Beats studio headphones for Matt Ryan: Remember the commercial with Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman getting drilled by the media for negative reasons and then Sherman throwing on his Beats to drown out the noise? Well, Ryan could use a pair, based on the scrutiny he is facing of late as a result of poor play. He typically tries to brush off such criticism, but it's got to be getting to him behind closed doors. He can silence the haters with a strong final six games and a postseason berth.

Ten bags of potatoes for the defense: Sounds silly, doesn't it? And it has nothing to do with feeding 345-pound nose tackle Paul Soliai. The Falcons can bring all those into the locker room, dump the potatoes in the garbage, then walk away with 10 sacks because they sure could use them. The Falcons have 12 sacks, tied for last in the league alongside the New York Giants. Rookie first-round pick Vic Beasley, who immediately announced his goal of double-digit sacks, has just two and is on pace for 3.2 sacks. The defense is improved, but not so much in terms of getting to the quarterback.