DENVER — Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan have plenty more in the vault than just superstar receiver Julio Jones – and maybe there’s a lot more to these Atlanta Falcons than just some early season feasting on the NFL’s defensive dregs.

The Falcons deciphered Denver’s dazzling defense and wrecked Paxton Lynch’s first NFL start with a 23-16 win over the Broncos on Sunday, snapping the Super Bowl champions’ nine-game winning streak with a dominant and perhaps prescient performance.

They did it without coming close to the numbers that Ryan and Jones put up a week earlier, when Ryan passed 503 yards and Jones had 300 yards receiving in a runaway win over Super Bowl 50’s other participant, the Carolina Panthers.

Ryan threw for 267 yards Sunday, and only two of his passes (covering 29 yards) went to Jones.

“Today, they came out and doubled me. They took me away and they were like, ‘All right, you’re not going to beat us today,'” said Jones, adding he welcomed such attention because “everybody else is going to step up.”

That, they did.

Using a steady diet of I-formation runs and short passes that put Denver’s linebackers in coverage, the Falcons (4-1) handed the Broncos their first loss since Dec. 20 at Pittsburgh and left the Minnesota Vikings (5-0) as the NFL’s last unbeaten team.

The Broncos (4-1) were on their heels because Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman were so effective running the ball, combining for 119 yards and a 4.4-yard average.

Denver’s defense was unimpressed with Jones becoming the sixth 300-yard receiver in NFL history. They dismissed that performance as a bad day by the Panthers, and they stifled Jones all afternoon in Denver.

Not that it mattered.

Coleman, who played despite having sickle cell trait, which can sometimes be exacerbated at altitude, showed off his breakaway speed by catching four passes for 132 yards to go with his 31 yards on six carries. He caught a 31-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter that made it 20-3.

That sequence sent some flustered fans streaming for the exits as the Falcons finished off the Broncos.

Denver doesn’t have much time to digest the loss. The Broncos play at San Diego on Thursday night, and their hope is that Trevor Siemian’s bruised left shoulder is healed by then.

Lynch, the 26th overall pick out of Memphis last April, got the starting nod at quarterback because Siemian’s bruised A.C. joint in his non-throwing shoulder was still bothering him, a week after he was flung to the turf in Tampa.

“We just didn’t think he was ready,” Broncos Coach Gary Kubiak said before he was taken via ambulance to a hospital because of flu-like symptoms.

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