After 34-0 rout, Giants fall into tie for first place

• With the loss, the New York Giants fell to 8-6 and watched their playoff hopes get severely damaged
• The Giants were shut out in the regular season for the first time since 1996
• The Atlanta Falcons, with the victory, improved to 12-2 and clinched the NFC South

ATLANTA — Roddy White knows what you're thinking: Here the Atlanta Falcons go again, toward a No. 1 seed and an ultimately disappointing showing in the postseason.

Not this year. Not according to White, who appreciated the way his teammates embraced the challenge of facing the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants and spanking them 34-0 on Sunday instead of cowering in fear of playing such a good team.

"I told them early in the locker room, 'We can't keep ducking people and say, "We don't want to play these guys, we don't want to play those guys," ' " the Falcons wide receiver told USA TODAY Sports after the game. "We have to go out there and execute our gameplan, whatever Smitty (coach Mike Smith) brings to us, and we've got to go out there and play Falcon football. Stop saying, 'I hope we don't get these guys.'

"We're a good football team. We have to go out there and play like a good football team."

That was quite the revelation by White to indicate previous Falcons teams didn't exactly, as he put it, "relish the moment" in facing one of the best teams in the NFL.

The Falcons have made the postseason three times under coach Mike Smith and have quickly exited, with losses to the Arizona Cardinals in 2008, the Green Bay Packers two years later in an upset at home and the Giants this past January. All three teams made the Super Bowl, with the Packers and Giants winning it.

While he didn't get into specifics, White obviously didn't appreciate the way the Falcons approached some of those games.

"Absolutely. I could say, two, three years ago, that was the attitude — trying to escape (teams) and say, 'I hope we don't get these guys,'" White said. "We'd be saying, 'Oh, these guys can do this, they're a good football team.' We can't say we don't want to play them. We can't say that.

"This year, it's a totally different team."

The Falcons (12-2) played like it on Sunday, dominating the Giants from start to finish.

They were more aggressive. Cornerback Asante Samuel made sure of it by jumping a route on the second play from scrimmage to intercept Eli Manning, just as he had in 2009 to spark a rout of the Giants when he was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Falcons were more physical. Linebacker Sean Weatherspoon flowed along with the defensive front to stuff David Wilson on a fourth-and-1 in the second quarter. Weatherspoon also pressured Manning into throwing wide on a third down. Kroy Biermann had a sack on a third down. And there were plenty of other pressures from the Falcons' front.

There was also a huge hit by Falcons safety Chris Hope on Victor Cruz, though it was of the illegal variety. It drew a penalty and will also likely draw a fine.

But the point was the Falcons didn't seem intimidated, as White had suggested they might've been in a similar spot in the past. They were supremely confident on the field and in the locker room afterward.

"When you come to the Georgia Dome, this is our house, and we ain't taking no prisoners in our house. That's how we feel and that's how we're going to take the field, like champs," said Samuel, who now has four regular-season interceptions of Manning and one in the playoffs. "This is our house and you can't do nothing in our house."

It appears they will now have the chance to prove that in the postseason because they're on their way to locking up the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC.

"Winning is great, but we feel like we're a dominant football team," cornerback Dunta Robinson said. "We've been trying to play games like this for a long time, so it was good to come out here late in the season and dominate this football game. It was a great feeling."

Especially since they did so against the team that sent them home in January.

They were smart to not provide any bulletin-board material last week, but they were certainly stewing about that loss last week. Samuel, who was an Eagle at the time, said he kept hearing from teammates about how the offense only scored two points in that game and about all of the wasted opportunities. The Falcons players were forced to relive those missed chances this past week in watching film.

It only stoked their fire.

"We felt like if we had transitioned and made some plays, especially on third down, the game would've been completely different," White said.

Even quarterback Matt Ryan, who was 23-for-28 for 270 yards and three touchdowns, including a beauty to Julio Jones for 40 yards past rookie cornerback Jayron Hosley, admitted revenge was on his mind.

As it was for others.

"We wanted another chance at them because we left a lot of plays out on the field," Robinson said. "That's a good football team, and a team we'll probably see again soon."

If so, their knees won't be knocking. Not according to White.

"We ain't winning all these games for no reason. We can play a little bit," he said. "As long as we continue to go out there and execute how we're supposed to, we'll be just fine."