Atlanta Falcons Information
The Atlanta Falcons became an NFL franchise during the 1966 expansion season. Like most expansion teams, the Falcons struggled early on during their organization’s first few years and felt those struggles during their first season when they lost their first nine games. They finished the inaugural season at 3-11. Throughout their history in the NFL, the Falcons have had only mild success. In 1998, the Falcons captured the NFC Championship only to advance to and lose Super Bowl XXXIII to the Denver Broncos by a score of 34-19.
In recent years, the Falcons were looking for more consistent play but were surrounded by lots of controversy following former star QB Michael Vick. Vick, who was drafted in with the overall number one pick in the 2001 draft by the Falcons, emerged as one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks. Unfortunately in 2007, Vick was suspended indefinitely by the NFL after pleading guilty to charges involving dog fighting in the state of Virginia. Joey Harrington took over the starting QB job for the 2007 season but did not perform as well as many hoped he would. On December 11, 2007, 13 games into his first NFL season, head coach of the Falcons Bobby Petrino resigned so he could accept a coaching offer at the University of Arkansas. Defensive secondary Coach Emmitt Thomas was named interim coach for the final three games of 2007 the next day.
The Falcons named former Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coach, Mike Smith, head coach for the 2008 season. In hopes to begin to rebuild the program, the Falcons selected QB Matt Ryan out of Boston College with the overall third pick of the 2008 NFL Draft, thinking he could help turn the organization around. Luckily for the franchise that year, Ryan had one of the best, most unexpected rookie seasons in NFL history. He led the Falcons to an 11-5 record (7 more wins than the previous season). They lost in the wild card round to the Arizona Cardinals 30-24 despite their phenomenal season. In 2009, the team finished at 9-7 and fell just short of the playoffs.
The 2010 season saw the Falcons continue to improve with a 13-3 record. They lost in the Divisional round to the Packers, and although their 2011 record was not quite as high, they finished with a 10-6 record. This time, they lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. The Falcons are looking to continue their run of success heading into the 2012 season.
