The Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback also is a leading MVP candidate .

The glaring void on Ryan’s resume is his 1-4 postseason record. At 31, Ryan may not have many more chances to change his reputation as a quarterback who comes up short in the playoffs.

Ryan’s only playoff win came against Seattle after the 2012 regular season, and he’ll have another shot at the Seahawks in Saturday’s NFC divisional round game.

Ryan said Tuesday he has never been better prepared for the playoffs.

”I feel like as you get experience throughout your career, you try to learn from all of it and you try to use it to make you better,” Ryan said. ”I feel like I’ve done that throughout my career. Both positive and negative, I’ve learned from all of those experiences and … I feel like I’m just playing my best and playing better than I ever have.”

No matter his stats, Ryan ultimately will be judged by his team’s success. The Falcons led the NFL in scoring while winning the NFC South, but a loss in their playoff opener would lead some critics to conclude they were just another regular-season fad that was not built for the postseason.

A loss also would leave an even larger void on Ryan’s record.

Falcons coach Dan Quinn said he talked with Ryan about the extra playoff pressure placed on the quarterback.

Quinn said this is a different Ryan than the one who lost to the 49ers in the NFC championship game after the 2012 season and also suffered one-and-done playoff losses to Arizona in his 1998 rookie season, to Green Bay in 2010 and to the Giants in 2011.

Quinn believes Ryan is ready for postseason success.

”For him I think you can’t truly be relentless until you’ve been right close to it and you didn’t get it,” Quinn said Tuesday. ”I know from my experience you learn so much from a loss and what you gain from it. What I can tell you is Matt’s a far different quarterback today than he was a few years ago.”

Quinn said Ryan’s ”ability to attack, his ability to be ready” in this season’s offense ”has nothing to do with” past playoff failures.

Ryan said he doesn’t dwell on past playoff letdowns.

”I don’t worry about it too much,” he said. ”One thing I’ve learned throughout my career is if you spend time worrying about that, you’re not spending time worrying about the things that are going to make a difference on Sunday.”

The approach is working for Ryan. He had a career-high 38 touchdown passes and a low with only seven interceptions this season. He finished second in the league in TD passes and yards passing. His 117.1 passer rating leads the NFL.

Seattle coach Pete Carroll said Ryan’s success following a startling dip in production in 2015 is a natural progression for his second season with offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. The success has made Shanahan a target for at least four teams looking for head coaches.

”The word we use is chemistry between throwers and catchers,” Carroll said in a telephone interview. ”There really is a lot to that. You can see just the benefit of the years together and the benefit of being in the same scheme for two years.”

Carroll said the Falcons offense led by Ryan is ”as good as you can get.”

Ryan wouldn’t say if this offense will be a better fit for the postseason.

”I know this team that we’re a part of right now,” Ryan said. ”We’re good enough to get the job done every week. I really feel that way. We just need to continue to do the same things we’ve done up to this point.”

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His boss isn’t so shy.

”If I had a vote for MVP, it would certainly be Matt,” Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn said Wednesday. ”He’s had a fantastic year in a lot of ways.”

Ryan just finished up the best regular season of his career, leading the Falcons to a division championship and first-round bye in the playoffs . There is no doubt he is one of the top contenders for the NFL’s highest individual honor, usually included in the same breath with New England’s Tom Brady, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Dallas rookie Ezekiel Elliott.

The Falcons have never had a player capture the MVP award.

Ryan shrugged off his chances, again showing his adept ability to scramble away from saying much of anything that will draw attention to himself. He truly is the ultimate team player, which is why the quarterback is so revered in the Atlanta locker room.

”It’s obviously nice to be mentioned, for sure,” Ryan said. ”That’s special. But at the end of the day, we’ve got bigger things in front of us.”

Ryan closed with a flourish, throwing for 331 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-32 victory over the New Orleans Saints last Sunday. It was his fourth straight game with a rating above 120, good enough to claim the NFC offensive player of the week award for the second time this season.

As impressive as he’s been on the field, Ryan contributes just as much to the Falcons’ success when he’s away from the spotlight.

”There are so many things that don’t show up on the stat sheet,” Quinn said. ”How many people he’s affected on our team. He’s a fantastic teammate. That’s one of the highest praises you can give to a ballplayer.”

Ryan endured some baffling mistakes last season, raising doubts that he’d ever be the guy to lead the Falcons to their first Super Bowl championship.

