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1973 Atlanta Falcons season

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1973 Atlanta Falcons season
OwnerRankin M. Smith Sr.
General managerNorm Van Brocklin
Head coachNorm Van Brocklin
Home fieldAtlanta Stadium
Results
Record9–5
Division place2nd NFC West
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1973 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's eighth year in the National Football League (NFL). The team improved on their previous season's output of 7–7 and achieved their best record until 1980, but failed to reach a maiden playoff berth.

Despite entering the last month of the regular season at 8–3, they were upset by the Buffalo Bills, forcing them into a race with the Washington Redskins for the wild card playoff spot. The NFL's tiebreaker format at the time, which favored teams with the best combined scoring offense and defense, necessitated a blowout win over a Cardinals team that had won only one of its last ten and was playing an unknown quarterback, Gary Keithley.[1] However, while Keithley completed only ten of 32 passes (he and Falcons quarterback Bob Lee recorded a 0.0 passer rating in the game), the Falcons were instead blown out 32–10 at home courtesy of an unexpected Cardinals rushing game and six field goals from Jim Bakken.[2][3][4] Although the Falcons won the regular season finale to end the season at 9–5, Washington also won and qualified as the wild card with a 10–4 record.[5]

A highlight for the 1973 Falcons was defeating the Vikings when that team was 9–0 and looking at emulating the previous season‘s Dolphins’ perfect season.[6] Despite the Falcons’ success between 2008 and 2012, this was the last time the Falcons defeated the last unbeaten NFL team until they defeated the 14–0 Carolina Panthers in week 16 of the 2015 season.

Offseason

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NFL Draft

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Main article: 1973 NFL Draft
1973 Atlanta Falcons draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
2 39 Greg Marx  Defensive end Notre Dame
4 94 Tom Geredine  Wide receiver Northeast Missouri State
6 142 Nick Bebout  Offensive tackle Wyoming
7 170 Tommy Campbell  Cornerback Iowa State
8 195 Tom Reed  Guard Arkansas
9 220 Russell Ingram  Center Texas Tech
10 248 Nick Mike-Mayer *  Kicker Temple
11 273 Byron Buelow  Defensive back Wisconsin–La Crosse
12 298 Mike Samples  Linebacker Drake
13 326 Chris Stecher  Offensive tackle Claremont-Mudd
14 351 John Madeya  Quarterback Louisville
15 376 Thomas Gage  Defensive back Lamar
16 404 Rufus Ferguson  Running back Wisconsin
17 428 Jim Hodge  Wide receiver Arkansas
      Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

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Staff

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1973 Atlanta Falcons staff

Front office

Head coaches

  • Head coach – Norm Van Brocklin

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches




Roster

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1973 Atlanta Falcons roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

  • 30 Joe Washington

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Rookies in italics

Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 16 at New Orleans Saints W 62–7 1–0 Tulane Stadium 66,428
2 September 23 at Los Angeles Rams L 0–31 1–1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 61,197
3 October 1 at Detroit Lions L 6–31 1–2 Tiger Stadium 45,599
4 October 7 San Francisco 49ers L 9–13 1–3 Atlanta Stadium 51,107
5 October 14 Chicago Bears W 46–6 2–3 Atlanta Stadium 58,850
6 October 21 at San Diego Chargers W 41–0 3–3 San Diego Stadium 41,527
7 October 28 at San Francisco 49ers W 17–3 4–3 Candlestick Park 56,825
8 November 4 Los Angeles Rams W 15–13 5–3 Atlanta Stadium 55,837
9 November 11 at Philadelphia Eagles W 44–27 6–3 Veterans Stadium 63,114
10 November 19 Minnesota Vikings W 20–14 7–3 Atlanta Stadium 56,519
11 November 25 at New York Jets W 28–20 8–3 Shea Stadium 47,283
12 December 2 Buffalo Bills L 6–17 8–4 Atlanta Stadium 54,607
13 December 9 St. Louis Cardinals L 10–32 8–5 Atlanta Stadium 48,030
14 December 16 New Orleans Saints W 14–10 9–5 Atlanta Stadium 34,147
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

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NFC West
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Los Angeles Rams 12 2 0 .857 5–1 9–2 388 178 W6
Atlanta Falcons 9 5 0 .643 4–2 7–4 318 224 W1
San Francisco 49ers 5 9 0 .357 2–4 4–7 262 319 L2
New Orleans Saints 5 9 0 .357 1–5 4–7 163 312 L1

References

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  1. ^ Hudspeth, Ron (December 9, 1973). "Falcons Must Rout to Stay Alive". The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Retrieved December 16, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ “Bakken, Cardinals deflate Falcons’ Playoff Bubble”; in Toledo Blade; December 10, 1973; p. 21
  3. ^ Cunningham, George (December 10, 1973). "Falcons Die Again in December, 32-10". The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Retrieved December 16, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Falcons' Wild-Card Hopes Jolted in Upset to Cards". Tallahassee Democrat. AP. December 10, 1973. Retrieved December 16, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Cunningham, George (December 17, 1973). "9-5 and No Tomorrow". The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Retrieved December 16, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Last Unbeaten NFL team in each season". Archived from the original on January 17, 2013. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
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