On the hot seat

“Penn Charter! Penn Charter! Fight Harder! Fight Harder!”

That was Matt Ryan’s high school battle cry back in Philadelphia.

Ryan needs a bounce-back game against the Bucs.

He’s the candidate for the hot seat after a three-interception out

ing that included the 10th-lowest passer rating over his 155 regular-season games.

Rebounding shouldn’t be much of a problem against the Bucs, who have the worst pass defense in the league. The Bucs surrender 276.1 yards per game.

Back in 2008, Ryan won his first start against Detroit. The next week, the Falcons lost to Tampa Bay and he had a 29.6 passer rating against Monte Kiffin’s defense.

The game still stands as the lowest-rated game of his career.

“I learned that early on,” Ryan said about being humbled. “I have great belief in myself. It’s a tough league. There are going to be weeks like that from time to time.”

In the previous meeting with Tampa Bay, Ryan was spectacular. He completed 26 of 35 passes for 317 yards and a touchdown. He had a passer rating of 111.2 in the 34-20 victory on Nov. 26.

Wide receiver Julio Jones was unstoppable as he caught 12 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan doesn’t expect the Bucs will leave Jones in single coverage again.

“One of the things that stands out about Matt and a number of guys on our team is that they own it,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “(If ) they don’t have play that they don’t like or a moment that they don’t like, they own it. There were definitely some things that went well, but for the moments that

didn’t go well, that interception in the end zone or the one right before the half, those are ones that he acknowledges.”