Turns out, he had to work through an adjustment period with offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who came aboard with Quinn after the firing of long-time coach Mike Smith.

”We were just trying to get to where we needed to be,” receiver Julio Jones said.

In Year 2, coordinator and quarterback are in total sync. Shanahan is now one of the hottest assistants in the league, leading to an interview for the Denver Broncos head coaching job.

”He picked up the offense,” Jones said of Ryan. ”He understands this read, that read, what Kyle wants. You can see the production. It would have been there last year, but we just didn’t gel as well.”

Ryan was the league’s highest-rated passer, completing 69.9 percent of his attempts for a career-best 4,944 yards, with 38 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. The most impressive part of this season is the way he’s gotten everyone involved, becoming the first quarterback to throw scoring passes to 13 different receivers.

”We get a lot guys involved,” Quinn said. ”Our whole team has a real clear understanding of our identity.”

Coaches and teammates may be campaigning for him, but don’t expect Ryan to talk up his chances.

Just not his style.

”I think I’ve played well,” Ryan said. ”But I don’t think about it too much, in all honesty. You focus on trying to prepare well and trying to play well. That’s been a formula that’s worked pretty well.”

Notes: With an extra week of recovery time, Quinn said he’s optimistic that everyone on the 53-man roster will be ready to go in the playoffs. That includes WR Taylor Gabriel (foot) and TE Austin Hooper (knee), who didn’t play in the regular-season finale against New Orleans. The Falcons will also keep an eye on LB-DE Vic Beasley (shoulder) and CB Robert Alford (knee), who were hurt in the Saints game. Quinn said some players will be limited this week, but they should be ready to go when the Falcons return to a regular practice schedule next Tuesday.

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Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .

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Now, that’s literally the case.

The Falcons (9-5) can capture the division their first division title since 2012 on Saturday with a win over the three-time defending NFC South champion Panthers on their home field, combined with a Tampa Bay loss or tie against New Orleans.

Falcons coach Dan Quinn said his team is expecting a battle, even though Carolina (6-8) is all but eliminated from playoff contention.

”That’s what you look for in a division game,” Quinn said. ”That’s what makes them so much fun – the toughness, the hardness that comes with it.”

The Panthers would love nothing more than to play spoiler against the Falcons, a team that ended Carolina’s unbeaten season last December in Week 16 at the Georgia Dome.

But to do so, Carolina will need to stop Ryan.

The MVP candidate threw for 503 yards and four touchdowns in a 48-33 win over Carolina earlier this season. It was the most yards passing ever surrendered by the Panthers, prompting defensive coordinator Sean McDermott to say of the plane ride home, ”Honestly? I wanted to open a window and jump.”

Carolina’s defense has been much improved in recent weeks, and safety Kurt Coleman is expecting a better performance this time around.

”Our confidence is much higher than it was the last time we played them,” Coleman said. ”We have to get pressure on Matt Ryan and we have to be able to lock up on defense and make plays when we are in the area.”

Things to watch in Saturday’s Falcons-Panthers game:

JULIO’S BIG DAY: Julio Jones leads the NFL with 1,253 yards receiving despite missing the last two games with a sprained toe. A big reason is Jones’ franchise-record 300 yards in that last meeting with Carolina. Jones abused since-released Bene Benwikere and rookie James Bradberry while posting the NFL’s first 300-yard game in three years.

Jones caught passes for 22, 14 and 15 yards on Atlanta’s first three plays and had a 75-yard touchdown catch in his memorable day.

Although the Panthers may not have a cornerback who can stick with Jones, it will be difficult for him to repeat his big day if he is able to play. Jones ran full-speed for the first time on Wednesday and likely won’t be 100 percent.

”It was important to sit out those two games and heal up like I needed to heal up,” Jones said.

MVP TALK: Jones and running back Devonta Freeman have endorsed Ryan for MVP this week. Freeman ran for three touchdowns in last week’s rout of the 49ers and was named NFC offensive player of the week.

Jones said he has been impressed by watching Ryan from the sideline the last two weeks.

”Matt does great things. I was a fan,” Jones said. ”When you’re watching live action, you see the coverage and everything. You watch him as he goes through it – boom, boom, boom. It’s unbelievable. He’s been doing a great job for us.”

