1973 Atlanta Falcons season

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[1] due to an unexpected home loss to a Cardinals team that had won only one of its last ten and was playing an unknown quarterback, Gary Keithley. Keithley completed only ten of thirty-two passes, but the Cardinals’ rushing game was completely unexpected and along with six field goals from Jim Bakken destroyed the Falcons after they had led 10-0.[2]

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

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.[3] 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.

Personnel

Staff
1973 Atlanta Falcons staff
Front office

Head coaches

  • Head Coach – Norm Van Brocklin

Offensive coaches

 Defensive coaches

Roster
1973 Atlanta Falcons final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists



Practice squad



Rookies in italics
 active, inactive, practice squad

Schedule
Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 16, 1973 at New Orleans Saints W 62–7
66,428
2 September 23, 1973 at Los Angeles Rams L 0–31
61,197
3 October 1, 1973 at Detroit Lions L 6–31
45,599
4 October 7, 1973 San Francisco 49ers L 9–13
51,107
5 October 14, 1973 Chicago Bears W 46–6
58,850
6 October 21, 1973 at San Diego Chargers W 41–0
41,527
7 October 28, 1973 at San Francisco 49ers W 17–3
56,825
8 November 4, 1973 Los Angeles Rams W 15–13
55,837
9 November 11, 1973 at Philadelphia Eagles W 44–27
63,114
10 November 19, 1973 Minnesota Vikings W 20–14
56,519
11 November 25, 1973 at New York Jets W 28–20
47,283
12 December 2, 1973 Buffalo Bills L 6–17
54,607
13 December 9, 1973 St. Louis Cardinals L 10–32
48,030
14 December 16, 1973 New Orleans Saints W 14–10
34,147

Standings
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
  1. 1973 Atlanta Falcons
  2. “Bakken, Cardinals deflate Falcons’ Playoff Bubble”; in Toledo Blade; December 10, 1973; p. 21
  3. "Last Unbeaten NFL team in each season". Archived from the original on 2013-01-17. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
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