At the same time, Thomas said that across the room, there was “absolutely” a confidence in Dalton and the offense. From what they showed in the first half, there was plenty of reason for that to be the case.
Dalton was 16-of-22 for 138 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, for a 119.1 passer rating that was indicative of the way they were playing. Included in that was a crisp two-minute drive just before halftime, when the Panthers used their timeouts when the Falcons were in the red zone to give Dalton another chance with the ball before the break, and he then delivered.
He was 5-of-6 for 57 yards passing on that drive and showed the awareness to slip out of the pocket for an 18-yard scramble. He moved the 76 yards in eight plays and just 1:35 of game time.
That’s what they feel like they’re capable of. So the way it ended stung.
“For sure,” Dalton said of that drive. “I mean, I think we’ve been able to do some good things in two-minute drives this year, and for us, it’s an attack mindset.
“We’ve got to find ways to keep scoring points, and we set ourselves up and put ourselves in a good position to do that in that last drive, and guys were making plays. It’s when things are going, going our way, and when we’re playing the way we can play, I mean, it shows what we can do.”