Breaking down the Falcons' ranking

July 21, 2008 10:15 PM

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

Mike Smith
Smith

The Falcons have a new coach (Mike Smith), a mostly new roster and a refurbished Georgia Dome. But, according to our preseason power rankings, they're still one of the NFL's worst teams. They're rated No. 32 (dead last) and no one from our panel ranked them better than No. 29.

I ranked Atlanta No. 31, even though I think Smith is going to be an excellent coach and I like a lot of the moves the Falcons made in the offseason. But you can't immediately heal the wounds inflicted by Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino and it takes time to overhaul a roster after getting rid of the likes of Warrick Dunn, Alge Crumpler and DeAngelo Hall.

Running back Michael Turner will help the offense a lot and Matt Ryan will be a good quarterback -- at some point. But it's going to take some time for Ryan and the Falcons to become contenders.

Atlanta Falcons, Power rankings, Michael Turner, Matt Ryan

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