Atlanta Falcons continue to own the Panthers

The Atlanta Falcons extend their winning streak against the Carolina Panthers to four with a 29-3 win and moves to 7-1 in the last eight games against the panthers.

In what had the potential to be a letdown game for the Atlanta Falcons as they came off a major win in New Orleans, they continued to roll. And roll they did.

The Atlanta Falcons defense absolutely shut down this Carolina offense and largely contained MVP candidate Christian McCaffrey with a “bend don’t break” mentality on defense. Without the Kyle Allen turnovers, McCaffrey had the numbers to make this game closer than we would like.

The first Carolina possession showed Kyle Allen what kind of day he would be having. De’Vondre Campbell picked off Allen after only three plays. Allen would have two more before halftime and the falcon defense held the Panthers scoreless through three quarters. While Carolina had multiple chances to score inside the redzone, the Falcons defense held them in check.

Damontae Kazee sealed the game with a late fourth-quarter interception in the red zone. His first of the season.

Atlanta ended the game with five sacks. Adrian Clayborn ended the game with two sacks against Allen, while Beasley, Bailey, and Mckinley all got to Allen once. This makes 10 total sacks in two weeks. They had seven prior to last week.

Brian Hill led the Falcons offense today in lieu of Devonta Freeman missing out due to an injury he sustained last week. While he didn’t have the day one would like, he still showed his effectiveness with short-yardage gains. Hill ended the day with 15 carries for 30 yards and almost had a score, but was called back due to offensive penalty.

Qadree Ollison had about the day you would expect. Only rushing for 11 yards on four carries. However, his first NFL carry went for a two-yard touchdown. He would also add a fumble in which he quickly recovered.

Calvin Ridley stole the show today for the Atlanta Falcons as he torched the Panthers defense today with 143 yards on eight catches. He averaged over 17-yards per catch and scored on a Matt Ryan touchdown pass that sent him to 10th All-Time in the NFL in passing yards. Matt Ryan has the potential to be ninth on that list by seasons end. Yes, Ryan is a Hall of Famer.

Russell Gage almost had his first career NFL touchdown, however, replayed showed the ball touched the ground after he lost control. Gage did, however, have some key third-down catches to extend drives. I would like to see see more of him and Blake next week against Tampa.

The Atlanta Falcons will be back home against Tampa next week before their Thanksgiving rematch against the New Orleans Saints.