Everything that could’ve gone wrong for the Atlanta Falcons last season happened. Franchise quarterback Michael Vick was hauled off to jail, head coach Bobby Petrino left the team before the season was finished and defensive star DeAngelo Hall verbally abused management and demanded to be traded.

For Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank it was time to start over and that is exactly what he did. DeAngelo Hall was traded to the Raiders, veterans Alge Crumpler and Warrick Dunn were released, Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith was named head coach, and with the third pick in the draft the Falcons selected the new face of the franchise -- quarterback Matt Ryan.

Although the future seems bright for Atlanta, the upcoming season is going to be a rough one. For a team attempting to rebuild, the schedule doesn’t favor that process. Although they only have four games against teams that finished better than .500 last year, they have six games against teams 8-8 or better and 12 games against opponents that were 7-9 or better. Because of this, the Falcons are only projected to win five games and have a dismal 2.1 percent chance to win the division and a 3.4 percent possibility of making the playoffs.

One bright spot last year was wide-out Roddy White. White had a career year with 1202 yards and six touchdowns, validating his first round selection in 2005. This season, AccuScore forecasts he will be Ryan’s go-to receiver and should finish the season with 906 yards and at least three touchdowns.

New additions Ryan and running back Michael Turner will get their chance to prove they were worthy of the money spent on them, as they are both slated as the starters for week one. Ryan is projected to have a decent rookie season, passing for over 2,700 yards and 13.7 touchdowns to go along with his 16.8 interceptions. Turner is finally out of LaDainian Tomlinson’s shadow and looks to capitalize. Although the Northern Illinois grad will be sharing time with Jerious Norwood, he is projected to run over 1400 yards, score 6.9 touchdowns and improve a Falcons run game from 26th in the league (95 ypg) to 9th (138 ypg).

Finally, the defense will once again struggle despite veteran players like Keith Brookings, Lawyer Milloy, Grady Jackson, and John Abraham. The team will improve in points allowed (22.9) and passing yards per game (221), but they are still in the lower echelon of the league in those categories. Abraham is the on bright spot as he is projected to finish with 13.4 sacks this year.

For more information on the Atlanta Falcons, click here to preview their week one match-up against Calvin Johnson and the Detroit Lions.