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ATLANTA — Everyone still alive wants to win. The Falcons need to win.
Coach Mike Smith needs to win. Quarterback Matt Ryan needs to win. The two arrived together in 2008, and there’s been unrequited winning ever since. There have been four playoff berths in five years and three straight for the first time in franchise history. The five consecutive winning seasons also is a team record.
It’s all good, except when it’s not, which brings us to this time of year. Smith and Ryan are 0-3 in the playoffs heading into Sunday’s NFC Divisional game against the upstart Seahawks inside the Georgia Dome. The Falcons are 13-3, the No. 1 seed in the conference, well-rested and playing at home, where they nearly are unbeatable.
The Seahawks (12-5) are the No. 5 seed, arrive with a precocious, diminutive rookie quarterback, Russell Wilson, and are further along than most anticipated. They already have secured a postseason victory, beating the Redskins 24-14 last week in Washington, and if the end of the line comes here they go back to Seattle disappointed but not indelibly harmed.
If the Falcons are again one-and-done in the playoffs, it’s a stain on the legacies of Smith and Ryan, big winners everywhere but where it counts most of all. It is no solace to the Falcons that the teams that ousted them from the playoffs — the Cardinals, Packers and Giants — all went on to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. The time is now for the Falcons, but they must beware: The NFC No. 1 seed has lost in its first playoff game in four of the past five years.
A look inside the game:
MARQUEE MATCHUP
Falcons WRs Julio Jones and Roddy White vs. Seahawks CBs Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner. You won’t find a more physically-imposing cornerback duo than the huge Browner (6-foot-4, 221 pounds) and the almost-as-huge Sherman (6-3, 193). This is an uncommonly tall tandem, and they can pluck the ball out of the air (Sherman had eight interceptions, Browner had three). Now the question is, can these guys run with Jones and White, a pair of receivers who don’t give up a thing as far as their physical prowess.
THE RYAN GAME
No starting quarterback in NFL history won more games in his first five seasons than Matt Ryan, who has 56 victories. This season, he threw for a team-record 4,719 yards and 32 touchdowns and set another franchise record by completing 68.6 percent of his passes. His career-high 99.1 passer rating is the second-highest in Falcons history. He is 2-0 against the Seahawks and is 33-6 at home inside the Georgia Dome.
“Matt’s had a great regular season for us this year,” coach Mike Smith said. “He’s gotten the individual accolades. He’s led our team through some tough ballgames and been able to pull them out. I think those experiences will help us in the postseason.”
They better be. Ryan, like Smith, still is looking to break through in the postseason, which is where reputations are forged, especially for quarterbacks. Just ask Eli Manning, who doesn’t come close to Ryan’s regular-season prowess but has two Super Bowl MVPs on his resume.
NEXT MAN UP
DE Chris Clemons was the team leader with 11 1/2 sacks but he is going to be a spectator for however long the Seahawks stay alive, as he suffered ligament and cartilage damage in his knee on the sandy, lousy “grass” last week in Washington. Rookie Bruce Irvin is next line. The Seahawks took plenty of grief for taking Irvin in the first round, but he’s got eight sacks in his first year, plus one last week against Robert Griffin III.
“Chris has been a great football player, just a symbol of consistency for the years we’ve had him, but he’s been a great leader for us too,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “He’s a tough dude and a guy that we just have become very comfortable playing with, so we’ll miss the heck out of him. That means that Bruce Irvin will step up and take a bunch of those snaps. This is Bruce’s opportunity. That’s what we drafted him to play”
DOWN TO EARTH
For all the glitz Russell Wilson brings to the Seattle attack, this is a run-based offense. The Seahawks are a throwback team that ran the ball an NFL-high 536 times (compared to 405 passing attempts). Wilson gained 489 rushing yards during the season and 67 more last week in Washington, but the load-carrier is Marshawn Lynch, who had a career-high 1,590 in the regular season and shredded the Redskins for 132 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown romp. This is not a new development. Since November 2011, the Seahawks lead the NFL with 2,663 rushing yards.
NO MORE ROAD WORRIERS
Last week, for the first time since 1983, the Seahawks won a road playoff game, and they did it the hard way, overcoming a 14-0 first-quarter deficit at rocking FedEx Field. Carroll called the comeback “a marvelous statement about the guys’ resolve.” Next up is one of the most difficult road assignments. The Falcons inside their dome are almost unbeatable. They are 33-6 with Ryan as their starting quarterback, although, curiously, Ryan this season was much better on the road (21 TDs, five INTs) than he was at home (11 TDs, nine INTs) as the Falcons went 7-1 in their dome home.
TONY AWARD
Tony Gonzalez insists he is 95 percent sure he will retire whenever the Falcons are done playing, and he hopes that day is Feb. 3 in New Orleans. One might ask, why is he leaving now? After all, Gonzales was named to his 13th Pro Bowl, and it wasn’t a nostalgic selection. He led the Falcons with 93 receptions — his fifth season with 90 or more catches, the most of any tight end in NFL history. He holds the league record with 14 consecutive seasons with 60-plus catches.
Smith says flatly “Tony has beat Father Time,” and Carroll, asked how his team will contain Gonzalez, has no smart response.
“The same that everybody else has — nobody can cover him,” Carroll said. “He’s just killed everybody for a whole career. He’s a fantastic football player.”
Strong safety Kam Chancellor has the size to deal with Gonzalez and he draws the assignment.
“Our guy is as big and strong as you can get and he’s ready, but nobody has ever stopped Tony,” Carroll said.
JUST FOR KICKS
It was a change Carroll admitted “I hate to have to make right now,” but he had little choice, as his kicker, Steve Hauschka, was hobbled last week with a strain to his left calf. Hauschka managed to hit three short-range field goals vs. the Redskins but he was placed on injured reserve earlier this week and veteran Ryan Longwell was signed as the replacement. Hauschka had a fine year — 24-for-27 on field-goal attempts — and Longwell, 38, hasn’t been in the NFL this season and figured his 15-year career was finished.
“I think it’s a cool story,” Carroll said. “Imagine sitting home working out, and the phone rings, and you’re going to the playoffs. It’s a pretty cool story for the kid and I’m excited for him.”
paul.schwartz@nypost.com
Paul’s Pick
Loss of pass-rushing DE Chris Clemons to knee injury means Seattle will have to blitz, and Falcons QB Matt Ryan can pick apart pressure. Rookie Seahawks QB Russell Wilson will have his hands full in the noise of the dome, and Atlanta secondary is tough to deal with.
Falcons 27, Seahawks 20