SEATTLE -- Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan continues to impress and earn more respect around the league, even in defeat.

The NFL's leading passer showed great resolve in a 26-24 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and their league-best pass defense. Despite being sacked four times, being hit 13 times, and having two costly turnovers, Ryan managed 335 passing yards and three touchdowns with a passer rating of 102.8.

The opposition took notice.

"He's definitely one of the league's elite quarterbacks," Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett said of Ryan. "Just like Julio Jones is an elite receiver. But, we won the game, so that's all that matters at the end of the day."

If there's any such thing as a moral victory, Ryan picked up a "W" on Sunday. The hits he absorbed might have had an average quarterback leaving the stadium on a stretcher. Instead, Ryan stepped up and made plays under adversity and rallied his team from a 17-3 halftime deficit to a near-improbable win over a bone-crushing Seahawks team.

"He was getting kind of hit after the play a lot [Sunday]," Jones said of Ryan. "But he kept getting up; resiliency. That's what we preach around here. We're not going lay down. We're not going to stay on the ground. We're going to play for each other. If we can, we're going to stay out there on the field for each other."

Ryan has displayed plenty of grit and determination through the first six games of the season, guiding the Falcons to a 4-2 start and to first place in the NFC South. He shook off getting his left thumb banged up in a win over New Orleans, simply playing with a glove to protect it since that game. Then against Seattle, Ryan got knocked around like a pinball and was sacked three times in the first quarter alone only to rebound with 220 passing yards and three touchdowns in the third quarter.

"He showed a lot," Falcons coach Dan Quinn said of Ryan. "I think it was one of the tougher games for him. Just standing up, staying right in there. He has a real focus about him."

Ryan now has league-leading 2,075 passing yards and is second in the league with 15 touchdown passes behind Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger (16). The Falcons should feel pretty good about Ryan coming off another 300-plus-yard performance against an elite defense. There's no telling what Ryan will do against other opponents, starting with the San Diego Chargers next Sunday at the Georgia Dome.

Of course, Ryan can't continue to take hits like he did against the Seahawks. Whatever the case, he won't down easily.

"You know going into it, it's going to be that type of game," Ryan said of the physical play. "... You just pop back up and go to the next play. That's kind of always the way I've approached it, and I don't think you really ever change that."

If the Falcons show the same type of resolve as a whole as Ryan has through six games, there's no reason why the postseason shouldn't be in their immediate future.