Atlanta QB Matt Ryan filled in for vacationing SI.com writer Peter King:

NFL quarterbacks spend a lot of time during the off-season dissecting every aspect of their performance. We analyze, critique, and obsess over things that went right and try to figure out the things that went wrong.

So it should come as no surprise that days after we finished the 2009 season by recording back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in the 44-year history of the franchise, I was back in our quarterbacks room at the Falcons complex analyzing how I played during the season. And after reviewing the tapes of our 9-7 season, I decided I would spend the early part of the off-season studying the high-scoring offenses in the NFL that had personnel similar to ours here in Atlanta.

While analyzing and studying those six offenses, I closely watched the quarterbacks -- Peyton Manning from the Colts, Tony Romo from the Cowboys, Tom Brady from the Patriots, Phillip Rivers from the Chargers, Aaron Rodgers from the Packers and Drew Brees from the Saints -- to see what each guy did to make his team so effective.

Ryan ranks 14th at 4for4, which puts him at a backup role for most fantasy leagues. He could be a guy you want to target to pair with a low end QB1 -- someone like Eli Manning, Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb or Jay Cutler.

The biggest thing for Aaron Rodgers is he has two years of film on himself to learn from. The National Football League now has two years of film to evaluate him and dissect how they are going to attack his game and what they feel his strengths and weaknesses are.

It is no different than the approach we take in a self-scout with everything we do schematically and for our players. Just his commitment to the offseason program, particularly the quarterback school. He is very fundamentally strong. He is very talented. I think that is obvious in his movement skills and his ability to make all of the throws. His understanding of the offense has really been intact now, in my opinion, this will be the fourth year, and we'll play to that more and challenge him with more things at the line.

I think he is a very good 'at the line' player, whether it's a two- or three-, possibly four-way play selection. I see more improvement, more opportunity for him to do that there, and that's part of our plan as we go into the season. His standard of play has been set at a pretty high level, and his challenge is to step over that standard every week.

Rogers is 4for4.com's top-rated QB this year, which says a lot when you consider the company he's competing with. His ADP is late first round, but QB is a pretty deep position this year so getting him in the second after a top-notch RB or WR gets your team off to a nice start.

Tom Martinez, who serves as Tom Brady's personal coach, recently reflected on Brady's 2009 season and stated the quarterback was playing hurt.

"He had a broken finger and three broken ribs," Martinez told Tim Graham, who works for ESPN. "He wasn't throwing well."

And Martinez also revealed that after an uneven month of play, and a slew of injuries, the Patriot captain felt his mechanics slipping and called for help.

On Christmas morning, with the rest of the club off, Brady and Martinez went to work.

"It's one of those things where I can see right away what he's doing," Martinez said. "He trusts me, so when I tweak him, it's right back to where he wants to be. Then, at that point, it probably is psychological."

Brady responded the following Sunday by riddling the Jaguars for 267 yards and four touchdowns on 23-of-26 passing.

As for the finger and ribs, it's worth noting the reason that news wasn't more thoroughly clarified right after the season is because Brady himself didn't want it out there as an excuse.

Despite the injuries, Brady still threw for 4,398 yards and 28 touchdowns. He's currently at number five in 4for4's rankings and is poised for another big year even though he may have to start the season without Wes Welker. He might be a slight bargain on draft day as he's likely to be taken after Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Peyton Manning, but could end up being just as productive.

Green Bay Packers receiver Jordy Nelson has put together a phenomenal offseason in his third year, demanding attention with his play in organized team activity practices and minicamp.

Passes stuck to his gloves. Defenders couldn’t keep up. Any ball in his vicinity seemed catchable.

As quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his bag of offensive toys prepare for what the organization hopes is a lengthy playoff run, Nelson looks ready for a bigger role.

“Jordy has had, by far, his best offseason,” receivers coach Jimmy Robinson said. “He’s feeling so comfortable out there, that he’s making a ton of plays.”

He split time with James Jones in the slot last year, but that could change if he can carry this over into camp and beyond. He could be a nice, later round pick in your draft.

Packers tight end Jermichael Finley became a major weapon for the Packers last season, but Finley remained a bit of a headache for the Green Bay brass. He was late for a half-dozen meetings and missed curfew the night before the team's 51-45 playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

The talented tight end has made it his mission to mature during the offseason.

"I want to be the best tight end in the league, and I want to be a better father, husband and teammate," Finley said. "I want fans to feel they can trust me and believe in me. The young, immature Finley, I thought he was foolish. And the new Finley, I think is going to do the work, do what he's supposed to do and be that player the Packers know I can be."

