3-10 record and was the NFC's No. 1 seed just a season ago. The Falcons had home-field advantage and made it all the way to the conference championship game, only to lose to the San Francisco 49ers. Quarterback Matt Ryan had a lights-out campaign in 2012, passing for a career-high 4,719 yards with 32 TD strikes and 14 INTs. This season he has thrown for 3,677 yards with 21 touchdowns and 13 picks.

In Sunday's 22-21 loss in Green Bay, Ryan threw for 206 yards with a pair of scoring passes and an interception. The one more commonly known as "Matty Ice" has had to deal with down years to targets Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez, the loss of Julio Jones early on and an inept rushing attack.

At leastGonzalez has caught a pass in 208 straight games. Running back Steven Jackson has been healthy for just nine games this season and has totaled only 410 yards with three touchdowns. He entered his first stint with Atlanta after eight straight 1,000-yard campaigns with St. Louis.

Jackson, though, is averaging 73 rushing yards per game over the last three weeks for a Falcons team that has lost six of its last seven games and he is liking how the Falcons have been patient with the ground attack in recent weeks. Jackson hopes it will be something to build on for next season as he enters the twilight of his career.

"I think it gives you something to build off and definitely a lot of things to teach off of in