ATLANTA — Jake Delhomme nearly made it through an entire game without a turnover.

Then, with just 2½ minutes to go, Chris Houston handed the Carolina quarterback a familiar setback.

Matt Ryan threw three touchdown passes in the first half and Houston stopped a Delhomme-led rally at the end, intercepting a pass at the Falcons 4 to preserve Atlanta's 28-20 win over the Panthers on Sunday.

Delhomme had accounted for 11 turnovers in his two previous games, including a four-interception, one-fumble fiasco against Philadelphia to open the season. He was much better against the Falcons (2-0), completing 25 of 41 for 308 yards and a touchdown.

But the result was the same for the Panthers (0-2). Another loss.

Ryan had a big first half for the Falcons, including another touchdown pass to new favorite receiver Tony Gonzalez, who made a brilliant fingertip grab on a 24-yard score. Snelling and Roddy White also hauled in TD throws, giving Atlanta a 21-13 lead at the break.

Ryan completed 13 straight passes at one point and finished 21 of 27 for 220 yards, though he did have his first interception of the season.

The Falcons looked to be in good shape after Michael Turner powered over from the 1 with 12:27 remaining, stretching the lead to 28-13 lead.

Back came Delhomme and the Panthers. A 10-play, 80-yard drive made it 28-20, and Carolina was in position to force overtime with a touchdown and a two-point conversion after driving to a first down at the Falcons 17. But three straight incompletions left the Panthers in desperation mode.

On fourth-and-10, Delhomme tried to force in a pass to Steve Smith near the end zone. Houston stepped in front to pick it off before being slammed out bounds by Smith, who had a huge game with eight catches for 131 yards despite being hurt on the final play of the first half.

The Panthers had one last chance after forcing an Atlanta punt. Delhomme completed four straight passes to get the ball to the Atlanta 43 with eight seconds left.

One final pass was hurled toward the end zone, where the Falcons had stationed 6-foot-5 receiver Brian Finneran as an extra defensive back. Finneran and Brent Grimes went up together to bat the ball down — but nearly knocked it to a Carolina receiver.

Dwayne Garrett dove for the ball and rolled over cradling it, but it clearly hit the turf before he got his hands extended. The replay officials upstairs ordered a review, just to make sure the clock had run out when the pass hit the turf.

Referee Don Carey went in the replay booth to take another look, and the game ended strangely with only the head coaches and a couple of players still on the field.

DeAngelo Williams scored on a 3-yard run to give Carolina a short-lived 10-7 lead early in the second quarter. John Kasay kicked a couple of field goals, including a 50-yarder.