At the same time, Thomas said there was “absolutely” confidence in Dalton and the offense on the other side of the room. Based on what they showed in the first half, there were many reasons for this.

Dalton was 16 of 22 for 138 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, for a passer rating of 119.1, which was indicative of the way they played. That included a crisp two-minute drive just before halftime when the Panthers used their timeouts while the Falcons were in the red zone to give Dalton another chance with the ball before halftime, and he then delivered.

On that drive, he was 5 of 6 for 57 yards passing and showed the awareness needed to break out of the pocket for an 18-yard scramble. He managed 76 yards in eight plays and just 1:35 of playing time.

That's what they think they're capable of. The way it ended hurt.

“Absolutely,” Dalton said of that trip. “I mean, I think we've been able to do some good things on two-minute drives this year, and for us it's an attack mentality.”

“We have to find ways to continue to score points and we prepared for that in the last drive and put ourselves in a good position to do that and the guys made plays. That's when things go our way, and “If we play the way we can, then that shows what we can do.”