OLSEN ON VERGE OF RECORD: Carolina’s Greg Olsen needs 8 yards receiving to accomplish something Tony Gonzalez, Kellen Winslow and even Rob Gronkowski have never done: become the first tight end in league history to post three straight 1,000-yard seasons.

Olsen, who is expected to play despite a shoulder injury that has kept him out of practice this week, said he would take great pride in breaking the mark because it speaks to his durability and consistency.

TO PLAY OR NOT TO PLAY: Panthers three-time All-Pro middle linebacker Luke Kuechly has cleared the concussion protocol, but coach Ron Rivera seems reluctant to play him again this season with the team all but mathematically out of the playoff hunt.

Cam Newton, for one, thinks resting Kuechly is a good idea.

”Luke is a person that could potentially be the greatest linebacker that has ever played – straight up,” Newton said. ”I don’t think, for me, I would want to jeopardize that for a long, long-term issue just to bring him back. The long-term goal for this team is to be in the playoffs and play for Super Bowls.”

JOHNSON’S RETURN: The Panthers have rediscovered their pass rush in the second half of the season and are tied for the league lead in sacks with Denver.

Carolina is expected to get defensive end Charles Johnson back for this game after he missed the last two with a hamstring injury. The 30-year-old Johnson is a Georgia native who always seems to step up his game against the Falcons.

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The Falcons have been exerting tremendous pressure on Gonzalez to make one more Super Bowl run, and sources said he’s wavering from his intention to retire for the first time. While he is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent, Gonzalez said at his locker after Atlanta’s season ended in the NFC Championship Game that if he were to return he would be interested in playing only for the Falcons.

While the Falcons would certainly like to have a commitment from Gonzalez before free agency begins March 12, sources say no deadlines have been established.

Gonzalez is tempted because he knows — barring major injuries to key players — the Falcons have the talent to go deep into the postseason, and there has been no evidence to suggest his own performance has declined.

A 13-time Pro Bowler, who will turn 38 on Feb. 27, Gonzalez holds NFL records for touchdown receptions (107) and reception yards (14,268) by a tight end. He had 93 catches for 930 yards and 8 touchdowns last season.

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The Atlanta Falcons finally showed they could win a playoff game.

And, wow, what a game it was!

After a meltdown in the fourth quarter, the Falcons pulled off a comeback that will long be remembered in championship-starved Atlanta. Ryan completed two long passes and Bryant kicked a 49-yard field goal with 8 seconds remaining, lifting the NFC’s top seed to a stunning 30-28 victory over Russell Wilson and the gutty Seattle Seahawks in a divisional game Sunday.

“Wow!” said Falcons coach Mike Smith, summing up this classic as well as anyone could.

Atlanta (14-3) squandered a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter, falling behind for the first time all day when Marshawn Lynch scored on a 2-yard run with 31 seconds left and Ryan Longwell knocked through the extra point for a 28-27 lead.

No team has ever won a playoff game when facing such a daunting deficit in the final period.

The Falcons, thanks to a pair of Matty Ices — Ryan and Bryant — didn’t become the first.

Ryan, shaking off his struggles in three previous playoff losses and two interceptions against the Seahawks, hooked up with Harry Douglas on a 29-yard pass in front of the Falcons bench, and Smith quickly signaled a timeout. Then, Ryan went down the middle to his favorite target Gonzalez, a Hall of Famer-to-be playing what could’ve been his final game.

Gonzalez hauled in the 19-yard throw, and Smith called his final timeout with 13 seconds remaining. Instead of risking another play and having the clock run out, he sent Bryant in for the field goal try.

The Seahawks called time just before the ball was snapped, and Bryant’s kick sailed right of the upright. That turned out to be nothing more than practice. The next one was right down the middle as Bryant took off in the other direction, pumping his fist before he was mobbed by his teammates.

“Our quarterback is a special player,” Smith said. “They call him Matty Ice, but I feel like we’ve got two Matty Ices. There’s Matty Ice Ryan and Matty Ice Bryant.”

The Falcons overcame their reputation for choking in the playoffs, winning their first postseason game since the 2004 season. They’ll host San Francisco in the NFC championship game next Sunday with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

“Nobody flinched,” Ryan said. “We just kept battling, kept doing what we do. That’s been the makeup of our team all season.”

Bryant knocked through his third game-winning kick of the season. But he’d never made one like this, with so much on the line.

“When they scored their touchdown, I walked down (the sideline),” he said. “I told the offensive line, I told Matt (Ryan), I told all the receivers, `We’ve done this before.”

