Team History: Falcons are known for “Dirty Bird” dance, Vick and a title drought
Team History: Falcons are known for “Dirty Bird” dance, Vick and a title drought
The year 1966 was a great one for sports in Atlanta. The Braves played their first season after moving from Milwaukee and professional football came to the city as well.
Commissioner Pete Rozelle awarded a franchise to Life Insurance Company of Georgia executive Rankin M. Smith Sr. on June 30, 1965. Smith held a contest to name the team and the name Falcons was on 41 entries. One of the other choices was Thrashers, which was used for Atlanta’s NHL expansion team in 1999-2000.
The team’s first coach was a tougher decision. Candidates included former Oklahoma coach Charles “Bud” Wilkinson and Arkansas coach Frank Broyles from the college ranks. Professional choices included former 49ers coach Howard “Red” Hickey, current Browns coach Paul Brown and Packers great Vince Lombardi. After all of them declined, Smith hired Norb Hecker, the defensive backs coach under Lombardi in Green Bay.
Atlanta had a chance to select players from other teams in the Expansion Draft. Leading rusher Junior Coffey and top receiver Alex Hawkins were chosen among picks. In the NFL Draft, the Falcons selected linebacker Tommy Nobis first overall and also took cornerback Ken Reaves in the fourth round.
The club went 3-11 in 1966, tying a record for most victories by an NFL expansion team. A disappointing 1-12-1 season followed, and after an 0-3 start in 1968, Hecker was fired. He was replaced by Hall of Fame quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, who was the first coach in Vikings history.
Atlanta steadily improved thanks to the additions of fullbacks James “Cannonball” Butler, Dave Hampton and tight end Jim Mitchell. The Falcons finished 7-6-1 in 1971 for their first winning season and were second in the NFC West the following year.
In 1973, Atlanta went 9-5 and finished a game behind Washington for the Wild Card spot in the NFC. The Falcons won 62-7 over the Saints in their opening game and used a seven-game win streak in the middle of the season to post their best record to date. Nobis and Reaves were joined on defense by Pro Bowl end Claude Humphrey and John Zook.
The Falcons sunk to 3-11 the following year. Van Brocklin was fired mid-season and replaced by defensive coordinator Marion Campbell. The club selected quarterback Steve Bartkowski with the first pick in the 1975 Draft and Hampton ran for 1,002 yards, but Atlanta had back-to-back 4-10 seasons.
Leeman Bennett became a head coach in 1977. He was a receiver coach for a Rams team that went to three NFC Championship Games in four seasons. Although the Falcons went 7-7, the “Grits Blitz” defense gave up only 129 points in 14 games, an average of 9.2 per game, which is still an NFL record.
In 1978, Bartkowski and Mitchell were joined by running back Haskel Stanback and the receiver tandem of Alfred Jenkins and Wallace Francis. The Falcons went 9-7 and made the playoffs for the first time. Philadelphia had a two-score lead in the Wild Card game, but Bartkowski threw fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Mitchell and Francis, and Atlanta came back to win, 14-13. The Falcons had a halftime lead in the Division round, but Scott Laidlaw’s second touchdown run early in the fourth quarter gave the Cowboys a 27-20 victory.
After a 6-10 record the following year, Atlanta set a new franchise-best with a 12-4 mark and won their first division title in 1980. The Falcons were up 24-10 on the Cowboys after three quarters, but Danny White threw three touchdown passes, including two in the fourth, and Dallas once again emerged victorious, this time by a 30-27 score.
Two years later, the Falcons went 5-4 in the strike-shortened season and won another division championship. Bob Glazebrook’s interception return gave the Falcons a 21-13 advantage, but quarterback Tommy Kramer led the Vikings to a 30-24 comeback win.
Despite having a winning record, Bennett was dismissed after the loss. Atlanta endured seven straight losing seasons. Four came with former Redskins offensive coordinator Dan Henning on the bench and Campbell returned for the other three.
Former Falcons defensive coordinator and “Grits Blitz” originator Jerry Glanville took over in 1990, but that was not the only major change with the franchise. Smith, who had owned the club since the beginning, gave control over to his son, Taylor.
On the field, Atlanta went 5-11, but made the playoffs for the first time in nine years after posting a 10-6 record in 1991. Glanville’s “Red Gun” offense led to quarterback Chris Miller and receiver Andre Rison (along with cornerback Deion Sanders) making the Pro Bowl. After winning a tiebreaker, the Falcons took on the Saints in the Wild Card round.
With the game tied late, Miller found Michael Haynes on a slant and Haynes raced 61 yards for a touchdown. Tim McKyer intercepted New Orleans quarterback Bobby Hebert to preserve the 27-20 victory. Atlanta lost to the Redskins, 24-7, in the Division game.
A pair of 6-10 seasons cost Glanville his job, including 1992, when the team moved into the newly built Georgia Dome. Glanville was replaced by the offensive coordinator and former Falcons quarterback June Jones. Atlanta went to the playoffs in 1995 but fell to former Falcons draft pick Brett Favre and the Packers, 37-20, in the Wild Card round.
Jones lasted just three years and Dan Reeves took over in 1997. Reeves was a running back with the Cowboys, then was an assistant in Dallas. He spent 12 seasons as head coach of the Broncos and then four leading the Giants before coming to Atlanta.
