Atlanta Falcons

Atlanta Falcons
Founded 1966 playing in Atlanta , Georgia
league
National Football League (1966-present) Eastern Conference (1966) Western Conference (1967-69) Coastal Division (1967-1969) National Football Conference (1970-present) NFC West (1970-2001) NFC South (2002-present)
Current uniforms
Team colors	Red, black, white
mascot	Freddie Falcon
staff
owner	Arthur Blank
General manager	Thomas Dimitrov
Head coach	Dan Quinn
Team history
Atlanta Falcons (1966-present)
Nicknames
The Dirty Birds
successes
NFL Champion (0)
Conference winner (2) NFC: 1998 , 2016
Division Winner (6) NFC West: 1980 , 1998 NFC South: 2004 , 2010 , 2012 , 2016
Play-off participations (14)
NFL: 1978 , 1980, 1982 , 1991 , 1995 , 1998, 2002 , 2004, 2008 , 2010, 2011 , 2012, 2016, 2017
Stages
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (1966-1991) aka Atlanta Stadium (1966–1976) Georgia Dome (1992-2016) Mercedes-Benz Stadium (2017 – present)

The Atlanta Falcons are an American football team based out of Atlanta , Georgia . The Falcons (Engl. Falcons ) are a team of the National Football League (NFL) and play there in the National Football Conference (NFC) in the Southern Division . In 1965, the Atlanta Falcons were inducted into the NFL. Her greatest successes so far were appearances in Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami, Florida and in Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas.

history

Foundation and early days

The Atlanta Falcons entered the National Football League on June 30, 1965 as the 15th team. The owner of the team was the insurance broker Rankin M. Smith . A tender should give the new team a name. Many senders suggested the name "Falcons", which is why this was chosen.

All tickets for the first season were sold out within 54 days. The reason for this was, among other things, the commitment of Norb Hecker as head coach. Norb Hecker was an assistant to the famous coach Vince Lombardi . The Falcons lost the first 9 games, only in 1971 they could achieve more wins than losses.

First successes in the late 1970s and early 1980s

In 1977 , the Falcons set a previously unbeaten NFL record by allowing only 129 opposing points in 14 games of the regular season. In the following years, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Falcons made it into the play-offs with their quarterback Steve Bartkowski and running back William Andrews in 1978 , 1981 and 1982 . However, they all lost the play-off games.

Mid to late 1980s

From 1983 to 1985 , the Falcons were last in their division for three consecutive seasons. Also in 1986 you missed the playoffs, which is why coach Dan Henning was dismissed. The subsequent coach Marion Campbell , who coached the Falcons once between 1974 and 1976 , also brought no success in the following three seasons. He was released in 1989, four match days before the end of the season.

90s

Campbell's successor, Jerry Glanville, was introduced for the 1990 season . In his first season, Glanville was last in the division with the Falcons. But just one year later he reached the NFL play-offs for the first time since 1982 with the Falcons. With a 27:20 win against the New Orleans Saints , the Falcons managed to retract a win in a play-off game for the first time. In the second game of the NFC play-offs, however, they lost 24: 7 against the Washington Redskins . 1992 and 1993 you missed the play-off games, which is why you separated from Jerry Glanville. After a two-year tenure from June Jones as the new head coach, Dan Reeves was introduced as the new coach of the Atlanta Falcons in 1997 . In 1998 he reached the franchise's best ever record with 14 wins and 2 losses and met the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami , Florida . The Broncos won the game 34:19.

2000s

In 2002 Arthur Blank , who is still the owner today, bought the franchise .

After another play-off participation in the 2002 season (27: 7 win against the Green Bay Packers and 20: 6 defeat against the Philadelphia Eagles ) they parted ways during the 2003 season from Reeves. In the first season of the new coach Jim L. Mora , the Falcons were first in the NFC South and they directly reached the NFL play-offs in 2004 . After a 47:17 win against the St. Louis Rams they lost in the NFC final against the Philadelphia Eagles with 27:10 and thus they missed the Super Bowl XXXIX . The first round quarterback Michael Vick , who made the team popular again in the 2001 NFL Draft , was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in 2007 for funding illegal dog fighters and suspended from the NFL for an indefinite period. 2007 was followed by one of the worst seasons in the team's history. The loss of her starting quarterback drew a lot of protests and uproar in the media. The newly signed coach Bobby Petrino left the team after ten defeats and only three wins in the middle of the season and the Falcons ended this with twelve losses and four wins.

