#8 The Atlanta Falcons

Matt Ryan took the NFL by storm his rookie year. This year he has Michael Turner in the backfield, and the added security of Tony Gonzalez. While he is nowhere NEAR the player he once was, he will provide Ryan a great security blanket should he not be able to hand it off to Turner or toss it to Roddy White.

1	Sep 13	MIA @ ATL	Georgia Dome	1:00 PM	CBS
2	Sep 20	CAR @ ATL	Georgia Dome	1:00 PM	FOX
3	Sep 27	ATL @ NE	Gillette Stadium	1:00 PM	FOX
4	Bye
5	Oct 11	ATL @ SF	Candlestick Park	4:05 PM	FOX
6	Oct 18	CHI @ ATL	Georgia Dome	8:20 PM	NBC
7	Oct 25	ATL @ DAL	Cowboys Stadium	4:15 PM	FOX
8	Nov 02	ATL @ NO	Superdome	8:30 PM	ESPN
9	Nov 08	WAS @ ATL	Georgia Dome	1:00 PM	FOX
10	Nov 15	ATL @ CAR	Bank of America Stadium	1:00 PM	FOX
11	Nov 22	ATL @ NYG	Giants Stadium	1:00 PM	FOX
12	Nov 29	TB @ ATL	Georgia Dome	1:00 PM	FOX
13	Dec 06	PHI @ ATL	Georgia Dome	1:00 PM	FOX
14	Dec 13	NO @ ATL	Georgia Dome	1:00 PM	FOX
15	Dec 20	ATL @ NYJ	Giants Stadium	1:00 PM	FOX
16	Dec 27	BUF @ ATL	Georgia Dome	1:00 PM	CBS
17	Jan 03	ATL @ TB	Raymond James Stadium	1:00 PM	FOX

This is a brutal schedule for a team with a decent defense. While I think Atlanta can go 3-1 vs the AFC East and 2 - 2 vs the NFC East, in their own division, I think they should go 4 - 2, falling to the Panthers and the Saints once. That's a total of 9 wins to begin with, so when it boils down to it, the Falcons are poised to have a good year at about 10 - 6, but how will Ryan fare in the post-season?

Very well, because of Michael Turner, but of those 6 games the Falcons will lose, I would not be surprised if it is a direct result of a horrible defense.