Atlanta Falcons vs. Carolina Panthers: 5 Things We Learned About the Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons (4-0) defeated the Carolina Panthers (1-3) 30-28 on Sunday to get off to their best start since 2004.

The Falcons looked to pull away from a close game early when they took a 24-14 lead in the third quarter.

But the Panthers kept fighting, scoring touchdowns on two drives to re-take the lead 28-24.

Matt Bryant put Atlanta within three on a 33-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter.

He would add a 40-yarder with five seconds left in regulation to complete the comeback.

Here are five things we learned about the Falcons in this game.

Matt Ryan Isn't Afraid to Throw Deep

Matt Ryan came out firing in this game, throwing deep passes all day long.

The result: 25 completions on 40 attempts for 369 yards and three touchdowns.

A number of those long completions came on jump balls, with the most notable ones going to Roddy White on a 49-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter, and again to White on a 59-yard bomb with just under a minute left to play.

Of course, there's still work to do: Ryan was off-target on more than a few of his long passes and still displayed a tendency to stare down his receivers and force the ball in the red zone. 

But today's effort is a sign of great things to come for Ryan, who showed great trust in his receivers to make a play, silencing any lingering critics about his arm strength in the process.

The Offensive Line Is Human After All

Atlanta's offensive line looked to have turned a corner through the first three weeks of the season.

But that was before this game.

Ryan was under constant pressure against the Panthers, as the Falcons allowed seven sacks and many more quarterback hits.

More than one of those sacks came from four pass-rushers or fewer.

While part of the problem was Ryan holding the ball too long, that seven-sack stat line remains quite a regression for a line that gave up just four sacks through the first three games.

They came away with the win, but the Falcons can't be happy with the poor protection Ryan received this afternoon.

Pass Rush Needs to Improve

While the Carolina front four was in Ryan's face all afternoon long, the opposite was true for Atlanta's.

The Falcons struggled to bring consistent pressure on Cam Newton, who finished 15-of-24 for 215 yards and two touchdowns.

Sean Weatherspoon and Vance Walker finished the game with a sack apiece (and even then, Weatherspoon's came for a loss of zero yards), but otherwise Newton was virtually untouched in the pocket. 

In an effort to make up for the lack of pressure brought by their front four, the Falcons brought five and six rushers on multiple occasions, but still came away empty on most of them.

This has been an area of concern for the Falcons through the first three weeks of the season, and one that remains as such after this tough win.

Run Defense Still a Problem

Heading into this season, the consensus was that Mike Nolan's biggest challenge would be defending the pass, with all the star quarterbacks on his team's schedule.

Instead, it's been stopping the run.

The Panthers ran wild on Atlanta's No. 24-ranked rushing defense, gaining 199 yards on 35 attempts for two touchdowns and a 5.7 yards-per-carry average.

Newton had 86 of those yards as Carolina leaned heavily on its zone-read scheme.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, they travel to Washington, D.C. next week to take on Robert Griffin III and his own dangerous zone-read offense.

They'll need to defend it a lot better than they did today.

Michael Turner Is Back

Michael Turner told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier in the year that he didn't think he would be very effective if he saw a drastic cut in his workload.

His play these past two weeks would suggest otherwise.

Coming off his 14-carry, 80-yard, one-touchdown performance in San Diego last Sunday, the 30-year-old running back looked like the Turner of old against the Panthers, breaking tackles left and right and carrying defenders on his back as he rumbled for first down after first down.

He would go on to finish with 103 yards on 13 carries. But Turner's best play of the day came through the air, when he took a slip screen and exploded past the Panthers' secondary for a 60-yard touchdown.

All of a sudden, the Turner that gained just 2.6 yards per carry through the first two weeks of the season looks like a distant memory.

If the Turner of today is here to stay, he could be more dangerous than ever.