In 2008 , Mike Smith , former Defensive Coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars, signed a new head coach. In the draft, quarterback Matt Ryan was signed by Boston College to replace Vick.

2010 until today

In the 2010 season they became the second best team in the NFL (behind the New England Patriots ) and the best team in the entire NFC with a 13-3 record . However, they lost in the play-offs against the Green Bay Packers, who also won the Super Bowl XLV , with 48:21. In 2011 and 2012 the Falcons reached the play-offs. It is the first time in franchise history that this has been achieved three times in a row. In 2012 they even reached the NFC final again, which was just lost to the San Francisco 49ers at 28:24 . In 2013 and 2014 , the Falcons finished third in their division.

After the 2014 regular season, Mike Smith was fired. Since the season 2015 is Dan Quinn coach of the team. In his first season, Quinn started with the team very successfully with five wins. However, the Falcons could not maintain this streak of success, so that the season ended with a balance of 8-8. With this result, however, they narrowly missed the play-offs. However, the Falcons were the only team to defeat the Carolina Panthers this season . With this away defeat in the week before last, they missed a perfect regular season .

The 2016 season began with a 24:31 home loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers . The Falcons were able to improve, however, and ended the season with only four more defeats as group first in the NFC South. Above all, the good offense stood out during the season. Quarterback Matt Ryan was then voted Most Valuable Player of the Season. In the play-offs they became NFC champions after beating the Green Bay Packers and thus secured their second participation in a Super Bowl after 1998. On February 5, 2017, the Atlanta Falcons lost 28:34 against the New England Patriots . It was the first Super Bowl to be decided in overtime.

A season later , the Falcons reached the play-offs again . In the wildcard round they were able to beat the Los Angeles Rams with 26:13. A round later, however, they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles with 10:15.

Logos and uniforms

For the first season in 1966, the Falcons wore red helmets with a black hawk on the sides. In the middle of the helmet ran a black stripe, which was surrounded by two gold and two white stripes. In the following years the golden stripes were removed, the white ones still exist today. The players wore white pants and black jerseys. In 1971 the players wore red jerseys, in 1978 they switched to silver pants. In 1990 the uniform was changed again: black helmets, silver trousers and black or white jerseys. In 2003 the uniform and the logo were changed. The logo has been designed to be stronger and more aggressive. The capital letter "F" (for Falcon) stands out more than the old logo. Red side stripes were added to the black and white jerseys. The pants turned white or black and also had a red stripe on the side. The helmets stayed black. An alternative uniform with red jerseys was also added. A year later, the black jerseys became the alternative uniform and the red standard.

In January 2020 it was announced that the Falcons will change their uniforms for the 2020 NFL season.

Rivalries

The Falcons' greatest rivals are the New Orleans Saints . It is the oldest existing rivalry in NFC South. There is also a rivalry against the Carolina Panthers , the distance between the two stadiums is only about 350 km.

Trainer (Head Coaches)

Dan Quinn has been the Falcons' Head Coach since the 2015 season .

#	Order of trainers
Games	Play as a coach
S.	Victories
N	Defeats
UE	draw
Won%	Win rate
*	Exclusively active as head coach for the Falcons

(Status: end of season 2019 )

#	Surname	Period	Regular season					Play-offs			Achievements / Awards	reference
			Games	S.	N	UE	Won%	Games	S.	N
Atlanta Falcons
1	Norb Hecker *	1966-1968	31	4th	26th	1	.133	-	-	-
2	Norm Van Brocklin	1968-1974	89	37	49	3	.430	-	-	-
3	Marion Campbell	1974-1976	25th	6th	19th	0	.240	-	-	-
4th	Pat Peppler * 1	1976	9	3	6th	1	.333	-	-	-
5	Leeman Bennett	1977-1982	87	46	41	0	.529	4th	1	3	UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1977, 1980)
6th	Dan Henning	1983-1986	64	22nd	41	1	.349	-	-	-
-	Marion Campbell	1987-1989	43	11	32	0	.255	-	-	-
7th	Jim Hanifan 1	1989	4th	0	4th	0	.000	-	-	-
8th	Jerry Glanville	1990-1993	64	27	37	0	.422	2	1	1
9	June Jones	1994-1996	48	19th	29	0	.395	-	-	-
10	Dan Reeves	1997-2003	109	49	59	1	.454	5	3	2	AP NFL Trainer of the Year (1998)
11	Wade Phillips 1	2003	3	2	1	0	.666	-	-	-
12	Jim L. Mora	2004-2006	48	26th	22nd	0	.541	2	1	1
13	Bobby Petrino *	2007	13	3	10	0	.231	-	-	-
14th	Emmitt Thomas * 1	2007	3	1	2	0	.333	-	-	-
15th	Mike Smith *	2008-2014	112	66	46	0	.589	5	1	4th	AP NFL Trainer of the Year (2008)
16	Dan Quinn *	2015–	80	43	37	0	.538	5	3	2

¹ Took over the position of head coach as an interim solution.

