The Atlanta Falcons defeated the Carolina Panthers 30-28 in come-from-behind fashion to improve to 4-0.

The Falcons had a +6.6 advantage in The Trench Counter, as both teams posted similar offensive stats and Atlanta merely was penalized less. The Panthers had a +6 edge in Total Rushes/Completions.

Matt Ryan went 25-for-40 for 369 yards with three touchdowns (two to Roddy White) and an interception. Ryan's third touchdown was a 60-yard screen pass to Michael Turner, who also had 13 carries for 103 yards.

Cam Newton went 15-for-24 for 215 yards, two touchdowns and an additional 86 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

The New York Giants had a convincing 36-7 victory at the Carolina Panthers on Thursday to begin Week 3, despite injuries to Ahmad Bradshaw, Hakeem Nicks and David Diehl.

The Giants had a +13.5 advantage in The Trench Counter, with a +5 turnover differential. New York had a +18 edge in Total Rushes/Completions.

Andre Brown was again outstanding filling in at running back for Bradshaw, carrying the ball 20 times for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Brown set the tone early in the game with his explosive running style.

Eli Manning went 27-for-35 for 288 yards and a touchdown, finding Ramses Barden for nine receptions and 138 yards.

The Giants picked off Cam Newton three times while also preventing him from effectively running the ball.

The Giants are now 2-1, while the Panthers fell to 1-2.

Offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski called several read-option plays for Cam Newton in the Carolina Panthers' Week 2 win over the Saints.

Newton wasn't terribly productive, but it forced the Saints to commit to the run and it opened up the passing game.

“You do read option, read option, read option and then get them to play seven or eight in the box, and you’ve got so many variations of plays and passes you can run off that,” said Newton.

The Carolina Panthers defeated the New Orleans Saints by a final score of 35-27 behind an outstanding game from Cam Newton.

The Panthers had a +9.2 advantage in The Trench Counter, averaging 12.2 yards per pass while limiting Drew Brees to 6.6. The Saints, however, had a +3 advantage in Total Rushes/Completions.

Newton went 14-for-20 for 253 yards and one touchdown through the air, connecting with Steve Smith three times for 104 yards and Brandon LaFell six times for 90 yards. Newton heled Carolina establish an effective ground game after a rough Week 1, rushing 13 times for 71 yards with a touchdown.

Brees threw for 325 yards, but again was far from completely effective by completing 31 of his 49 pass attempts with two interceptions. Darren Sproles caught 13 balls for 128 yards and Jimmy Graham caught a goalline touchdown pass.

A side judge assigned to the Week 2 game between the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers has been pulled after a photo emerged of Brian Stropolo wearing Saints' gear.

The NFL was unaware of Stropolo's open allegiance as a Saints fan until ESPN contacted the league Sunday morning.

Stropolo posted pictures of himself in Saints gear tailgating at an Aug. 25 preseason game.

Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera broke down the differences and similarities between Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III on Thursday.

"I think their styles are similar only to certain degrees, certain aspects of the game," Rivera said. "I think after that it’s a lot more different. They get RG3 more on the edges, they get him outside the pocket a lot more. RG3 makes a lot more throws behind the line of scrimmage than we do. We attack a little bit more vertically as opposed to throwing the ball sideways. And our quarterback stays more in the pocket. I think those are some of the philosophical differences between our coordinator and their coordinator.

"I think their skill sets are similar to the degree that they both have good arms, they’re very athletic and they both run very well. The difference obviously being the physical difference. Our guy is 6-5 and he’s 6-2. There’s that difference and about 40 pounds."

The Denver Broncos had the best DVOA in Week 1 as they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, followed by the Baltimore Ravens over the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots over the Tennessee Titans.

Football Outsiders also has a stat calle DAVE, which stands for DVOA Adjusted for Variation Early. After Week 1, DAVE accounts for 90 percent and the current VOA counts for 10 percent.

The Patriots rank first in DAVE at 41.0%, followed by the Falcons, Packers, Bears and Ravens. 

Here are the full rankings for DAVE with the preseason DVOA ranking in parentheses: 

1. Patriots (1)
2. Falcons (3)
3. Packers (2)
4. Bears (6)
5. Ravens (7)
6. Jets (8)
7. Broncos (11)
8. Saints (5)
9. Steelers (4)
10. Texans (13)
11. Eagles (12)
12. Cowboys (14)
13. Panthers (10)
14. Giants (9)
15. Buccaneers (22)
16. Lions (21)
17. Chiefs (15)
18. 49ers (23)
19. Chargers (19)
20. Bills (16)
21. Titans (17)
22. Redskins (20)
23. Raiders (24)
24. Bengals (18)
25. Vikings (29)
26. Seahawks (28)
27. Jaguars (26)
28. Dolphins (25)
29. Colts (27)
30. Cardinals (30)
31. Browns (31)
32. Rams (32)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the first game of the Greg Schiano era, defeating the Carolina Panthers by a final score of 16-10.

The Buccaneers had a +7.6 advantage in the Trench Counter, winning the turnover and penalty battles despite having a -1.9 differential in yards per play.

Josh Freeman went 16-for-24 for 138 yards and a touchdown pass to Mike Williams.

Doug Martin had 24 carries for 95 yards, along with four catches for an additional 23.

Cam Newton threw for 303 yards, but the Panthers only had 10 total yards rushing.

Pro Football Talk obtained a list of how much cap space all 32 NFL teams have heading into the beginning of the 2012 season.

The San Francisco 49ers have the least amount of cap space, while the Philadelphia Eagles have the most.

Eagles:  $21.4 million.

Jaguars:  $20.7 million.

Chiefs:  $14.5 million.

Titans:  $14.1 million.

Bills:  $13.6 million.

Browns:  $13.4 million.

Buccaneers:  $13.2 million.

Seahawks:  $13.2 million.

Broncos:  $12.3 million.

Bengals:  $10.4 million.

Patriots:  $8.4 million.

Vikings:  $8.2 million.

Dolphins:  $7.1 million.

Packers:  $6.9 million.

Cardinals:  $6.6 million.

Redskins:  $6.1 million.

Jets:  $5.9 million.

Cowboys:  $5.7 million.

Colts:  $5.3 million.

Panthers:  $5.3 million.

Bears:  $4.5 million.

Saints:  $4.1 million.

Rams:  $4.0 million.

Chargers:  $3.5 million.

Raiders:  $2.3 million.

Giants:  $2.2 million.

Lions:  $2.0 million.

Steelers;  $1.6 million.

Ravens:  $1.4 million.

Falcons:  $1.3 million.

Texans:  $882,000.

49ers:  $880,000.

The NFL is phasing out old-fashioned playbooks by putting everything on iPads, even video cut-up.

There has been a jump in the number of teams going digital this season from two to 14.

In the NFC, the Bears, Cardinals, Cowboys, Lions, Packers, Panthers, Redskins and Seahawks are using the tablets as are the Bengals, Broncos, Chargers, Colts, Dolphins and Ravens in the AFC.

The Chiefs, Titans and Saints use iPads for some things while still keeping traditional playbooks.

The Ravens and Buccaneers were the first teams to go digital last season.

The top model iPads that feature 64 gigabytes of data and retail for $829 each are loaded with about $700 worth of programming, and most teams issue them to roughly 120 players, coaches, scouts and other personnel, which works out to roughly $180,000 per team.