TAMPA, Fla. -- The words MVP and Matt Ryan seem synonymous these days.

You will hear them uttered by ex-NFL players and coaches-turned-analysts. You will see them grouped together while scrolling through Twitter feeds.

Longtime NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, now part of ESPN's Monday Night Football crew, said Ryan is his pick as the MVP outside of New England's Tom Brady. Hasselbeck even took it a step further in saying Ryan played very much like the three-time Super Bowl MVP Brady through the first eight games.

The always modest Ryan downplayed such chatter.

"Obviously, it's nice to be mentioned in that with Tom," Ryan said. "He's such a great player. But for me, at this point of the year, it's about finding ways to get wins and delivering winning performances week in and week out. And that's what I'm focused on.

"But it's nice to be mentioned."

Ryan can shy away from all the high praise, but there's no denying he has elevated his play coming off last season's turnover-plagued campaign. He will enter Thursday night's NFC South showdown against Jameis Winston and Tampa Bay atop the league in passing yards (2,636) and passing touchdowns (19) with just four interceptions. Ryan is on pace to become the sixth player to pass for 5,000 yards in a single season, behind Peyton Manning (NFL-record 5,477 yards in 2013), Drew Brees, Dan Marino, Matthew Stafford and Brady.

Ryan's average of 329.5 passing yards per game would be a career best, and only two quarterbacks in NFL history have posted a better average over the course of an entire season: Manning in 2013 (342.3 YPG) and Brees in 2011 (342.3 YPG).

The key for Ryan is maintaining the same high level of play for the remaining eight games, starting with Thursday night's rematch with a Tampa Bay team he lost to 31-24 in the season opener. In fact, the Atlanta Falcons have dropped three straight to the Buccaneers.

"I think they're talented," Ryan said of the Bucs. "They've got really good players on defense, the front seven specifically. Their interior defensive linemen, as well as their linebackers, are very good. We've got to be on top of ball security. It's going to be important we don't give them anything."

Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan discussed what has been so dynamic about Ryan's play, from his perspective.

"Just going to the right places with the ball," Shanahan said. "He's been attacking coverages; not really forcing it. He's been finding the weakness in the coverage and going to that person -- whoever it is, whether it's a back, a receiver, or tight end. He's done a good job of executing the offense and getting the ball in the right spot."

To Shanahan's point, Ryan has completed 10 or more passes to eight receivers, led by top target Julio Jones (43 receptions). Ryan also has thrown touchdown passes to 10 teammates this season.

Back to the MVP talk, Hasselbeck explained why he mentioned Ryan in the same breath as Brady, although Hasselbeck didn't want to go overboard in drawing such a comparison between the two.

"He's playing lights-out," Hasselbeck said of Ryan. "You can tell he's worked on different aspects of his game. He's not fleet of foot. His body type actually reminds me a little bit of Tom Brady in that he's really good in the pocket, but he's not going to run a great 40 time. He's got a strong enough arm to make all the throws, but he's probably not going to win the quarterback challenge for who can throw the ball the furthest. But he still has a big-time NFL arm.

"If I had to point to one thing that I'm most impressed about, it's just the way he's spreading the ball around. And his play-action game is really technically fantastic. It's excellent."

Jones, the Falcons' superstar receiver, didn't want to feed into the Ryan MVP talk, with the team-first mindset dominating the locker room. But Jones couldn't deny how rewarding it is to hear Ryan get respect from Hasselback and other outsiders.

"It's good to get recognized," Jones said. "But at the same time, you've got to keep doing you and staying focused. You can't get caught up in people tell you you're good, or even that you're a bad player. You can't let that stuff sink in or mess up your focus.

"Matt's always been Matt to me. He's always been doing what he's been doing. He's just being doing a great job for us. That's just Matt."