Current squad

Atlanta Falcons squad
Quarterbacks  2 Matt Ryan  8 Matt Schaub Running backs 38 Kenjon Barner 24 Devonta Freeman 23 Brian Hill 32 Qadree Ollison 40 Keith Smith FB Wide receiver 13 Christian Blake 83 Russell Gage 14 Justin Hardy 11 Julio Jones 15 Brandon Powell 17 Olamide Zaccheaus Tight ends 87 Jaeden Graham 81 Austin Hooper 80 Luke Stocker	Offensive linemen 68 Jamon Brown G 73 Matt Gono T 64 Sean Harlow G 63 Chris Lindstrom G 51 Alex Mack C 70 Jake Matthews T 76 Kaleb McGary T 74 Ty Sambrailo T 71 Wes Schweitzer G. 75 John Wetzel G Defensive linemen 93 Allen Bailey DE 44 Vic Beasley DE 99 Adrian Clayborn DE 50 John Cominsky DE 95 Jack Crawford DT 96 Tyeler Davison DT 97 Grady Jarrett DT 55 Austin Larkin DE 94 Deadrin Senate DT 91 Jacob Tuioti-Mariner DT	Linebacker 59 De'Vondre Campbell OLB 45 Deion Jones MLB 54 Foyesade Oluokun MLB 52 Ahmad Thomas LB Defensive backs 37 Ricardo Allen FS 35 Jamal Carter S 36 Kemal Ishmael SS 27 Damontae Kazee FS 28 Jordan Miller CB 41 Sharrod Neasman SS 26 Isaiah Oliver CB 20 Kendall Sheffield CB 43 Jamar Taylor CB 33 Blidi Wreh-Wilson CB Special teams  9 Ryan Allen P  7 Younghoe Koo K 47 Josh Harris LS	Reserve List  6 Kurt Benkert QB (IR) 93 Michael Bennett DT (IR)  5 Matt Bosher P (IR) 77 James Carpenter G (IR) 32 Jonathan Cyprien SS (IR) 89 Alex Gray TE (IR) 90 Ra'Shede Hageman DT (IR) 98 Takkarist McKinley DE (IR) 56 Steven Means DE (IR) 22 Keanu Neal SS (IR) 18 Calvin Ridley WR (IR)  9 Matt Simms QB (IR) 25 Ito Smith RB (IR) 21 Desmond Trufant CB 29 JJ Wilcox SS (IR) Practice Squad 34 Chris Cooper S 16 Danny Etling QB 19 Devin Gray WR 66 Lukayus McNeil OT 85 Carson Meier TE 59 Carroll Phllips EN 53 Quentin Poling LB 38 CJ Reavis CB 42 Craig Reynolds RB
			Rookies in italics Roster as of December 20, 2019 Depth Chart • Transactions 53 active, 15 inactive, 9 practice squad

Special players

Ring of Honor

The Atlanta Falcons do not honor their special players with retired numbers as usual , but since 2004 with the so-called Ring of Honor . The youngest member to join the Ring of Honor is Roddy White , who was inducted in 2019.

No.	player	position	Period	admission
10	Steve Bartkowski	QB	1975-1985	2004
21st	Deion Sanders	CB	1989-1993	2010
28	Warrick Dunn	RB	2002-2007	2017
31	William Andrews	RB	1979-1983, 1986	2004
42	Gerald Riggs	RB	1982-1988	2013
57	Jeff Van Note	C.	1969-1986	2006
58	Jessie Tuggle	LB	1987-2000	2004
60	Tommy Nobis	LB	1966-1976	2004
78	Mike Kenn	T	1978-1994	2008
84	Roddy White	WR	2005-2015	2019
87	Claude Humphrey	DE	1968-1988	2008

Falcons in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

With Sanders and Humphrey, the Falcons only have two players in the Hall of Fame who were essentially in the service of the Falcons. For example, Favre was only in his rookie season with the Falcons in 1991 .

