceptions of the tight end position and how important he would make it.

Speaking to the media at the NFL Scouting Combine on Friday, Dimitroff was asked about the tight end position — one that could be of need, regardless of what Gonzalez decides is the best future for him — and Dimitroff didn’t hesitate to explain just how important the position is to the Falcons after seeing what Gonzalez has been capable of.

“To catch over 100 balls in a season as a 36-year-old is unbelievable, and I think, what he’s done on the field and off the field for us, it has changed our opinion of what a tight end is, at least what our goals are in acquiring a tight end,” Dimitroff said. “That doesn’t come around just every day, and we know that.”

Watch the full video of Thomas Dimitroff’s press conference at the Combine here.

The 2013 draft class at the tight end position looks deep and impressive, and Dimitroff said as much during his Friday press conference. Whether the Falcons will ultimately pull the trigger on Gonzalez’s eventual successor is yet to be know, but Dimitroff said the group will get a look from the Falcons.

“We talk about it all the time when we’re in our draft room, if you can find a tight end who can block, as well as run a route, separate, catch a ball and turn upfield — and there are a number of them in the league right now. It’s not just Tony Gonzalez,” Dimitroff said. “(There’s) a number of these tight ends who have been very prolific in our league and are such high-percentage shots that make us all realize the importance of the position and we definitely don’t underestimate when we’re evaluating.”

As we all wait anxiously to see what tight end Tony Gonzalez decides to do, whether it be return for another year or hang up the cleats, the Falcons have to push forward, and that starts this week.

D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke with Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff this week and discussed the Falcons’ desire for Gonzalez to return as well as the need to scout tight ends at the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine, which begins this week.

Dimitroff told Ledbetter that the sooner the Falcons know what Gonzalez’s plans are, the better, but there’s no timetable set for his decision on Gonzalez’s side or the Falcons’.

Said Dimitroff:

“He’s still a very adept and athletic tight end in our minds and can continue to help us win a lot of games. But again, it’s ultimately up to Tony to make that decision for himself and his family.”

There are plenty of tight ends available in this year’s NFL Draft — a class thought to be very deep at the position Gonzalez revolutionized.

The Mock Monitor is back again as we keep a close eye on what the experts are saying in their mock drafts about the Falcons. This year should be significantly easier to keep up with since the Falcons are back in the first round after a year out of it due to the 2011 trade to get Julio Jones.

You can view the first Mock Monitor here, but I’ll go over some of the highlights.

As I wrote a week ago, tight end and defensive line are at the top of the list of needs in the eyes of mock draft creators for the Falcons. The first consensus pick for the Mock Monitor is a tie between Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert and Stanford tight end Zach Ertz. Both are big targets in the passing game as well as solid blockers.

The thought here is that the Falcons will be looking to replace tight end Tony Gonzalez and will pull the trigger on a top-flight tight end in 2013 after two years of projections that they’d identify the heir apparent to that position.

At defensive line, the Mock Monitor shows four different defensive ends going to the Falcons. The class at defensive end is thought to be extremely deep in this year’s NFL Draft, so there’s likely some strong value that will be available late in the first round when the Falcons pick at No. 30 overall.

NFL.com’s Gil Brandt and FoxSports.com’s Pete Schrager go off the beaten path for the Falcons and select an offensive guard and cornerback, respectively, at No. 30.

Voice your opinion below:

While we all — impatiently — wait for tight end Tony Gonzalez to decide if he’ll be back for one more year with the Falcons, we can turn our attention to just how the future hall-of-famer has been able to have such longevity in a sport that’s so physical.

That’s the point of his fitness app that is scheduled to be launched in the spring, according to USA Today.

The FitStar: Tony Gonzalez app basically turns Gonzalez into your own personal trainer. With more than 60 different exercises available, Gonzalez will be showing the app’s users how to properly achieve fitness and weight loss.

The app is still in development and is slated to be for the Apple iPad, but USA Today reports that it will be completely customizable to each user’s needs.

“For me that is what athleticism and being in shape is all about,” Gonzalez told USA Today. “I know what has helped me play 16 years is that I have really good balance and core.”

There ya go. If you want to be on Tony’s level, you’ve gotta train like him.

Tony Gonzalez sat at his locker after Sunday’s 28-24 loss in the NFC Championship game to the 49ers, just staring at the wall, like so many of his teammates around him.

For Gonzalez, however, this was different. It was likely the last few moments he’d spend in his pads, cleats and uniform.

