Heading into Week 15's contest against the New York Giants, many people had been questioning the validity of the Atlanta Falcons' 11-2 start. The Falcons had won a bunch of games by the skin of their teeth, and were coming off a brutal loss on the road to the Carolina Panthers.

Many of those critics have been silenced after the Falcons smoked the Giants, 34-0, on Sunday at the Georgia Dome. Atlanta dominated all game long on both sides of the ball, and Dave Choate of SB Nation's Falcons blog The Falcoholic says the team made a statement to the rest of the NFL that it is a force to be reckoned with:

If you've been looking for a statement game, you just got one. The Falcons were coming off a bad loss, playing last year's Super Bowl champion and had a ton of reasons to take it easy with the playoffs looming, and they absolutely blew the Giants out. There's no way you can spin this to be anything but an impressive Falcons win.

With the big victory, the Falcons are now just one win away from clinching the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC. Once they reach the postseason, Atlanta will try and finally make this type of statement in games that really matter after failing the past couple of seasons.

The Falcons face the reeling Detroit Lions on Saturday night at Ford Field.