2008 Record: 11-5 The Atlanta Falcons were one of the biggest surprises in 2008 but the optimism isn\u2019t carrying over into 2009. While no one is suggesting that the Falcons will fall off the face of the Earth, not many people are suggesting that they will do as good \u2013 or better \u2013 than their 11-5 record last year.<\/p>\n For one, the Falcons will face a much stiffer schedule in 2009. Their slated opponents have a .588 winning percentage, which is fourth-toughest in the NFL.<\/p>\n But believe whether you\u2019re a Dirty Bird optimist or skeptic, the truth is that the Falcons are a better team this year.<\/p>\n Starting quarterback Matt Ryan will be entering his second season in the league and everyone took note of what kind of damage he did as a rookie. He\u2019ll have a nice new weapon in tight end Tony Gonzalez, who provides another Pro Bowl threat to an offense that already had two (Michael Turner and Roddy White).<\/p>\n While the Falcons offense will be steady, where the team needs to improve is on defense.<\/p>\n With former defensive coordinator Mike Smith running the show in Atlanta, the Falcons defense overachieved last year. They showed a certain toughness that they lacked in previous year. But for this team to take the next step, though, some playmakers will have to emerge.<\/p>\n Defensive end John Abraham is a stud when healthy but he\u2019s arguably the only consistent playmaker on this defense. The Falcons are hoping that first-round pick Peria Jerry can join him but former first-day picks like end Jamaal Anderson, linebacker Curtis Lofton and cornerback Chris Houston are all solid but unspectacular playmakers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty clear that the Falcons offense is much further ahead than the defense. If some studs emerge on defense, this team has the potential to win the NFC but what is closer to reality is that the Falcons finish with 10 wins and a second consecutive playoff berth.<\/p>\n Super Bowl Odds: +1850<\/strong><\/p>\n Conference Odds: +1300<\/p>\n NFC South Odds: +220<\/p>\n 2009 Falcons Predictions<\/strong><\/p>\n Place they\u2019ll finish in NFC South: 2nd<\/p>\n Place they\u2019ll finish in NFC Conference: 6th<\/p>\n Over\/Under Season Wins Prediction: Over 8.5<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Dave Golokhov has written for <\/strong>BETUS Sportsbook, Sportsfanmagazine.com, FOX, Askmen.com, Sports-central.org, and the FOXSports.com Funhouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s another season making NFL previews and Super Bowl predictions for the Atlanta Falcons. Check back for more comprehensive NFL previews by Dave Golokhov, he’ll be bringing you NFL season previews for all 32 NFL teams! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[41,16619,16620,16621,16622,16623,414,16624,16625,16626,16627,16628,802,1618,14998,14999],"class_list":["post-12599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl","tag-41","tag-2009-atlanta-falcons-odds","tag-2009-falcons-predictions","tag-atlanta-falcons-gambling","tag-atlanta-falcons-predictions","tag-atlanta-falcons-preview","tag-falcons","tag-falcons-betting-lines","tag-falcons-nfc-conference-odds","tag-falcons-nfc-south-odds","tag-falcons-season-predictions","tag-falcons-super-bowl-odds","tag-nfl-betting","tag-nfl-futures","tag-overunder-season-wins","tag-season-wins-prediction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12599"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109017,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12599\/revisions\/109017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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