ATLANTA — Matt Ryan has turned in plenty of impressive performances for the Atlanta Falcons.

This was probably his best one yet.

Throwing for a franchise-record 448 yards and showing some rarely used mobility to keep plays going, Ryan led the Falcons to a 37-34 overtime victory over the New Orleans Saints in another thriller between the NFC South rivals Sunday.

Matt Bryant kicked a tying 51-yard field goal on the final play of regulation and won the season opener with a 52-yarder after the Saints fumbled the ball away on the second play of overtime.

But this was mostly about Ryan, who completed 31 of 43 passes with three touchdowns and eclipsed the team passing record of 431 yards set by Chris Chandler in 2001. Ryan also ran three times for 15 yards and dodged the Saints’ pressure most of the day, going down only one time after taking a career-high 44 sacks last season.

“He’s played a lot of games, made a lot of plays for us,” Atlanta Coach Mike Smith said. “But I was really impressed with his ability to extend some plays by moving around in the pocket. And he was very, very accurate. When you have (568 yards) of total offense and 448 through the air, your quarterback is playing well.”

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BILLS 23, BEARS 20: Fred Jackson set up Dan Carpenter’s field goal in overtime with a 38-yard run to the 1 as Buffalo won at Chicago.

STEELERS 30, BROWNS 27: Shaun Suisham drilled a 41-yard field goal as time expired, rescuing the Steelers after they blew a 24-point halftime lead against visiting Cleveland.

Ben Roethlisberger passed for 365 yards and hit Markus Wheaton twice on the winning drive, including a 20-yarder that put Suisham in range to send the Browns to their 10th straight season-opening loss.

Cleveland’s Brian Hoyer threw for 230 yards and a score and played brilliantly at times in the second half in a performance that should strengthen his grip on the starting job over rookie Johnny Manziel.

BENGALS 23, RAVENS 16: A.J. Green caught a 77-yard touchdown pass from Andy Dalton, and Cincinnati escaped at Baltimore after blowing a 15-point lead.

EAGLES 34, JAGUARS 17: Nick Foles threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin in the fourth quarter and Philadelphia rallied from a 17-0 second-half deficit against visiting Jacksonville.

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Chad Henne threw two touchdown passes to rookie Allen Hurns in the first quarter for the Jaguars.

TEXANS 17, WASHINGTON 6: Rookie Alfred Blue blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown, and host Houston snapped a 14-game losing streak.

VIKINGS 34, RAMS 6: Wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson ran for 102 yards on three carries, including a 67-yard scoring run off a pitchout, and visiting Minnesota won its debut under Coach Mike Zimmer.

TITANS 26, CHIEFS 10: Jake Locker threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns, while Alex Smith was intercepted three times as Tennessee won at Kansas City, Missouri.

JETS 19, RAIDERS 14: Chris Ivory burst through a few tackle attempts for a 71-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter, and New York held off visiting Oakland.

PANTHERS 20, BUCCANEERS 14: Derek Anderson filled in nicely for injured Cam Newton, throwing for 230 yards and two touchdowns as Carolina won at Tampa, Florida.

49ERS 28, COWBOYS 17: Colin Kaepernick threw two touchdown passes to Vernon Davis, one right after the first of three interceptions of Tony Romo, and San Francisco won at Dallas.


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