Three months and 11 games later, things are a lot different for Ryan. Actually, they were as soon as that game in Tampa Bay on Sept. 12 ended. The Buccaneers know it.

Ask any of them what's changed about this Falcons team they'll play Sunday at the Georgia Dome.

"The confidence in Matt Ryan," free safety Tanard Jackson said. "He's their leader. His confidence is going up, and it looks like the players around him are feeding off that. I don't think that was the case the first time around."

That's putting it nicely.

For the first half of that game in Tampa, Ryan looked about as overwhelmed as a quarterback can look. Playing in only his second NFL game, he threw nine times before he completed a pass to one of his teammates.

By the time he hit Roddy White for a 9-yard gain with 6:22 left in the second quarter, he'd thrown two interceptions, which led to 10 Tampa points. He'd also had a pass slip out of his hand and bounce backward for an 11-yard loss.

The Bucs rattled him with the blitz and old-fashioned physical intimidation.

They sacked Ryan a season-high four times and delivered 14 other hits. Ryan took one helmet-to-helmet blow following an interception, which got cornerback Elbert Mack a one-game suspension.

"You get up early on a team, you put them in predictable passing situations and you allow yourself to tee off a little bit," Tampa cornerback Ronde Barber said. "That in and of itself is a winning formula for us on defense."

But Barber knows it won't be quite that simple Sunday. The Falcons are one of the fastest-starting teams in the NFL --- they lead the league with 94 first-quarter points --- and they are much less predictable on offense.

In September, with Michael Turner coming off his 220-yard rushing debut as a Falcon and Ryan so inexperienced, the Falcons were much more likely to run on early downs.

Ryan has learned to trust his offensive line and take a split second more when he's under pressure. He's also learned some advantages to defenses blitzing. One of his best plays against New Orleans last week came on an all-out blitz when he fired to Michael Jenkins for a 21-yard gain in the third quarter.

He's also been running the no-huddle to perfection to give the Falcons' offense a viable change-up.

While using a little bit of all of the above, Ryan passed for a season-high 315 yards against the Saints.

Taking all this into consideration, Barber thinks that ultimately Sunday's game won't necessarily come down to how the Bucs defend Ryan and the passing attack.

"Roddy White has turned in a great season thus far, and Matt Ryan is playing beyond his years," Barber said. "They're a challenge. But at the end of the day it's going to come down to the same thing it came down to [against the Carolina Panthers on Monday]: Stop the run. [The Falcons] have a great running back as well, a great running game. When they dominate games, it's not through the air, it's on the ground."

The Panthers rolled up an eye-popping 299 yards rushing to beat the Bucs 38-23 Monday night and take sole possession of first place in the NFC South.

Tampa Bay gave up 186 yards rushing to DeAngelo Williams and 115 to Jonathan Stewart. The Bucs gave up four rushing touchdowns in the game after allowing only one all season. In one night, their defense dropped from fourth to ninth in the NFL in yards allowed (279.5).

So it's understandable that the Bucs will come to town with Turner and Jerious Norwood on the brain --- and facing an improved Atlanta offense all around.

"They're a totally different team," said Tampa strong safety Jermaine Phillips, a former Georgia Bulldog. "You look at Matt Ryan, you see the maturity of what he's grown into and what he's capable of. The running game speaks for itself with Turner and those guys. We're looking for a big fight going up to Atlanta. It's a big game."

NEXT FOR Falcons

* Who: vs. Buccaneers

* When: 1 p.m. Sunday

* TV; radio: Fox; 92.9 FM