Jersey number	Surname	position	Active for Atlanta	Year of admission
-	Norm Van Brocklin	Trainer	1968-1974	1971
25th	Tommy McDonald	WR	1967	1998
29	Eric Dickerson	RB	1993	1999
21st	Deion Sanders	CB	1989-1993	2011
56	Chris Doleman	DE	1994-1995	2012
87	Claude Humphrey	DE	1968-1988	2014
4th	Brett Favre	QB	1991	2016
5	Morten Andersen	K	1995-2000, 2006-2007	2017
88	Tony Gonzalez	TE	2009-2013	2019

owner

Rankin M. Smith Sr. was a member of the executive board and later president and chairman of the board of directors of the Life Insurance Company of Georgia. He was also active in promoting the community in Atlanta . In 1965 he was offered an American Football League franchise . The National Football League (NFL) also wanted a team in Atlanta. Smith prevailed against two other competitors and purchased an NFL franchise on June 30, 1965 for $ 8.5 million. He named the company for the franchise The Five Smiths, Inc. after his five children .

In 1989 venture capitalist John Imlay and media magnate Tom Watson Brown each bought 6% of the shares for $ 6 million.

Smith Sr. was active in the day-to-day business of the Atlanta Falcons until 1990, when he passed responsibility to his son Taylor Smith. After Rankin Smith's death on October 26, 1997, Taylor Smith continued to run the business as administrator for the heirs.

On January 6, 2002, co-founder of the home improvement chain The Home Depot Arthur M. Blank acquired all shares in the Atlanta Falcons for $ 545 million.

Balance sheets and records

Atlanta Falcons / Names and Numbers represents key Falcons records, direct comparisons with other American football teams, season records since 1966, and franchise first-round draft picks.

Web links

Commons : Atlanta Falcons  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Atlanta Falcons website
• History of the Atlanta Falcons
• The Falcons on pro-football-reference.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Atlanta Falcons Logo History ( Memento from March 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Atlanta Falcons to have new uniforms for 2020 season on www.nfl.com. January 14, 2020, accessed April 7, 2020. (English)
3. ^ Statistics from Norb Hecker . Accessed December 31, 2015.
4. ^ Statistics by Norm Van Brocklin . Accessed December 31, 2015.
5. ^ ^{A b} Statistics by Marion Campbell . Accessed December 31, 2015.
6. ^ Statistics by Pat Peppler . Accessed December 31, 2015.
7. ^ Statistics from Leeman Bennett . Accessed December 31, 2015.
8. ^ Statistics from Dan Henning . Accessed December 31, 2015.
9. ↑ Statistics by Jim Hanifan . Accessed December 31, 2015.
10. ↑ Statistics by Jerry Glanville . Accessed December 31, 2015.
11. ^ Statistics by June Jones . Accessed December 31, 2015.
12. ↑ Statistics by Dan Reeves . Accessed December 31, 2015.
13. ^ Statistics by Wade Phillips . Accessed December 31, 2015.
14. ↑ Statistics by Jim Mora . Accessed December 31, 2015.
15. ^ Statistics from Bobby Petrino . Accessed December 31, 2015.
16. ^ Statistics by Emmitt Thomas . Accessed December 31, 2015.
17. ^ Statistics from Mike Smith . Accessed December 31, 2015.
18. ^ Statistics by Dan Quinn . Retrieved January 8, 2020.
19. ^ Atlanta Falcons / Team-History / Ring-of-Honor. Retrieved November 2, 2019 . 
20. ↑ Matthew Tabeek: Tabeek: Falcons roll, but Roddy gives us the feels one more time. atlantafalcons.com, December 8, 2019, accessed January 8, 2020 . 
21. ↑ 21 Jun 1965, Page 6 - The Daily Independent at Newspapers.com. Retrieved February 12, 2020 . 
22. ^ 1 Jul 1965, 48 - The Evening Sun at Newspapers.com. Retrieved February 12, 2020 . 
23. ↑ 7 Dec 2001, F12 - The Atlanta Constitution at Newspapers.com. Retrieved February 12, 2020 . 
24. ↑ 7 Dec 2001, F14 - The Atlanta Constitution at Newspapers.com. Retrieved February 12, 2020 . 
25. ↑ 7 Dec 2001, F13 - The Atlanta Constitution at Newspapers.com. Retrieved February 12, 2020 .