ATLANTA -- Matt Ryan insists the Atlanta Falcons are mentally tougher than they were last season.

The veteran quarterback went out and showed it Sunday.

Ryan completed 9 of 11 passes for 75 yards on a game-winning drive that ended with his 11-yard touchdown pass to Mohamed Sanu down the seam. Sanu was mismatched against linebacker Jake Ryan. It marked Matt Ryan's 34th career game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime, giving the Falcons a 33-32 win over the Green Bay Packers.

"They don't call the guy `Matty Ice' for no reason," Sanu said of his quarterback. "The guy's got ice in his veins. He just goes out there and just executes, man."

The Falcons sorely needed this one after losing the previous two weeks to the Seattle Seahawks (26-24) and San Diego Chargers (33-30 in overtime). Now at 5-3 and leading the NFC South, they have a little momentum going into a crucial division matchup with the Buccaneers (3-4) Thursday night in Tampa.

After the San Diego loss, Falcons coach Dan Quinn showed his team a tape of boxer Marvin Hagler winning a championship bout after losing the first matchup by decision. The point of the clip was to emphasize not letting someone else decide the outcome for you.

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Ryan obviously took the message to heart. He threw a pass the perfect height to Sanu with Julio Jones drawing double coverage, as usual

"When you feel his demeanor on the sideline, when there's a timeout and he comes over and he has that locked-in look in his eyes, he's ready to go," Quinn said of Ryan's demeanor. "His teammates respond to him because of his toughness and his attitude that he display for them all the time.

"These guys are a very tight group. They just love playing football for one another. It shows in the locker room and it shows on the practice field."

Ryan, touted as the MVP frontrunner after guiding the Falcons to a four-game winning streak, finished Sunday's completing 28 of 35 passes for 288 yards with three touchdowns and a passer rating for 129.5. He did all that with the league's most dangerous threat, Jones, catching just three passes for 29 yards, all in the first half. Sanu, one of the team's big offseason acquisitions, picked up the slack with nine catches (10 targets) for 84 yards. The Falcons will need Sanu to continue to play that way to alleviate some of the pressure off Jones the remainder of the season.

"That's what he's brought to this team: He's a big body and excellent in the red zone," Ryan said of Sanu. "I thought he did a great job all day."

The defensive issues the Falcons had against Aaron Rodgers and a depleted Packers offense -- they surrendered five plays of 20-plus yards despite an inspired, two-sack performance by Adrian Clayborn and another sack for Vic Beasley Jr. -- emphasized how Atlanta has to win with its offense. Ryan said prior to the season the Falcons have the ability to average 30 points per game. Right now, the Falcons are averaging 32.8. They'll need to keep up that pace to close out the second half of the schedule and make the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

More than anything, the Falcons have to show poise in tight situations. The poise Ryan showed set an example for his teammates.

"For me, the longer I've played, the more I understand that you never know how a game is going to shake out," Ryan said. "Getting up or down or out of your normal concentration doesn't help, so I try to remain that way all the time -- very calm and focused on getting that next completion, getting the next first down.

"The message I give to the guys before we go out is in that situation, don't worry about the touchdown play. Let's get the first down and get the sticks moving. I thought we did a great job of that."

The quick turnaround to a Thursday game against a Buccaneers team the Falcons already lost to in the season opener (31-24) won't make things any easier, especially with it coming on the road. The Falcons then play at Philadelphia before a much-needed bye week that is followed by home matchups with Kansas City (5-2) and Arizona (3-4).

Let's see if the Falcons have finally figured out how to finish. They sure did Sunday.