Heading into the 2008 season, demoralized Falcons fans were happy to have a change but weren’t necessarily expecting anything spectacular from the team. You had a new front office, coaching staff and franchise quarterback trying to shake off a 4-12 season where the team cratered and some red-faced skunk of a coach with fully packed marsupial-like suitcase pouches that allow him to bolt in the dead of the night...bolted in the dead of the night. I personally forecast something in the range of 7 wins that year, and I was not alone in doing so.
Even the most optimistic fans that year probably didn’t think the team was getting to 10-6 and the playoffs, but that’s what happened, and Atlanta would go on to enjoy the best regular season stretch in franchise history under Mike Smith.