The gravity of the moment wasn’t lost on him.

“It’s probably the last time I’m going to wear that uniform,” Gonzalez said, choking up. “I didn’t want to take it off, to tell you the truth. All good things come to an end and, like I said all season long, this is probably my last one. What an unbelievable ride.”

Gonzalez wouldn’t definitively say that this would be his final season after the game, but added that his mind is “pretty much” made up on the subject. Since the offseason, Gonzalez has contended that he’s 95 percent sure he’s going to retire and that, once the season ended, he’d take some time and talk it over with his family.

Gonzalez said the reason he would walk away now is to be with his family and to have them all together. He said his oldest son stays in Los Angeles and his family splits time between there and Atlanta during the season.

Whenever the decision is made for certain, Gonzalez said he’ll stick with it and see it through.

“I don’t want anybody out there to feel sorry for me,” said Gonzalez, who added that he probably won’t play in the Pro Bowl next Sunday, his 13th time being named to the team in his 16-year career. “I’ve had a great ride — an unbelievable ride. A great career, from the Falcons to the Chiefs, it’s been awesome. I have no regrets. Not one.”

Our good friend Pat Yasinskas of the ESPN.com NFC South blog held a conversation today with NFC West blogger Mike Sando about the upcoming NFC Championship game behind held at the Georgia Dome between the Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers.

While plenty of great points were brought up, one thing that stuck out to me was the conversation about the Niners defending against the tight end position.

Sando writes that the Niners will have middle linebacker Patrick Willis in coverage on the tight end at times and that he’s done an admirable job with that task. However, while the Niners have defended tight ends well as far as yardage goes, allowing an NFL-best 613 yards this season, San Francisco hasn’t exactly kept opposing tight ends quiet:

“… but they ranked only 21st in passer rating allowed (98.5) when opponents targeted the position. San Francisco allowed eight touchdown passes to tight ends. Only five teams allowed more.”

In a year when Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez caught 93 passes for 930 yards and eight touchdowns during the regular season (and added six catches for 51 yards and a touchdown last week against Seattle), the future hall-of-famer could be the key to getting the ball out quickly against a Niners defense that is very good at creating pressure.

The other thing about Gonzalez is that he doesn’t necessarily have to be wide open in order to cause problems for defenses. He had great coverage against Seattle on his touchdown in the first half and still managed to pull it in and get his feet in bounds. Against New Orleans and the Giants, he also had great coverage catches for touchdowns.

Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez earned his sixth All-Pro team nod Saturday, being named as a first-teamer over Dallas’ Jason Witten at the position.

Gonzalez was the only Falcon named to the All-Pro first or second team. He received 24 votes.

Also receiving votes, but not making the team: WR Julio Jones (1), tackle Tyson Clabo (2), defensive end John Abraham (1), safety Thomas DeCoud (3) and safety William Moore (1).

The media attention is coming in significantly, really, for the first time all year for the Falcons. There are some great links out there and I’ve compiled some of the best I’ve come across here for you:

• Want to know why Sam Baker has had such a resurgence this year? He’s healthy, and it all started with a new training focus during the offseason, as the Orange County Register writes.
• The focus this week nationally has been on the hot hand of Russell Wilson, but quarterback Matt Ryan — despite his playoff past — is ready to win, ESPN Stats & Information writes.
• He’s the only current Falcon to win a playoff game as a Falcon, and center Todd McClure tells ESPN.com NFC South Blogger Pat Yasinskas that he sees a more mature team this year that’s on a different level than years past.
• Tony Gonzalez says there is “no tomorrow” for him this time around, but head coach Mike Smith is still holding on to that five percent chance that the future Hall-of-Famer will return for another year.
• From SI.com, Dennis Dillon has a great story behind the hiring and hopes of Dirk Koetter and Mike Nolan.
• More from SI.com, here’s a breakdown of how Seattle rookie DE Bruce Irvin handled the run against Washington, complete with pictures and arrows and X’s.

Tony Gonzalez stood in front of his locker last Thursday, smiling at the media as he prepared to speak for his regularly-scheduled interview session when he was asked a question about whether or not he’s hoping his teammates have adopted a win-one-for-Tony attitude.

“I hope they do,” he said with a laugh. “I hope they want to do it for me because I want to do it for them. I’ll tell you that right now.”

Just then, wide receiver Roddy White pushed his way through the crowd of media members surrounding Gonzalez’s locker and finished the question for him.

