I hope Matt Ryan is prepared for two to three times the number of microphones and tape recorders surrounding him in this picture, because they're coming. 

The attention, the respect, the questions, the pressure:  They're all coming if the Falcons continue to win. 

This week, the 8-0 Falcons continued to lament the lack of national attention a team with their undefeated record should receive.  To be quite honest, I don't blame them, but they should know how the national media, particularly ESPN, works.  The less drama, the less attention you'll get.  All the Falcons do is win.  Unfortunately, that's not exactly sexy enough for the four-letter empire.  Don't believe that?  See:  3-5 Philadelphia Eagles, 3-5 Dallas Cowboys, etc.  (In the spirit of full disclosure, I worked for said network for four years, so I know the mentality with which it chooses its stories to air and feature.)

Fortunately for the Falcons, they have the perfect head coach and quarterback to achieve their long-sought attention.  Mike Smith and Matt Ryan only care about winning; and as long as they continue to win, the attention will come soon enough.  It's too bad that of Atlanta's eight wins, they've beaten only one team currently sporting a winning record (Denver).  That's not the Falcons' fault.  But if they slip up in the coming weeks, it will be. 

Although they face only one more team with a current winning record (the New York Giants on Dec. 16), the schedule is about to get tougher.  As a result, the pressure is about to rise too. 

The pressure is what undoubtedly will come if the team continues to win.  Of the 14 previous teams to rack up eight wins out of the gate, only six of them won the Super Bowl, including just two since the turn of the century (Indianapolis in 2006 & New Orleans in 2009)!  Not even Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, who led New England to wins in their first 18 games in 2007, could overcome the pressure that comes with a perfect record. 

So when the Falcons Pro Bowl receiver Roddy White says this team "has the pedigree" to go 16-0, it's great that he believes it (and I don't doubt he does), but it's also important that he and his teammates know what comes with each subsequent win.  It means more media, more questions, more national media coming to the team's Flowery Branch headquarters asking about everything other than the most simple task at hand--and that's to commit every part of one's being to doing all he can to help the team win that next game. 

Fortunately, general manager Thomas Dimitroff comes from that Patriots team which finished 18-1.  So if he senses anything that requires a stern warning or caution, he's the perfect person to provide it.  If that fails, the team has two veterans who can share stories about how their teams started 8-0, earned home-field advantage, yet lost its first playoff game.  Tight end Tony Gonzalez experienced that in 2003 in Kansas City and safety Chris Hope suffered the same fate as a member of the Tennessee Titans in 2008. 

In the meantime, the Falcons should continue to take it one game at a time.  It's a cliche, yes, but it's also the only way they will get what they ultimately want more than anything else:  a ring. 

Win that, and the attention will not only be there in the short-term.  It will last forever.