The Falcons went 7-9 in Reeves’ first year, then set their current record for wins with a 14-2 season in 1998. Quarterback Chris Chandler, running back Jamal Anderson and receivers Terance Mathis and Tony Martin starred on offense and linebacker Jessie Tuggle, cornerback Ray Buchanan and safety Eugene Robinson made the Pro Bowl.
During the season, the “Dirty Bird” became a popular thing in the Georgia Dome. Anderson, the dance’s originator, had plenty of chances to flap his bent arms like wings that season since he ran for 1,846 yards and 14 touchdowns.
After starting 5-2, Atlanta ran off nine straight victories to end the regular season. However, the Vikings took home-field advantage with a 15-1 mark. The Falcons got two Anderson touchdown runs and two Morten Andersen field goals in a 20-18 win over the 49ers to set up a showdown between the league’s two best teams.
Minnesota kept Anderson out of the end zone, but one mistake by the Vikings proved costly. Gary Anderson, who hadn’t missed a kick all season, pushed a 38-yard attempt wide left with 2:07 remaining. The Falcons capitalized, with Chandler finding Mathis on a 16-yard pass with 57 seconds left for his third scoring pass of the game. Atlanta won, 30-27, on Morten Andersen’s 38-yard field goal in overtime.
The Falcons had to contend with the defending champion Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII. Andersen kicked two field goals, but John Elway had Denver up, 17-6, at the half. Atlanta had four turnovers and two more Broncos scores early in the fourth put the game out of reach. Following an Elway touchdown run, Tim Dwight returned the kickoff 94 yards for a score and Chandler found Mathis with a pass, but the Broncos held on for a 34-19 victory. Elway threw for 336 yards and a touchdown to earn game MVP honors.
Atlanta failed to make the playoffs over the next three seasons, and soon more changes were coming at the top. In February 2002, Taylor Smith sold the team to Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank for $545 million. The Falcons went 9-6-1 and made the playoffs behind quarterback Michael Vick and running back Warrick Dunn. They knocked off the Packers before falling to the Eagles in the Division round.
In 2003, Vick broke his leg and the team fell apart. Reeves was fired with three games left in the season. The next year, the Falcons hired Jim Mora Jr., the former offensive coordinator in San Francisco and the son of a longtime NFL coach.
Mora’s first season with the club was special. Vick was joined in the Pro Bowl by tight end Alge Crumpler, defensive end Patrick Kerney, linebacker Keith Brooking and return man Allen Rossum. The Falcons went 11-5 and won the NFC South, then dominated the Rams, 47-17, before losing to the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, 27-10.
Atlanta missed the playoffs in Mora’s final two years. The 2007 season was a lost campaign. Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison and was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for his involvement in a dogfighting ring in Virginia. Former Louisville coach Bobby Petrino resigned after only 13 games, and Thomas Dimitroff replaced Rich McKay as general manager after the team posted a 4-12 record.
In 2008, the Falcons hired former Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith and drafted Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan in the first round. Ryan led a formidable offense that included running back Michael Turner and wide receiver Roddy White. Atlanta had winning records in Smith’s first five seasons and made the playoffs four times.
The Falcons had an NFC-best 13-3 record in 2010 but gave up 48 points to the Packers in a Division round loss. Two years later, they matched that mark and tied the Broncos for the best record in the NFL.
Atlanta went up 27-7 against Seattle in the Division game, but the Seahawks stormed back to take a 28-27 lead with 31 seconds remaining. Ryan completed two clutch passes to set up Matt Bryant’s 48-yard field goal with eight seconds left and the Falcons won, 30-28. The drive showed the composure that earned Ryan his “Matty Ice” nickname.
Ryan threw three touchdown passes to give Atlanta a 24-14 halftime lead in the 2012 NFC Championship Game, but Frank Gore ran for 90 yards and two second-half scores as San Francisco came back to win, 28-24.
Two losing years followed and Mike Smith was fired after the 2014 season. He was replaced by Dan Quinn, the former coordinator of the “Legion of Boom” defense in Seattle. Atlanta’s 50th season ended with an 8-8 mark, but the club ended an 18-year Super Bowl drought in 2016.
The Falcons went 11-5 and won the South for the fourth time. Ryan was the league MVP, receiver Julio Jones and linebacker Vic Beasley joined Ryan as All-Pros, and Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman were a formidable backfield pair. Atlanta knocked off Quinn’s former team the Seahawks in the Division round, and Ryan threw for 392 yards and four touchdowns in a win over the Packers in the NFC Championship Game.
Freeman opened up Super Bowl LI with a score, Robert Alford returned an interception 82 yards for another and Ryan threw two touchdown passes to give the Falcons a 28-3 advantage midway through the third quarter. However, the Patriots chipped away at the lead. Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes and James White scored twice, including a one-yard run with 57 seconds left. Brady found Danny Amendola with the two-point conversion pass to tie the score.
New England won the overtime coin toss and Brady led his team on a nine-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with White’s one-yard run for his third touchdown of the game. Brady was the MVP after throwing for 466 yards, a record he broke the following year.
Quinn is back for his fifth season in 2019. Coleman went to San Francisco, but Ryan still has plenty of weapons. Freeman takes over as the lead rusher and Jones is part of a trio of solid receivers that also includes Mohamed Sanu and Calvin Ridley. The defense is led by Beasley, linebacker Deion Jones, cornerback Desmond Trufant, and safety Damontae Kazee, who tied for the NFL lead with seven interceptions last year.
-By: Kevin Rakas