ATLANTA -- At the age of 30 and entering his eighth season, Matt Ryan, despite years of statistical and on-field success, had fallen off the prime-time grid.

His Atlanta Falcons won only 10 games combined the past two years. Even worse, they were 1-16 during that stretch against teams .500 or better. HBO last year tagged them for the summer show "Hard Knocks," but the Falcons couldn't escape the critique of being soft on the field. And even with Ryan and Julio Jones, the television networks gave them the hands-off treatment this season, scheduling them for a whopping 14 starts at 1 p.m. ET.

Though he wasn't to blame, Matty Ice was starting to melt.

Now? The NFL better warm up to the realty that Ryan and the Falcons might be the best show the nation won't often get to watch. On Sunday, the Falcons blew away the Houston Texans 48-21 (the lead was 42-0 before Atlanta played everyone but the training staff). The Falcons are now 4-0, and with a soft schedule, they could finish as one of the top teams in the NFC.

As for Ryan, he is just getting started in a Kyle Shanahan offense that could take him to greatness.

Now, you would think that a 30-year-old quarterback with 73 regular-season wins, four trips to the playoffs and four consecutive 4,000-yard seasons is in his prime. Not anymore. Ryan is still figuring new things out, and in general, the prime of an NFL quarterback has skewed older. Last year, each of the top 10 quarterbacks in Total QBR were 30 and over. Scan the top numbers in the league over the past few years and you're likelier to see QBs closer to 35 than 25.

"I always feel like you are always entering your prime," Ryan said. "You are always getting better. I feel I've gotten a lot better throughout my career. But really, I feel my best football is in front of me."

Three key pieces started Ryan's climb this season. The first was the hiring of Dan Quinn as the Falcons' head coach. Quinn's mandate was to toughen a defense that crumbled the past two seasons. Normally, a Ryan-led offense is good enough to put up 25 or 26 points a game. In the past two years, though, the defense gave up 27.7 and 26.1 points a game. Quinn is fixing that.

But Quinn might not have taken the job had the Falcons not hired Shanahan as the offensive coordinator. If you remember, Quinn was coaching the defense for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl and couldn't be hired before his season was over. Magically, the Falcons worked out a deal with Shanahan first, and Quinn accepted the job after the Seahawks finished their season.

What Kyle Shanahan brought to Ryan is what Mike Shanahan brought to quarterback John Elway, and what Elway, as the general manager of the Broncos, brought to Peyton Manning: a running attack. Elway had Terrell Davis in his final couple of years as a player, and as GM, Elway hired Gary Kubiak to balance Manning's offense. But Elway and Manning were getting those gifts in their late 30s.

Ryan is getting his at 30, which will only help his growth.

"For us, the run game has been awesome these first four weeks of the season, and I think we're getting better week to week, which is encouraging to me," Ryan said. "As a quarterback, there's nothing better than to be able to hand that ball off on first and second down and be able to get into third-and-2, third-and-3 or get first downs on first and second down running the football."

Devonta Freeman is now at the top of a deep depth chart at running back in Atlanta. Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Against the Texans, Devonta Freeman and Terron Ward combined for 140 rushing yards, and numerous times they would hit the line and break for good yardage. Freeman became the first runner since the 1970 merger to score three touchdowns in each of his first two starts. Freeman is filling in for the injured Tevin Coleman, who entered the regular season as the starter. When Coleman returns, this will be a deep unit.

"I think that's one of the things that makes it so hard to go against the offense in the run game, and all of the things that we'll do each week to attack," Quinn said. "Every time we're going out, we just want to know that we can attack. We just want to make sure we can feature our guys in the very best way to allow them to play at their best. I think Kyle really does a great job with that."

But the construction signs on this offensive rebuilding process are still hanging. Shanahan and Quinn really didn't put the offensive line together until the week before the start of the regular season. The Falcons picked up veteran guard Chris Chester on May 30 to upgrade the position. They traded for guard Andy Levitre around the time of final cuts and moved free-agent guard Mike Person from guard to center.

"The three veterans we added really helped," left tackle Jake Matthews said. "The front five, we came together the week before the Monday night game. I've really been happy with what we have been doing. We had a lot of trust in the organization."

After failing in the past five years to draft solid interior offensive linemen, the Falcons went the veteran route. One of the reasons was to make sure communication along the line improved, and it has. Levite has helped Matthews rebound from a tough rookie season in 2014 to put in a good start to this year.

