ATLANTA — The Panthers didn't appear capable of stopping the Falcons in the first half.

And then they did.

A remarkable turnaround happened on more than one side of the ball Sunday, as the Panthers had a night-and-day second half of defense in the 30-27 win over the Falcons.

"I can't say enough about the resilience of this group," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said Sunday.

He was speaking in general terms about his 6-5 team, but that was mostly applicable to the job his defense did in the second half.

For the first 30 minutes, the Falcons had their way, racing to a 21-7 lead, with Drake London and Bijan Robinson looking unstoppable as they racked up 257 yards, with six plays of 15 yards or more.

London had five catches for 108 yards in the first half alone, and Robinson had 16 carries for 93 yards (5.8 per carry).

"Simply put, it was tackling," Canales said of the first half. "In the first half, Bijan really just went off, and you know we had guys in position and he made us miss a couple of times. And, that's where we have to have the full group rallying to the ball so that if someone does miss, someone's there to pick it up. And he picked up a bunch of extra yards that way, playing the little details, all those things,

"We talked about that at the half, and that really wasn't the full story, it was really just about the guys, getting in position and getting the guy down."

Whatever was said, it worked.

The Falcons gained just 91 yards in the second half.

Robinson was limited to 11 yards on seven carries (1.6 per carry) in the second half. London left with an injury, and caught just two passes for 11 yards in the second half, as quarterback Michael Penix Jr. left the game and was replaced by Kirk Cousins.

The Falcons seemed capable of yards in big chunks early, but they didn't have a single play longer than 11 yards in the second half.

That seems pretty different. But defensive captain Derrick Brown was very matter-of-fact.

"Nothing," Brown replied when asked what changed. "We just settled in, as simple as that. Just like 1-2-3."

Asked how, and he just shrugged.

"It just happened," he said. "Like we just came in, everybody said, let's get back toto what we do, and this is what we do."

Brown is a master of understatement, but what they did was exceedingly difficult, completely reversing the tide of an entire game in the second half.

He said their goal for the defense is "to be able to go out there and just be consistently dominant," and while they weren't consistent from half-to-half, their ability to get stops late allowed the offense to perform the heroics.

When quarterback Bryce Young tripped coming out of the snap on a fourth down for a sack, they held the Falcons to a field goal, keeping the game in range. Then, even after former Panthers kicker Zane Gonzalez sent it to overtime after Young's touchdown to Tetairoa McMillan and a two-point conversion to Jalen Coker, they forced the Falcons to punt on their first and only possession of overtime.

"It's the same situation as we simulate throughout the week," Brown said. "These are situations that we've been put in, you know, so when the game comes down to these things, we're in the moment, right? Like it's the highest focus moment, right? You're playing overtime, Kirk's dropping back, and you're not really knowing the ball's going. You're trying to watch him, you're trying to get to him, and it's one of those things we trust in every single level, right? Like my job up front is to trust in the guys behind me. All the guys behind me are trusting in me.

"So I mean, I think it's just that it's that trust factor that builds that resilience. It's that grit willing to fight."

They also had to do it with an odd lot of players.

They opened the game without starting linebacker Trevin Wallace, and veteran Christian Rozeboom left the game in the fourth quarter with a hamstring. That meant their linebackers for that final series were Claudin Cherelus and Maema Njongmeta, and that's perhaps indicative of what Canales wants to see from the team as a whole, an example of the kind of resilience they're trying to build.

"I'm just really proud," Canales said. "I'm really proud. The challenge to the group last night is this has to become your team, and I love this group. I love the physical nature that we play with. I'm proud of the effort. For a year, over a year and a half now, the character of this group that just continues to fight, continues to play, and what we're waiting for is for these guys to take it, to take the wheel, and to say this is our team coach, we got it.

"And I had a bunch of guys coming out of the locker room today, say we got this, we got this, and they're just reaffirming. And even though the Falcons had a great first half and they made some plays in the second half too, obviously to send it into overtime, this was a group that wasn't going to quit, and our guys just continue to step up and say this is our team, let's go make this thing happen."