“Yeah, we wanna win one for Tony,” White said in his playful manner, garnering a laugh from the contingent. “That’s what y’all wanna know. We wanna win one for Tony.”

“… And that type of attitude is what I like right there,” Gonzalez said, as White faded into the background. “Honestly, that’s the attitude I have for them.”

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The Falcons, especially those who have been with the team since 2008 or even 2010, definitely have that attitude. They’ve all bled together, worked together and fell short together during those years, so with another chance at getting to where they want to go, they want to win it for each other.

But there are three people in particular who the Falcons draw inspiration from — the team’s natural leaders: Gonzalez, center Todd McClure and linebacker Mike Peterson.

All three near the end of their respective careers, they’re approaching these playoffs like it’s the final run — because it very well could be. Gonzalez has said repeatedly that he’s 95 percent sure he’ll retire at the end of this season. McClure was re-signed in the offseason but the longest-tenured Falcon is in his 14th season. Peterson, who was added after the Falcons released middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu before training camp, is also in his 14th year.

All three have their minds focused on going through the experience for what could be that one last time.

“I’ve gotta think about it. Me thinking about failure keeps me driving. If I didn’t think about not being successful, I’d be cutting myself short, not putting my all in,” Peterson said. “I think about, if I don’t make it, I don’t ever want to have that thought in the offseason: ‘I was so close.’ So I’m going to do everything I can now. Young guys, I’m going to tell them everything. This is it. This is my final swing, so to speak. I don’t want to say this is my last go-around, but that’s the way you’ve got to treat it when you’ve been in the league 14 years.”

The younger Falcons are taking note. They don’t even have to give it much thought. Win one for Tony, Mike and Todd is just a natural reaction to the importance those three have had on this team.

Of course, the players want to win it for themselves, too, but that extra motivation provided by those three has carried the Falcons through the calm-before-the-storm that is the bye week.

“(Peterson is) one of those guys that’s been around a long time and for me, it was real big, him coming back this season in terms of helping me out and getting to learn the middle linebacker position a whole lot more,” Akeem Dent said. “For me, I know Spoon, Nic, Rob James and the rest of the guys around here, if this happens to be his last year, we want to send him out the right way.”

As a whole, the three haven’t seen much playoff success in their 34 combined years in the NFL. Peterson and McClure have won playoff games during their career, but Gonzalez — who most assuredly is headed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility — has never tasted playoff success.

Combined, Gonzalez, McClure and Peterson have a 3-17 record in the postseason.

“This is why you play the game and you always think about what you’ve gone through in the past and the tough, heart-breaking losses that I’ve had in the playoffs,” Gonzalez said. “You hope it is for a reason. I’ll tell you what, my rookie year we went 13-3 in Kansas City and guys like Marcus Allen and Derrick Thomas were saying we were going to win a Super Bowl. If I had won it back then, it wouldn’t have been as sweet as if I win it this year. I know what it takes and I know going through an entire career of 16 years and to not even have a playoff win, let alone a Super Bowl, that it’s tough.”

Tough as it may be, those 20 playoff appearances between the three elder statesmen create experience — something that can’t be taught or coached. As they head into this all-important week, that experience is something they’re going to continue to impart into a team that wants to win one for them so badly.

As Gonzalez, McClure and Peterson continue to hear it from the younger players that want to do it for them, the three will continue to make sure the magnitude and importance of the next six days is not lost on those whose NFL journeys are just getting started.

“I think they can draw on their experiences. Those guys are very experienced, not only in the regular season but the postseason,” head coach Mike Smith said. “As I’ve said many times, the older guys on our football team are mentors and they’re mentors to these young guys. I believe we will draw on their experiences because they are an important part of the makeup of our football team.”

When head coach Mike Smith stood in front of his team Thursday morning, he didn’t do much talking. Instead, he let former Super Bowl champions do it for him.

Inside the team meeting room, Smith pushed play on a video that was about six minutes long that featured former Super Bowl champions like Ronnie Lott, Jerome Bettis, Steve Mariucci and other Hall-of-Famers speaking about what it means to win a Super Bowl, the experience of it all and the focus that’s required once you get to this point in the football season.

“That’s the film that we all want. That’s what you play this game for. This is it. This is what you’ve been playing for since you were a little kid,” said tight end Tony Gonzalez, who was particularly affected by the video. “Everybody knows about the Super Bowl and we have a shot, just like the other teams in the playoffs this year, so it’s important that we start to focus. I think that’s why we’re here. We didn’t really take a bye week. We just came out and tried to stay sharp and stay focused and get ready for this run.”