A better defense. Improved running game. Better communication along the offensive line. Kyle Shanahan. Ryan is like a kid in a candy store.

"Matt hasn't figured out the offense yet," wide receiver Roddy White said. "There are some things he wants to do, but he has stuck with the structure of this offense because he really doesn't know it completely. Once he gets to the point where he is locked in and knows everything that's going on, he will be able to expand and we will be able to get better."

Ryan likes how Shanahan has him rolling out. His footwork has improved. Shanahan has added a lot of creativity in how he's moving around Jones and placing receivers.

"You love to be as balanced as you can be," Ryan said. "That makes it extremely difficult for defenses to defend."

If the Falcons go 4-2 in the NFC South, a favorable schedule could have them staring at a 12- or 13-win season.

"From a player's perspective, you've got to knock games off one at a time," Ryan said. "That's the only way we can approach it. That's how I've always done it. That's how I'm going to continue to do it."

Inside the Huddle

• It's interesting to see how New York Jets coach Todd Bowles and Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan managed injuries to their top backs this season. Ryan let LeSean McCoy play with a hamstring injury in the first three games, during which he averaged only 3.4 yards a carry and hurt the hamstring to a point where he had to sit out Sunday's loss to the New York Giants. Bowles kept Chris Ivory, who had a quad injury, out of last week's loss to the Eagles. He was fresh and dominated with 166 yards in Sunday's 27-14 win over Miami.

• Something has to change with the Dolphins. Whether it's the coaching of Joe Philbin or the failures of his coordinators, the Dolphins' season is a complete and utter disaster. The offense opened with five three-and-outs in the first seven possessions Sunday. The defense can't get it right with Ndamukong Suh, who has been almost invisible in the first four games. The Dolphins, now 1-3, are giving up 160.5 yards a game on the ground. Ridiculous. The Lions lost Suh and three other defensive tackles and are giving up 112.

The Colts were smart to sit Andrew Luck on Sunday with a physical Thursday game approaching. AP Photo/Bill Wippert

• Sure, the Indianapolis Colts got lucky to come through with a 16-13 win while using Matt Hasselbeck in place of the injured Andrew Luck, but it was the right move to sit Luck. Luck's injured shoulder didn't allow him to throw all of his passes. Plus, the Colts have a physical game coming Thursday against Houston. Hasselbeck was only one of seven quarterbacks since 1960 to start a game at age 40 or older.

• Among the many concerns for the Colts is how poorly their offseason additions have looked. General manager Ryan Grigson added seven players in their 30s to put the team over the top and get to the Super Bowl. Halfback Frank Gore has fumbled twice on potential scoring drives in the past three weeks. Andre Johnson has only seven catches. On Sunday, he was targeted twice and didn't catch a pass. Guard Todd Herremans was a healthy scratch Sunday. Linebacker Trent Cole has no sacks and only seven tackles. Yikes.

• Even though he eventually should be a good quarterback, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Jameis Winston continues to throw INTs. He threw four Sunday in a 37-23 loss to the Carolina Panthers and now has seven for the season. One scarier stat: The Bucs have lost 10 consecutive home games with Lovie Smith as coach.

• With Todd Gurley putting up big rushing numbers and opposing defenses confused as to whether Gurley or receiver Tavon Austin might get the ball on a fly sweep, the St. Louis Rams are now factors in the NFC after upsetting the Arizona Cardinals 24-22. Jeff Fisher has been looking for an offense that can win games rushing. He might have one now.

• Missed kicks by Kyle Brindza could lead to his release by the Bucs. He has missed six field goal and two extra point attempts. Caleb Sturgis, the Eagles' new kicker, missed a field goal and an extra point Sunday. Jason Myers missed two key field goals for Jacksonville in its overtime loss to Indianapolis. Josh Scobee cost the Steelers $2.5 million and was cut. So are we enjoying extra points from the 15? It's leading to bad kicking and it's costing owners money with a limited pool of replacements on the streets.

• Give credit to Bengals coach Marvin Lewis for standing by halfback Jeremy Hill after a two-fumble game against San Diego a couple of weeks ago. Hill had three touchdowns in a 36-21 win over Kansas City.

• I honestly don't know how the San Diego Chargers won, but that was a huge one, beating the Cleveland Browns 30-27. They were down three starting offensive linemen, and guard D.J. Fluker was playing on a bad ankle. Half of their starting secondary didn't dress because of injuries. Yet Philip Rivers threw for 358 yards and they found a way. Gutsy win.