Wilson threw two touchdown passes and ran for another, doing all he could to pull off the most improbable of comebacks for the Seahawks (12-6). But the Seattle defense, which is one of the NFL’s best and had totally stymied the Falcons in the fourth quarter, went to a softer coverage and got burned.

Atlanta had just enough time to pull off a comeback of its own.

“We had high, high hopes for the rest of the season,” Wilson said. “When the game was over, I was very disappointed. But walking back into the tunnel, I got so excited about next year. The resilience we showed was unbelievable.”

Wilson finished with 385 yards passing as the Seahawks wiped out a 27-7 deficit entering the final quarter. When Lynch powered over, the ball breaking the goal line just before it squirted from his arms, Seattle celebrated like it had won its second straight playoff game on the road, having already taken care of Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins.

According to STATS, it would’ve been the greatest fourth-quarter comeback in NFL playoff history.

Not so fast.

Ryan led the Falcons back, wiping out his 0-3 mark in the playoffs, including a crushing loss to Green Bay two years ago when the Falcons were in the same position, the NFC’s top-seeded team with home-field advantage in the playoffs.

“The one thing I’ve learned during my five years in the league, and specifically in the postseason, is that it’s hard,” Ryan said.

Now, he’ll no longer be asked why he can’t win in the playoffs.

“That’s going to be nice,” Ryan conceded. “But our goal is not to win one playoff game. Our goals are still in front of us. We still have two more games to go. That’s the mind-set I have. That’s the mind-set this team has.”

Wilson’s last throw, a desperation heave into the end zone, was intercepted by Falcons receiver Julio Jones.

Gonzalez, who had never won a playoff game in his 16-year career, broke down in tears after Bryant’s kick went through the uprights.

“I’ve never cried after a win,” said Gonzalez, who has stated repeatedly that he’s “95 percent” sure this is his final year. “I was thinking, `Here we go again. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”

It was.

The Falcons finally lived up to their excellence during the regular season since Smith, Ryan and general manager Thomas Dimitroff took over in 2008, instantly reviving a franchise that seemed down and out after Michael Vick’s dogfighting case. Atlanta has won 56 regular-season games over the last five years, more than any team except New England, but had a reputation for choking in the postseason.

Check that off the list. Atlanta is one win away from the second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.

Ryan threw three touchdown passes, tying a Falcons playoff record, and finished 24 of 35 for 250 yards — the first time he’s eclipsed 200 yards in the postseason. He threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Gonzalez, a 47-yarder to Roddy White and a 5-yarder to Jason Snelling, the latter with 2:11 left in the third quarter to give the Falcons a seemingly commanding lead.

Wilson took over from there, running 1 yard for a touchdown to make it 27-14, then going to Zach Miller on a 3-yard touchdown pass that closed the gap to 27-21.

Finally, taking over at his own 39 after an Atlanta punt, Wilson completed three passes for 50 yards, the last of them a short throw to Lynch that the bruising runner took all the way to the Falcons 3. The rookie quarterback made it all possible, spinning away from blitzing Atlanta linebacker Sean Weatherspoon to keep the play alive.

The Seahawks, though, will spend the offseason kicking themselves for that last Falcons’ drive, and for squandering two scoring chances in the first half.

On fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 11, Seattle passed on a field goal and a chance to give the ball to Lynch, their beast of a back. Fullback Michael Robinson took the handoff and was stuffed for a 1-yard loss by safety William Moore.

Then, with the clock winding down before halftime, Seattle used up all its timeouts and wound up regretting it when Wilson was sacked by Jonathan Babineaux at the Atlanta 20. Time ran out before the Seahawks could get off another play, sending Atlanta to the locker room with a 20-0 lead.

Bryant also connected on field goals of 37 and 39 yards in the first half.

“At halftime, we talked about how we can’t get ahead right away. It’s going to take a while,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “It was an exquisite job of refocusing to a football game after being down like that.”

Game notes

The Falcons played the second half without defensive end John Abraham, who re-injured his ailing right ankle. No word whether he’ll be able to play next week. … The Falcons did a good job on Lynch, who was held to 46 yards on 16 carries. … Atlanta got surprising production out of its maligned running game. Michael Turner rushed for 98 yards, Jacquizz Rodgers added 64 and the Falcons finished with a season-high 167 yards overall.

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