Team Preview: Atlanta Falcons

Mike Vick. Bobby Petrino. Enough said. The 2007 season for Atlanta was, in short, a disaster. After dealing away Matt Schaub to Houston in the offseason, Atlanta found themselves without a quarterback and struggled through the season on the hope that their record would be bad enough for Bobby Petrino to draft his star from college, Brian Brohm. As it turned out, Petrino jumped ship and Brohm dropped significantly from his mid-season draft hype. To add insult to injury, Schaub torched them for 308 yards in week 4.

The Falcons situation was bad last year, but some major offseason moves (cutting Alge Crumpler and DeAngelo Hall) showed the front office’s commitment to restructuring the organization. The Falcons used their 11 draft picks to essentially draft a new defense (3 LBs, 3 DBs) to replace their 29th-ranked defense from last season. The Falcons also brought in Matt Ryan (QB-Boston College) and Sam Baker (OT-USC) in the first round of the draft, hoping to spark their new-look offense, replacing the 23rd ranked system from last year.

Atlanta’s big offseason signing was running back Michael Turner from San Diego (or the artist formerly known as the backup to LT). With Turner, Atlanta brings in former Steelers offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, who was the brains behind the solid Bettis years of the early 2000s. Atlanta’s offense next year will have a different look than in previous years, being a primarily run-focused system, which will aid the development of Ryan. The Falcons also have speedster Jerious Norwood in the backfield, who will provide an excellent compliment to Turner.

The one bright spot for Falcons fans last season was Wide Receiver Roddy White’s 83-reception, 1200+ yard season. White is a strong receiver with breakaway speed and will be the primary target in the new offense.

Since the beginning of the 8-division system, the team to finish last in the NFC South has won the division the next year. It’s highly unlikely that this trend will continue unless all of the rookies on this team play out of their minds. Atlanta is at the beginning of a long rebuilding process and will likely be picking within the first two hours of the draft next year.

Atlanta is aided by a fairly weak schedule (SOS 21) in which they get the play the AFC West and NFC North, in addition to Philadelphia and St Louis. NFC South teams in the past have used the weaker schedule given to last place teams to catapult to the top of the division, but I honestly don’t see this team putting together a 9 or 10-win season.

Atlanta has brought in a lot of building blocks that they can use for a solid team in the future, but they’re not quite on the level just yet. However, all of the teams in this division have some serious question marks, so the Falcons may be able to put together a decent season.

Ian’s 2008 Prediction: 5-11
John’s 2008 Prediction: 5-11