TAMPA, Fla. — There’s no letup in Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons.

The NFC South leaders tightened their grip on first place in the division with a 43-28 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with Ryan throwing for 344 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions on Thursday night.

The victory avenged a 7-point home loss to Tampa Bay in the season opener. It also reiterated how much the Falcons (6-3) have progressed as a team since the earlier meeting.

“First game of the year, they played a little better than we did that day,” Ryan said after tossing scoring passes to four different targets. “I felt like we have continued to improve from that time of year. For me, that’s like the best thing from a confidence standpoint — that we continue to get better week in and week out.”

Julio Jones had another big game , with eight receptions for 111 yards. In 10 career meetings against Tampa Bay, he’s averaged 110.6 yards per game with eight TDs.

It was the receiver’s fifth 100-yard game of the season, 33rd of his career.

“The amount of guys that get involved in the game is a big topic for us,” Atlanta coach Dan Quinn said.