BALTIMORE -- Arthur Smith stood at the lectern following yet another close loss in a season defined by them and appeared perturbed. Annoyed at officiating. Annoyed he was once again having to say the same things over and over again.

Talking about “getting over the hump.” About progression being made even though victories haven’t followed in a November and December where the Falcons have won just once after starting the season 4-4.

About needing to win, even though the playoffs in an awful NFC South are no longer a possibility. While all of this might seem like coachspeak and frustration -- the same frustration expressed by his players, too -- there’s also reality in it.

The Atlanta Falcons are a team in the midst of a transition, a rebuild from one era to another and the last two months have been proof. It’s why while this season has always been measured -- like every season -- with wins and losses, there were more things to watch than that.

So it’s important to also look at the larger picture when it comes to what has happened in Atlanta this season – where you can see the beginnings of things being created with the internal hope they can carry over from this season to the next one, where wins and losses will be judged much more critically.

“For sure it can,” safety Jaylinn Hawkins said. “How you finish is everything, man. That shows a lot more about your character, man, especially in moments when you’re down and you can just rise from that and keep fighting and not give up.”

That has been one area where the Falcons have been consistent this season. They’ve been resilient. In only one game -- a blowout at Cincinnati -- were they not at least competitive. In pro sports, that often doesn’t mean much, just being competitive, but it is something to build on with a young roster that should have a bunch of players returning next season.

And it can start creating a message for beyond the next two weeks, where Atlanta will try to win and also can start evaluating for the future. On offense, there’s a lot of young players who could make up their future core, from quarterback Desmond Ridder to running back Tyler Allgeier, wide receiver Drake London and tight end Kyle Pitts, all in their first two seasons in the league.

On defense, Hawkins, safety Richie Grant, linebacker Troy Andersen, edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie and cornerback A.J. Terrell are still on rookie contracts, and the Falcons are clearly building around defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, who signed a third contract with the team in the offseason.

“We fighting, bro. I’m not with that quitting stuff, not with that throw-in-the-towel stuff,” Grant said. “We fighting. Two games left, playoffs or not, it’s all about who you are now. So we’re going to keep fighting until the season is over with.”

Can that carry over?

“Absolutely,” Grant said. “Obviously the schedule is not going how we expected in the beginning. We are doing a hell of a lot better than a lot of people thought. But at the end of the day, man, we still have so much improving we can do.

“We’ve been improving all year, but there’s still so much left and that gives you hope in the defense we want to be.”

Of course, there’s little way to prove a carryover or know it will happen. Sometimes, teams are able to build on positive endings to seasons. Other times -- and the 2019 into 2020 Falcons are an example of this, where the Falcons won six of their last eight in 2019 only to drop their first five games in 2020 -- you can’t.

But there is at least confidence within the locker room that the group they’ve started to assemble can be something sustainable.

“I feel like we got a good structure, a good nucleus,” tight end MyCole Pruitt said. “We just got to find a way to finish these games. It sucks to be in so many games and then lose at the end by one score. It’s been too much of the same story.

“We have to just really hunker down and figure out exactly how we finish and that’s going to be the plan moving forward.”

Learning how to finish, Pruitt said, can be learned. The next two games can start to potentially teach that. And maybe, it can be something for the Falcons to build on going into next season.