round, however, as the New York Giants defeated them 24–2, with Atlanta's only points coming off of a safety. 2012 In 2012, the Falcons won the NFC South and had the conference's best record at 13–3. Matt Ryan had the best season of his career, throwing for 4,719 yards and 32 touchdowns. Ryan directed an explosive passing attack featuring 1,000-yard receivers Roddy White (1,351 yards) and Julio Jones (1,198 yards), and future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez, who led the Falcons with 93 receptions. In the playoffs, Atlanta narrowly defeated the Seattle Seahawks 30–28 in the Divisional round after blowing a 27-7 3rd-quarter lead. The Seahawks took a 28–27 lead with 31 seconds left, but Ryan quickly led the Falcons downfield to set up Matt Bryant's game-winning 49-yard field goal with 8 seconds remaining. Atlanta would go on to host the NFC Championship Game and face the San Francisco 49ers. Just like the week before, the Falcons jumped out to an early lead (17-0) and could not hold onto it. This time, they lost 28–24. 2013 In 2013, Atlanta slipped to a 4–12 record, their first losing season since 2007. Injuries were also the story of the 2013 season. This was Tony Gonzalez' last year in the NFL. 2014 In 2014, Atlanta improved by two games, and thanks to an extremely weak division, remained in playoff contention until the final week of the season, when their divisional rival, the Carolina Panthers, defeated them 34–3. The Falcons' final record that season was 6-10. After the season, Mike Smith was fired and replaced by Dan Quinn. 2015 The 2015 season marked the Falcons' 50th season of play in the NFL. The Falcons got out to a fast start in 2015 with 5 straight victories before losing their first game to archrival New Orleans on the road on Thursday Night Football. They bounced back to defeat Tennessee but then went into a tailspin, losing six straight games before they finally defeated the Jaguars in Week 15. Then in Week 16, they scored a major upset by defeating the Carolina Panthers, who had beaten them 38-0 two weeks before, by the score of 20–13. This spoiled Carolina's chance at a perfect season. Sadly for the Falcons, they were eliminated from playoff contention for the third straight year after the Minnesota Vikings defeated the New York Giants later that day. They finished the