1971 Atlanta Falcons season

1971 Atlanta Falcons season
Owner	Rankin M. Smith Sr.
General manager	Norm Van Brocklin
Head coach	Norm Van Brocklin
Home field	Atlanta Stadium
Results
Record	7–6–1
Division place	3rd NFC West
Playoff finish	Did not qualify

The 1971 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's sixth year in the National Football League (NFL). It was the first winning season in franchise history.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1971 NFL Draft

1971 Atlanta Falcons draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	7	Joe Profit	Running back	Northeast Louisiana
Made roster

Personnel

Staff

1971 Atlanta Falcons staff

Front office Chairman of the board – Rankin M. Smith Sr. President – Frank E. Wall General manager – Norm Van Brocklin Head coaches Head coach – Norm Van Brocklin Offensive coaches Offensive backfield – Billy Ray Barnes Receivers – Harry Gilmer Offensive line – Duane Putnam

Defensive coaches Head defensive – Marion Campbell Defensive line – Bob Griffin Defensive backfield – Fred Bruney

Roster

1971 Atlanta Falcons roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 17 Bob Berry 10 Leo Hart 11 Dick Shiner Running backs (RB) 28 Willie Belton 33 Cannonball Butler FB 45 Sonny Campbell 25 Art Malone 23 Joe Profit 5 Harmon Wages Wide receivers (WR) 82 Ken Burrow 81 Wes Chesson 45 Ray Jarvis 85 Ray Poage Tight ends (TE) 84 Mike Donohoe 86 Jim Mitchell

Offensive linemen (OL) 63 Dick Enderle G 65 Len Gotshalk T 75 George Kunz T 53 John Matlock C 64 Andy Maurer G 61 Bill Sandeman T 67 Malcolm Snider G 57 Jeff Van Note C Defensive linemen (DL) 88 Glen Condren DT 87 Claude Humphrey DE 72 Greg Lens DT 69 Mike Lewis DT 89 Randy Marshall DE 66 John Small DT 71 John Zook DE

Linebackers (LB) 52 Ron Acks 54 Grady Allen 62 John Bramlett 50 Greg Brezina 58 Don Hansen 59 Rudy Kuechenberg Defensive backs (DB) 34 Ray Brown S 27 Tom Hayes CB 35 Tony Plummer 22 John Mallory SS 36 Ken Reaves CB 47 Rudy Redmond CB 30 Larry Shears Special teams 37 Bill Bell K 26 Billy Lothridge P

Practice squad 56 Dennis Havig G Reserve 20 Tom McCauley FS (IR) 60 Tommy Nobis LB (IR) 80 Todd Snyder WR (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 19	San Francisco 49ers	W 20–17	1–0	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	56,990
2	September 26	at Los Angeles Rams	T 20–20	1–0–1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	57,895
3	October 3	at Detroit Lions	L 38–41	1–1–1	Tiger Stadium	54,418
4	October 10	St. Louis Cardinals	L 9–26	1–2–1	Atlanta Stadium	58,850
5	October 17	Los Angeles Rams	L 16–24	1–3–1	Atlanta Stadium	58,850
6	October 24	New Orleans Saints	W 28–6	2–3–1	Atlanta Stadium	58,850
7	October 31	at Cleveland Browns	W 31–14	3–3–1	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	76,825
8	November 7	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 9–6	4–3–1	Riverfront Stadium	59,604
9	November 14	New York Giants	L 17–21	4–4–1	Atlanta Stadium	58,850
10	November 22	Green Bay Packers	W 28–21	5–4–1	Atlanta Stadium	58,850
11	November 28	at Minnesota Vikings	L 7–24	5–5–1	Metropolitan Stadium	49,784
12	December 5	Oakland Raiders	W 24–13	6–5–1	Atlanta Stadium	58,850
13	December 12	at San Francisco 49ers	L 3–24	6–6–1	Kezar Stadium	44,582
14	December 19	at New Orleans Saints	W 24–20	7–6–1	Tulane Stadium	75,954
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC West
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
San Francisco 49ers	9	5	0	.643	2–4	7–4	300	216	W2
Los Angeles Rams	8	5	1	.615	4–1–1	7–3–1	313	260	W1
Atlanta Falcons	7	6	1	.538	3–2–1	4–6–1	274	277	W1
New Orleans Saints	4	8	2	.333	2–4	4–7	266	347	L3

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings	11	3	0	.786	5–1	9–2	245	139	W2
Detroit Lions	7	6	1	.538	2–3–1	3–6–1	341	286	L2
Chicago Bears	6	8	0	.429	2–4	5–6	185	276	L5
Green Bay Packers	4	8	2	.333	2–3–1	2–7–2	274	298	L1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

NFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Dallas Cowboys	11	3	0	.786	7–1	8–3	406	222	W7
Washington Redskins	9	4	1	.692	6–1–1	8–2–1	276	190	L1
Philadelphia Eagles	6	7	1	.462	4–3–1	5–5–1	221	302	W3
St. Louis Cardinals	4	9	1	.308	1–7	2–8–1	231	279	L2
New York Giants	4	10	0	.286	1–7	3–8	228	362	L5

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

External links

• 1971 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.com