The Panthers made stops when they had to.
And the Falcons can’t stop the bleeding all of a sudden.
The Panthers (6-3) broke a three-game losing streak to their division rivals with a 20-17 win over the Falcons.
Atlanta raced out to a 10-0 lead, but Carolina controlled things the rest of the way. They came up with key stops throughout the game, including inside the two-minute warning when the Falcons got to within a field goal and their own offense stalled.
The Falcons put up decent-looking numbers, but will be haunted by plays such as Julio Jones dropping a wide-open touchdown.
Carolina overcame two early fumbles by Jonathan Stewart, and largely let Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey do most of the work the rest of the day.
The Panthers ran for 201 yards, but Newton had 86 of those. McCaffrey added 66.
The Falcons (4-4) have now lost four of their last five games, and are reeling in third place in the division. They were held to just 53 rushing yards on the day, and Matt Ryan’s 313 passing yards were largely cosmetic.