The first four games of 2007 acted as a learning experience for Falcons players, coaches and staff.
How would Bobby Petrino's new offense interact with teams playing starters for four quarters and playing with more intense, non-preseason play books?
How would the Falcons defense do under new coordinator Mike Zimmer and how good can John Abraham really be when he's healthy through the first part of a season?
How would the team deal with two straight road trips to open a season?
It didn't take long to get some answers.
Defense? Solid. Abraham? Hard-hitting, exciting and -- at times -- dominant. Travel? Well, two straight losses.
An NFL season is too long to make snap judgments but, in hindsight, a 1-3 start with some rough outings could have been telling of what was to come in terms of wins and losses in 2007.
No one can disagree with the charge the team put together in December, however, which included a season-ending win after the abrupt resignation by Bobby Petrino as head coach.
None of that could be predicted in the first four games, which included bad days on offense (Minnesota and Jacksonville) and two solid days at quarterback by Joey Harrington in a seven-point loss (Carolina) and the season's first win (Houston).
You can
click here for more on each game as I break down the season over on
AF.com.
What we learned from the first four games is that the Falcons would be able to throw the football in 2007.
Roddy White started off what would be a
record-breaking season and Harrington, though he wouldn't finish the season as the starter, had two of the best games in his career.
It gets lost over time, but the Falcons win over the Texans was one of the better all-around performances of the season. The team came back from a deficit, took the lead and held it as Houston and former Falcons backup quarterback Matt Schaub tried to chip away.
If you were at the Georgia Dome that day you got flashbacks to winning times.
An examination of the stats through the first four games of the season shows just how close the Falcons were to picking up one, two or even three more wins.
The Carolina and Jacksonville games were lost by a combined 13 points with two missed field goals spelling the difference against the Jaguars.
Two Minnesota touchdowns came on defense.
Atlanta also ranked in the top 15 in passing yards per game, opponents passing yards per game and opponents points per game through the first four games.
Turnover differential was perhaps the most discouraging number (minus-1), but even that stat turned as the season went on and the Falcons finished as one of the best teams in the NFC in that category.
I could go on forever analyzing stats from four months ago, so I'll just leave you with an AF.com highlight film from the first win of 2007.
Enjoy and feel free to comment with your memories from 2007.
Then there's quarterback Chris Redman, who got his most extensive action in an NFL game since 2002. In one quarter of work, Redman notched two touchdowns and came a shoelace away from completing a miraculous comeback charge.