And part of that equation is the motivation that the coaches try to instill in the meeting rooms, and Thursday’s video went a long way toward doing that.

Thursday morning’s practice was noticeably intense and focused.

“It hit home for a lot of guys,” Gonzalez said. “It just talks about the focus and the level of intensity that comes about when you get to the playoffs, and I’ve been there before. Everything that they say was right. We want to make sure that we’re on the winning side of that coin because, on the other side, we’ve all been there.”

The Falcons have been in this situation before. They’ve been 13-3 heading into the postseason with the NFC’s No. 1 seed. We remember how that turned out.

Head coach Mike Smith has been intent on making the bye week before the divisional round playoff game different than it was in 2010. That year, Smith gave the team plenty of time off to rest and recuperate before what they thought would be a long playoff run.

Even before Sunday’s 22-17 loss to the Buccaneers, Smith has said that this coming week would be very different in that he plans to practice with the team quite a bit.

“We’re going to be in all week, it looks like,” tight end Tony Gonzalez said after Sunday’s game. “It’s not really a bye week; we just don’t play a game. That’s all it is. That’s what expected of us and he’s the bossman, and we’re going to come in and get after it because maybe it’s good to keep the wheels turning, keep the car running and make sure we come out and have a good showing in that first (divisional) round game.”

During this week’s practices, however, the Falcons will have one specific opponent they’ll be focusing on: themselves.

The coaching staff will be preparing for a multitude of potential divisional round opponents with the Falcons’ first postseason opponent of 2013 not determined until next weekend, but the players will be focused on improving their own play.

The Falcons are planning to go through a thorough self-scout this week and prepare to face each other for three or four days — something the players very much look forward to.

“The number one thing is the intensity from both sides,” wide receiver Harry Douglas said of the Falcons-on-Falcons practices. “Both sides want to do good, so it’s always great when you have a good defense and a good offense that can go against each other and compete, and it’s a friendly competition. It’s not, ‘We’re better on this side,’ ‘No, we’re better on this side;’ We help each other out and we get better that way.”

The Falcons are no strangers to Falcons-on-Falcons practices. They’ve had several this year and tend to come off of them well.

Those types of practices allow the Falcons to get back to basics and focus on things like their own techniques and fundamentals, instead of having to worry about game-planning for an opponent.

“You get back to things that have gotten you to the record you have,” Douglas said.

The last time the Falcons had such success during the regular season, they ended up sending nine players to the Pro Bowl. At 13-2 heading into the final week of the regular season and with the Pro Bowl rosters being announced Wednesday night, there was the prevailing thought that the Falcons would be well represented on the NFC team this year.

When the announcement came and the Falcons had three players — QB Matt Ryan, WR Julio Jones and TE Tony Gonzalez — named to the roster, there was confusion from the media to Twitter to the Falcons locker room.

“I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if guys really weren’t paying attention to us and see how we’re playing this year. Our record shows it,” said defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux, who’s one of a couple of players who got left out that could make a strong case for their inclusion. “I felt like a lot more guys should have went — special teams, too. It is what it is and we’ve got to continue to move forward. We’ve got bigger and better things going on this year besides worrying about Pro Bowls. We’re looking forward to getting into the playoffs and making a lot of noise.”

That’s the attitude the snubbed Falcons, and even the ones chosen to the Pro Bowl, took less than 24 hours after the announcement was made. The Falcons have much bigger goals this year than the Pro Bowl and they’re focused in on them.

Should the Falcons reach that bigger goal, they won’t be able to play in the Pro Bowl anyway. And that’s what they’re hoping for.

“I think what’s important is that we had guys that played at a Pro-Bowl level. That’s the most important thing because that makes a good football team,” Gonzalez said. “Yeah, you can make an argument for sure for a couple of guys on this team, but that’s the way it goes. Our goal as a team is to play in the big game at the end of the year anyway, so it’s obsolete anyway. Hopefully, it’s moot at the end of the year.”

The NFL will be announcing the 2013 Pro Bowl rosters at 7 p.m. today on NFL Network’s “Total Access,” and we’ll also have the announcement on AtlantaFalcons.com as soon as players are confirmed on the roster.

With the Falcons sitting at 13-2, there’s a strong possibility for a strong representation on the roster this year. Two years ago, when the Falcons finished the regular season 13-3, there were nine Falcons in Hawaii.

