It was a season of high expectations and below level execution for the Atlanta Falcons in 2013. After coming so close the year before in the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers, many experts believed this Falcons organization was ready to take home their first Lombardi Trophy.

But as it happens more often than not, the experts were wrong.

The Falcons finished the 2013 season at 4-12 which saw more injuries then a Quentin Tarantino film, and more heart-break then a Cleveland sports fan. The Falcons' star wide-receiver, Roddy White, had injured his leg late in preseason and never seemed to get back to 100% all year. Steven Jackson, a big pickup in the off season before last year, was deeply plagued by a groin injury suffered at the beginning of the season and contributed to the Falcons being ranked last in 2013 in rushing. It then was superstar Julio Jones' foot injury that subsequently led to the end of his season along with the Atlanta Falcons' hopes at making the playoffs.

Atlanta lost seven of their twelve games last year by a touchdown or less. Coming into the 2014 season, there are many reasons to believe that luck will be on their side.

Improvement In The Trenches:

All last season QB Matt Ryan was running for his life. The offensive line struggled to protect and give Ryan the time he needed to make reads. The O-line also “blocked” for the worst run offense in the NFL last year. This prompted the Falcons to draft Texas A&M OL Jake Matthews with their first pick in this years NFL Draft. In addition, Atlanta added G Jon Asamoah from the Kansas City Chiefs to work along side Matthews. With T Sam Baker suffering a season-ending knee injury during week 2 of the preseason, it will be up to Matthews and Asamoah to protect Ryan's blind side in the pocket while young Lamar Holmes will be the man on the right.

The Falcons were ranked 29th in the league last season in sacks and only were in front of the Chicago Bears in run-stopping defense. Their defensive line needed a mean streak and GM Thomas Dimitroff made that happen with the addition of defensive tackle Paul Soliai and Tyson Jackson.

Question still remains on the talent of the defensive line. They have two players in Osi Umenyiora and Jonathan Babineaux that many believe are past their prime. Don't be surprised, though, if defensive end Kroy Biermann has an impressive year after coming off an achilles injury that forced him to miss most of last season.

Depth At Running Back Position:

Not too often to you see a team be successful with just a running game or just a passing game. What made the Falcons a force in the air was the ability to execute play action off from a strong running game with Michael Turner. Turner is gone and the Falcons in 2013 were left with a banged up Steven Jackson and a 5'6 Jacquizz Rodgers, who in fact held his own but wasn't enough.

The Falcons roll into the 2014 season with a healthy Jackson, an experienced Rodgers, and a 4th round draft pick rookie out of Flordia State, Devonta Freeman. Both Jackson and Rodgers were expected to share some of the load coming into camp. Jackson would be the downhill power runner while Rodgers would be more used in passing and shotgun situations. But with the emergence of Freeman, who had 92 yards on 20 carries and 101 yards on six catches this preseason, we could see a three-man running back rotation in Atlanta to began the season.

All that depends on if Freeman can prove he can block for Ryan in the passing game. He struggled a bit during the preseason and this seems to be a common problem for rookie running-backs in the past. If Freeman continues struggling to block, the original plan could be reinstated early in the year.

Jones, White.....And Douglas:

So much attention is put on Julio Jones and Roddy White, and rightfully so as these two can be superhuman when healthy. But with all the eyes and ears on Jones and White, many forget what Harry Douglas did last season without them.

Douglas had a break out season in 2013 with 85 receptions and 1,067 receiving yards. He doubled his career highs in both those categories. He only caught two touchdown passes from Ryan but that was due to the presence of Tony Gonzalez in the red-zone.

Without Gonzalez at the tight-end position this year and without a clear option to replace him, look for slot receivers like Douglas, Eric Weems, and newly acquired special teams superstar, Devin Hester, to get a lot of looks in the red zone and on 3rd down this season.

Biggest Concern:

It almost is second nature now for the defense to be the biggest concern of the Atlanta Falcons heading into the season. A high-scoring, high-flying offense with a defense that likes to make it interesting. But even when this is a concern heading into the 2014 season, it isn't as big of a concern as it has been in years past.

Losing linebacker Sean Weatherspoon only thins the defense but the first official depth chart from Head Coach Mike Smith and Atlanta shows them beginning the year with a nickel style defense.

Biermann and Babineaux will play the outsides of the line and the two additions in Jackson, Soliai will plug the middle. Paul Worrilow and Joplo Bartu will be the two lone linebackers while two safeties (William Moore, Dwight Lowery) and three corner backs (Robert Alford, Josh Wilson, Desmond Trufant) will round out the secondary.

The fresh meat in the middle of that defensive line will add an extra physical element to the Falcons' defense along with much more pressure on the QB. The young and talented secondary should be able to cover the ground that the thin linebacker core cannot in both passing and running style offenses.

What Must Happen:

For the Atlanta Falcons to be successful in the 2014 season the offensive line is going to need to be able to give Matt Ryan time in the pocket. Ryan has two superstar receivers at his helm and if given the time to go through is reads, the Falcons' offense will return to its former self, barring a catastrophic injury, with no issues.

The defense who was just as much distraught last season as the offense was will need to keep Atlanta in games. Losing last year seven times by a touchdown or less shows that this defense was able to do that. It will need to continue that same success and improve on it.

In Atlanta's first nine games to start off the season they are facing only two teams that made the playoffs last year and all together are only competing in six games against teams that were playing into January last season. Four of those games are against New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers. An easy schedule should see this offense put up a lot of points and help the defense improve each week heading into the playoffs

Prediction: Atlanta Falcons 11-5 (Wild Card Spot)