FOXBORO — One week after a loss that seemingly had many scrambling for the nearest bridge, the New England Patriots put together a strong all-around performance on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.

And the fandom lets out a collective sigh of relief.

In thumping the Falcons, 26-10, the Pats’ offense showed a ground game previously unseen this season and gave Tom Brady plenty of time to make throws, and the defense shut down tight end Tony Gonzalez, stumped the ground game and put on a second-half performance reminiscent of its heyday a few years ago.

“I’m really proud of our football team today. I’m very proud of the way our guys played. We stepped up and made some plays we needed to make,” Bill Belichick said.

New England played the game without Wes Welker for the second straight week, but Randy Moss stepped up, catching 10 passes for 116 yards despite an ailing back that was clearly bothering him.

Moss popped up on the injury report on Friday and was listed as questionable for the game because of his back; he has been spotted in the locker room recently lying on his back on the floor with his feet up on his folding chair, presumably to alleviate pressure. At one point during the game, with New England in the huddle, Sam Aiken picked Moss up off the ground to help stretch out his back.

Clearly, it has become an issue, and that he was on the field at all impressed his teammates.

“It was huge just from a confidence standpoint, for us to have one of our big guns out there,” tight end Chris Baker said. “He’s a great player and he came out and sucked it up. He was a big reason why we moved the ball.”

Moss declined to talk after the game.

The Falcons scored on their first possession of the game, though in a theme that would play out throughout the afternoon, Atlanta’s drive stalled inside the red zone.

New England matched on its first drive. A screen pass to Sammy Morris on the first snap showed two things: that after largely abandoning the screen last week against the Jets the Pats hadn’t scrapped it altogether; and that Morris, who had been a game away from showing up on missing persons posters, can still be very much a part of the offense.

The veteran back had 62 total yards, with 46 coming on three receptions.

A few plays later, Tom Brady threw a deep ball for Moss in the end zone, but overthrew him though he was wide open.

The Patriots marched down the field and got inside the Falcons’ 10-yard line after a Brady sneak on third-and-short, but a play-action pass to Joey Galloway at the back of the end zone was called back when Galloway’s first step was out of bounds. A second-down run by Laurence Maroney netted just a couple of yards, and a third-down pass for Kevin Faulk was stopped short of the goal line.

Stephen Gostkowski converted the first of his career-high-tying four field goals, all of them relatively short. But the 15-play drive was the first of several long possessions for New England, which gave it a nearly two-to-one edge in time of possession and also kept Matt Ryan and the potentially dangerous Atlanta offense off the field.

Ryan, who was a revelation as a true rookie starter last year for a team that was struggling to get past several high-profile controversies, including the Michael Vick saga and head coach Bobby Petrino’s decision to abandon the team 12 games into his first season, was able to move the ball efficiently in the first half, but was largely shut out in the second half.

Only two of the Falcons’ 13 first downs came after intermission, when they accumulated just 78 yards. For the game, the visitors totaled 257 yards, with Ryan passing for 199.

That Gonzalez was held to just one 16-yard reception is a fairly large feather in the cap of the Pats’ defense: Belichick had told the players he didn’t want to have to talk about the future Hall of Famer when the team reviews the game tape on Monday, and they made sure he won’t have to.

Unless it is to tell them what a great job they did. Brandon McGowan, who is quickly — and quietly — becoming an integral player in the backfield, was charged with covering Gonzalez for most of the day, though he did have help.

“He had a lot of responsibility on Gonzalez today,” Belichick said of McGowan, a former Chicago Bear signed this offseason. “He’s involved in a lot of plays, makes tackles and is a good coverage player.”

With two players on Gonzalez, that left the rest of New England’s defensive backs in man-to-man coverage on receivers Roddy White and Michael Jenkins. The Pats typically favor zone coverage. Jenkins had five receptions and White just four.

But while New England played a strong game, areas of concern remain. The Pats scored just one touchdown in five red-zone trips, making them 1-for-8 in their past two games. And Brady’s difficulties continue, as he sprayed a couple of balls and was 3-for-10 passing inside the 20-yard line.

“It’s just execution. It’s everybody being on the same page and making the reads and throws, and it’s something we’ll evaluate and look at,” Brady said. “We can’t keep kicking field goals, I know that. We’ve got to be better than that.”

They know there are still issues to correct, but as is to be expected from a team that has lost back-to-back games just once since 2002, New England took a big step forward after its disappointing performance against New York.

They’ll need to make another with a tough Baltimore Ravens team headed to Foxboro on Sunday.

smanza@projo.com