throughout the week,” Jones said, “but today I came out and gave it all I had.”

Ryan sparked more delirious chants of “MVP! MVP! MVP!” as he carved up an injury-plagued Packers secondary that had no way of stopping a team that averaged nearly 34 points a game during the regular season and romped to a 36-20 victory against Seattle’s Legion of Boom last week.

The Packers, riding an eight-game winning streak and coming off a thrilling upset of the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys, got a taste of what they’d be in for on Atlanta’s very first possession.

Driving 80 yards in 13 plays, the Falcons converted three third downs, the last when Ryan scrambled away from pressure and flipped a shovel pass to Mohamed Sanu for a 2-yard score.

Aaron Rodgers pushed the Packers quickly into Atlanta territory with a 27-yard pass to Jordy Nelson, who missed the previous game with a rib injury. But Mason Crosby, who hit 2 field goals longer that 50 yards in the closing minutes against the Cowboys, pushed a 41-yard attempt right of the upright to snap a playoff-record streak of 23 straight field goals.

The Falcons drove the other way, settling for Matt Bryant’s 28-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead.

Then, with Green Bay poised to make a game of it, Atlanta’s much-maligned defense — one of the lowest ranked in the NFL — came through a momentum-swinging play.

Fullback Aaron Ripkowski was breaking tackles and rumbling toward the end zone when Jalen Collins stripped the ball from behind and fell on it just across the goal line for a touchback.

“Their offense is hot right now,” Rodgers said. “Playing a team like that, you’ve got to start faster. We had no points in the first half. You’re not going to win many games like that.”

After the fumble, Ryan hooked up with Jones three times for 56 yards and finished it off from the 14 with some surprisingly nimble running skills, faking out one defender with a pump fake before sprawling into the end zone.

“I just saw a lane open up,” said Ryan, who had a 1-4 record in the playoffs over his first eight seasons. “That’s the longest run I’ve had in awhile. It came at a good time.”

Don’t forget the defense:

Atlanta’s defense, an afterthought compared to the other side of the line, kept the Packers out of the end zone until the game was essentially locked up.

Rodgers finished 27 of 45 for 287 yards and 3 TDs, but he also threw an interception, was sacked twice and faced a relentless Falcons rush.

The Falcons finished with a 493-367 edge in total yards.

Dome finale:

What a send-off for the Georgia Dome, the Falcons’ home since 1992, which will be torn down and replaced next season by $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

With the home team comfortably ahead, the raucous crowd of more than 71,000 partied through the second half, bouncing along to rap music that turned the stadium with the big top-like roof into the world’s largest dance club.

The intensity of the celebration was understandable, given the Falcons’ largely forgettable history and the heartache doled out by all of Atlanta’s pro sports teams.

The Braves, way back in 1995, are still the city’s only team to capture a big-league championship.

Now, the Falcons are a win away from adding another title to that barren trophy case.