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Atlanta • Matt Ryan took an awful beating.
Another win for the Atlanta Falcons will make the pain a lot easier to take.
Shaking off a career-high seven sacks, Ryan completed a 59-yard pass to Roddy White with about a minute remaining, setting up Matt Bryant's 40-yard field goal that kept the Falcons perfect on the season with a wild 30-28 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
After squandering a 24-14 lead in the second half, the Falcons needed a crucial fumble by Cam Newton to even have a chance — and they still faced long odds when the Panthers downed a punt at the Atlanta 1 with 1:09 remaining.
Ryan dropped back about as far as he could, threw it about as far as he could, and relied on White to go up and make the catch.
"We made the plays when we needed to," said Ryan, who passed for 369 yards and three touchdowns. "That's what you need to do week to week in this league."
The Associated Press Falcons 30,Panthers 28
Carolina 7 7 7 7 — 28
Atlanta 7 10 7 6 — 30
First Quarter
Car • Olsen 17 pass from Newton (Medlock kick), 11:45.
Atl • White 49 pass from Ryan (Bryant kick), :26.
Second Quarter
Atl • FG Bryant 41, 13:11.
Car • D.Williams 13 run (Medlock kick), 8:44.
Atl • White 14 pass from Ryan (Bryant kick), 1:49.
Third Quarter
Atl • Turner 60 pass from Ryan (Bryant kick), 10:17.
Car • Newton 4 run (Medlock kick), 3:16.
Fourth Quarter
Car • Pilares 36 pass from Newton (Medlock kick), 7:55.
Atl • FG Bryant 33, 4:57.
Atl • FG Bryant 40, :05.
Attendance • 69,594.
Car Atl
First downs 21 24
Total Net Yards 404 426
Rushes-yards 35-199 19-121
Passing 205 305
Punt Returns 3-23 2-17
Kickoff Returns 2-55 1-27
Interceptions Ret. 1-21 0-0
Comp-Att-Int 15-25-0 25-40-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 3-10 7-64
Punts 6-45.2 5-47.0
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 9-64 2-15
Time of Possession 30:06 29:54
Individual Statistics
Rushing • Carolina, Newton 9-86, D.Williams 11-49, Stewart 10-40, Tolbert 4-14, Smith 1-10. Atlanta, Turner 13-103, Rodgers 6-18.
Passing • Carolina, Newton 15-24-0-215, A.Edwards 0-1-0-0. Atlanta, Ryan 25-40-1-369.
Receiving • Carolina, Olsen 6-89, Smith 3-52, Pilares 1-36, A.Edwards 1-12, Murphy 1-8, Stewart 1-8, Tolbert 1-8, D.Williams 1-2. Atlanta, White 8-169, Gonzalez 5-51, Rodgers 4-40, Turner 3-68, Snelling 3-5, Jones 1-30, Douglas 1-6.