Already regarded as a top fantasy tight end, the fact that Finley's improving his focus means the sky could be the limit for him. He's got a great quarterback in Aaron Rodgers and is part of an outstanding offense. Few tight ends have the upside Finley has, and even if he ends up falling short of being a fantasy superstar, he should be a solid weekly starter.

The Wild Card victory over the Aaron Rodgers and the Packers puts the Cardinals into next Saturday’s divisional-round matchup against the top-seeded New Orleans Saints at the Louisiana Superdome, where they’ll have to deal with another prolific passer, Drew Brees(notes), and coach Sean Payton’s high-flying offense. Yet after what Rodgers did to the Cardinals defense on Sunday, some of Arizona’s players think they’ve already confronted the most formidable foe imaginable.

“Let me tell you something – that dude is scary,” Arizona free safety Antrel Rolle(notes) said of Rodgers. “We have a great defense, and we were up on him and ready to pounce, and he found ways to tear us apart.

“I don’t ever want to face him again in my life. I am dead serious. I’ll face Drew Brees any day of the week before I face him again.”

Unbeknownst to him, kicking the ball in the air might have cost quarterback Aaron Rodgers a chance to have his fateful fumble reversed in the Green Bay Packers’ 51-45 overtime loss Sunday to Arizona.

As Cardinals cornerback Michael Adams slammed into Rodgers, the ball came out of the quarterback’s hand at about the same time his arm was coming down. As the ball dropped down near his legs, Rodgers kicked at it with his right foot, causing it to pop up in the air and into the arms of linebacker Karlos Dansby, who returned it 17 yards for the winning touchdown.

According to a league spokesman, even though the ball didn’t hit the ground, it is a fumble and not an interception. And because it didn’t hit the ground, it is not subject to the infamous “tuck rule”, which states that a ball lost while the arm is in the process of coming down is an incomplete pass.

Had it hit the ground, the referee could have called an incompletion. Even if he didn’t call, it’s likely the replay official, which handles all challenges in the final 2 minutes of each half and overtime, could have reviewed it.

Randall Liu, NFC information manager, said in an e-mail that “had the ball hit the ground, it would’ve been subject to (instant) replay. And that would be a judgment call by referee Scott Green.”

Based on television replays, there was at least a reasonable chance that Green would have ruled Rodgers’ arm was moving forward at the time he was hit by Adams. As NFL director of officiating Mike Pereira said in a 2005 interview in the Washington Post, there’s not a lot of gray area.

There were several controversial calls by officials during the weekend's first-round playoff games, including a possible facemask penalty that was not called on the winning play in overtime of the Arizona Cardinals' triumph over the Green Bay Packers.

The Cardinals beat the Packers, 51-45, in the highest-scoring postseason game in NFL history. The Cardinals won when cornerback Michael Adams knocked the ball from the hand of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers on a sack. The ball hit Rodgers's foot and, before touching the ground, was grabbed by Arizona linebacker Karlos Dansby, who made the catch and ran to the end zone for the game-ending touchdown.

Replays showed that Adams grabbed Rodgers's facemask on the play. However, referee Scott Green did not call a penalty that would have nullified the Cardinals' touchdown.

According to the league, which issued a "rule explanation" Monday, a facemask penalty is a judgment call that is not reviewable by instant replay.

The NFL rulebook says "no player shall twist, turn, or pull the facemask of an opponent in any direction."

The rulebook says that a play on which a player "incidentally grasps" an opponent's facemask in a manner that "is not a twist, turn or pull" is not a penalty.

After eight games, Aaron Rodgers ranked third in the NFL in yards per attempt (8.67) behind New Orleans' Drew Brees (8.82) and Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger (8.76). The next closest to Rodgers was Dallas' Tony Romo (8.39).

After 16 games, Rodgers ranks fourth (8.2), just ahead of Houston's Matt Schaub (8.18) and Romo (8.15). The second half of the season his yards per attempt was 7.75, down almost a yard from midseason.

Rodgers's completion percentage, meanwhile, improved from 63.1% over the first eight games to 66.2% the last eight. His touchdown-to-interception totals went from 16-5 to 14-2.

Clearly, he's doing a better job of dumping the ball off and checking out of bad running plays at the line of scrimmage to quick completions to his receivers.

"I think it's that and having Jermichael Finley out there," Rodgers said of his pass-catching tight end. "When he's out there, it's more of a spread set. The emphasis is on quick decision-making and shorter routes.

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers did some things on Saturday and as of now, he remains probable for week 13.