Tight end Tony Gonzalez finished fan voting at No. 1 at the tight end position in the NFC, so it seems likely that he’d make it, giving him his 13th career Pro Bowl bid. Quarterback Matt Ryan spent much of the voting period in the top 10 in fan votes across the whole league.

Of course, the Falcons are hoping to not be eligible to play in the game in Hawaii (because of a different Bowl they’d have to be preparing for), but it’s a huge honor for players to be named to the roster. Here’s hoping there are plenty of Falcons being recognized tonight.

The NFL released its weekly Pro Bowl voting results and quarterback Matt Ryan and tight end Tony Gonzalez remain in excellent position as we head into the final days of fan voting.

Ryan is No. 10 in the top-10 vote-getters across the entire NFL with 477,087 votes. He’s currently the fourth QB in the NFC in votes received.

Tight end Tony Gonzalez is still the leading vote-getter at the tight end position in the NFC with 462,817 votes.

Balloting ends for fans Monday, Dec. 17 at the end of the Monday Night Football game (Jets at Titans, ESPN, 8:30 p.m.). From there, players and coaches will cast their votes for the Pro Bowl.

Click here to cast your vote for your favorite Falcons

The roster will be announced at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 26 on NFL Network’s “Total Access.”

The Pro Bowl will be played at 7 p.m. ET Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013 in Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. The game will be televised live on NBC.

Tony Gonzalez didn’t try to sugarcoat it. He used the phrase “silver lining” just once, and seemingly begrudgingly.

Instead, he showed a passion and fire in the locker room that the Falcons seemed to lack in the first half Sunday against Carolina.

“Ridiculous. No doubt about it. We can’t leave our defense out there like we did, and we’ve got to put points up. We’re too good of an offense,” he said about the first-half Sunday. “We’ve got too many players. Too much talent.”

That was the feeling around the locker room after Sunday’s 30-20 loss to Carolina — a team the Falcons had to scratch and claw against earlier in the season to pull out a last-minute win.

During a week when the chatter was high between the two teams, the Panthers came out with intensity as a previously 3-9 team with not much to lose. The Falcons came out much different, amassing just 35 offensive yards on 13 total first-half plays, good for just 6:12 of offense.

“If we play like that in the first half, there’s no way. It’s not going to work out the way we want it to for the rest of the season,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve definitely got to learn from this game and we’ve got to go out there and play Falcon football, because we didn’t do that in the first half.”

The offensive struggles to start the game played a part in the Panthers jumping out to a 16-0 lead before halftime. A year earlier, the Falcons faced a 16-point deficit at the end of the first half against Carolina and came back to win.

Needing another one of Matt Ryan’s signature comeback performances, the Falcons fell down to 23-0 before the offense started clicking and Atlanta found itself on the scoreboard.

In true Falcons fashion, the team didn’t give up — Gonzalez’s lone silver lining of the day — and Atlanta was able to cut the score within 10 in the second half.

It’s as close as the Falcons would get as Carolina put Atlanta away with a 53-yard screen pass touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.

“It better be a bump in the road if we’re the team we think we are,” Gonzalez said. “I can hear them right now. They’re getting off the bandwagon. I can hear them jumping off, but that’s how it goes. Looking at our history, a lot of people are going to say, ‘See? I told you,’ or whatever.

“We’re a good football team — no doubt about it. And we’re going play better, because we have to. We’re going to get back and play the way we have, but it’s up to us to have a good week of practice and come out against a very good football team against the Giants and get this thing rolling.”

We keep saying that the Falcons are focused on a different Bowl at the end of the season, and now that we’ve gotten that out of the way again, it’s time to take a look at some Falcons who are getting a good amount of fan votes so far.

Remember, it’s a huge honor for these guys to be named to the NFC Pro Bowl roster, which is why — even though you hope the Falcons are busy with another game at that time of the year — you should vote as much as possible for your favorite players. And, clearly, you have been, because the number of players in the top 5 of fan voting is beyond impressive!

Take a look at where the Falcons rank in fan voting at their respective positions, and keep up the voting!:

• Matt Ryan, QB – third
• Roddy White, WR – fifth
• Tony Gonzalez, TE – first
• Sam Baker, T – fourth
• Justin Blalock, G – second
• Todd McClure, C – fourth
• Jonathan Babineaux, DT – fifth
• William Moore, SS – fourth
• Thomas DeCoud, FS – second
• Matt Bryant, K – fifth
• Matt Bosher, P – fifth