50 Fun Facts About Atlanta Falcons

The NFL added the Falcons a year early to block which rival league?

The AFL's owners were closing in on Atlanta in June 1965, so Pete Rozelle flew in and promised an NFL team for 1966, a year before his league had planned to expand.

Which Atlanta businessman was awarded the Falcons franchise for $8.5 million in 1965?

Rankin Smith, a life insurance executive, registered the club as Five Smiths, Inc., in honor of his five children, and his family kept the team until 2002.

Whose winning entry in a 1965 fan contest gave the Falcons their nickname?

A schoolteacher from Griffin, Georgia, Julia Elliott was picked from the many fans who suggested Falcons because she wrote that the bird "is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight".

Which Texas linebacker was the first player ever drafted by the Falcons, first overall in 1966?

Tommy Nobis was also drafted by the Oilers of the rival league but signed with Atlanta, then won Rookie of the Year honors in the team's first season.

Which Falcons head coach of the early 1990s wore black on the sideline and left tickets for Elvis Presley?

Jerry Glanville knew the club already: as a Falcons assistant in the 1970s he helped build the blitzing defense that allowed just 129 points in 1977, still the fewest in a 14-game season.

Which quarterback did the Falcons take first overall in the 1975 draft?

Steve Bartkowski went on to set most of the club's passing records and took the Falcons to their first playoff berth in 1978 and their first division title in 1980.

Which quarterback, on his sixth NFL franchise, led the Falcons to Super Bowl XXXIII in the 1998 season?

Chris Chandler had bounced through five franchises in nine years before Atlanta, where he made the Pro Bowl in 1997 and 1998 and went 13-1 as the starter in 1998.

Which two-sport star did the Falcons draft fifth overall in 1989?

Deion Sanders, "Prime Time", doubled as a major-league outfielder and reached the 1992 World Series while still a Falcon; he remains the only person to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series.

Which quarterback did the Falcons draft in 1991 and trade away after one season?

Brett Favre threw four passes as a Falcon, none of them complete and two of them intercepted, before Atlanta traded him for a first-round pick.

What became of the Georgia Dome?

Demolished by implosion at just 25 years old, most of the Dome fell in seconds, though a city bus pulled up and blocked The Weather Channel's live shot at the exact moment.

What was the nickname of the 1998 Falcons team that reached the franchise's first Super Bowl?

The Dirty Birds took their name from the arm-flapping touchdown dance their star running back made famous during a club-best 14-2 season.

Which Falcons running back carried the ball 410 times in 1998?

Jamal Anderson turned that workload into 1,846 yards and 14 touchdowns, then played only two games the following season.

Whom did the Falcons upset on the road in the 1998 NFC Championship Game?

The Minnesota Vikings had gone 15-1 and scored a then-record 556 points, yet Atlanta rallied from behind to win 30-27 in Minneapolis.

Who beat the Falcons 34-19 in Super Bowl XXXIII?

The Denver Broncos sent John Elway out a winner: the 38-year-old quarterback was named the game's MVP and never played again.

Which quarterback did the Falcons take first overall in 2001 after trading up with San Diego?

Michael Vick came at the price of the fifth pick, which San Diego used on LaDainian Tomlinson, a running back bound for the Hall of Fame.

In 2006 the Falcons' left-handed quarterback became the first NFL passer to reach which single-season mark?

1,000 rushing yards fell to him with 1,039, a quarterback record that stood until 2019, yet the Falcons finished 7-9 and fired coach Jim Mora.

Which billionaire, a co-founder of Home Depot, bought the Falcons in 2002?

Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus started Home Depot in 1978 after both were fired by the Handy Dan hardware chain; Blank paid $545 million for the Falcons.

Which head coach quit the Falcons 13 games into the 2007 season, leaving a locker-room note?

Bobby Petrino left a 3-10 team for the University of Arkansas and told his players only by a four-sentence letter; one copy was pinned up with "coward" scrawled across it.

Which first-year head coach took the Falcons from 4-12 to 11-5 in 2008?

Mike Smith inherited a club that had lost both its head coach and its star quarterback during 2007, then won 11 games with a rookie passer.

What is Matt Ryan's nickname?

Matty Ice lived up to the name at once: his first NFL pass, in 2008, went 62 yards for a touchdown.

At which school did Matt Ryan win the Manning and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards in 2007?

Boston College's quarterback won both awards in 2007 despite throwing 19 interceptions, more than any other passer in the ACC, to go with his 31 touchdown passes.

To draft Julio Jones sixth overall in 2011, the Falcons traded up with which team?

The Cleveland Browns collected five draft picks for moving down, two of them first-rounders, and the receiver they passed up went on to seven Pro Bowls.

For which college did Julio Jones win a national championship before the Falcons drafted him in 2011?

Alabama won the 2009 national title with Jones as a sophomore, and two years later Atlanta gave up five draft picks to move up and take him sixth overall.

Which tight end, traded to the Falcons in 2009, won the only playoff game of his career with them in January 2013?

Tony Gonzalez had waited 16 seasons for that win, over Seattle, and retired a year later with 1,325 catches, the most by any tight end.

What was the Falcons' biggest lead in Super Bowl LI before the collapse?

28-3 was a 25-point cushion, and no team had ever lost a Super Bowl lead that large until New England scored the last 31 points of the game.

Super Bowl LI was the first Super Bowl decided by what?

Overtime had never been needed in the first 50 Super Bowls; New England won the coin toss, took the kickoff and scored a touchdown before Atlanta's offense touched the ball.

In which city was Super Bowl LI played?

Houston's NRG Stadium had staged one earlier Super Bowl, in 2004, and New England won that one too, against another NFC South champion, Carolina.

Which offensive coordinator ran the Falcons' 540-point attack in 2016?

Kyle Shanahan was hired by San Francisco straight after the Super Bowl, and two of his Atlanta assistants, Matt LaFleur and Mike McDaniel, later became NFL head coaches as well.

Which return specialist broke the NFL record for career return touchdowns in 2014, his first season with the Falcons?

Devin Hester had made his name over eight seasons in Chicago, and the record-breaking punt return was the only return touchdown of his two years in Atlanta.

How does the retractable roof of Mercedes-Benz Stadium open?

Eight panels pinwheel apart, each sliding along its own straight tracks, to leave a round opening that the architects modeled on the oculus of the Pantheon in Rome.

What is the giant ring-shaped video board around the rim of Mercedes-Benz Stadium called?

The Halo is a ring for a reason: it circles the roof opening instead of hanging across it, so nothing blocks the view up through the roof.

Roughly how much did Mercedes-Benz Stadium cost to build?

$1.6 billion was more than double the first estimate of about $700 million for the stadium that replaced the 25-year-old Georgia Dome.

Which MLS club shares Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the Falcons?

Atlanta United FC drew a league-record average of more than 48,000 fans in 2017, its first season, and won the MLS Cup in the stadium a year later.

Why did the NFL strip the Falcons of a 2016 draft pick?

Piping in fake crowd noise at home games over two seasons cost the Falcons a fifth-round pick and a $350,000 fine, and their team president was suspended from the league's rules committee.

To which team did the Falcons trade Matt Ryan in March 2022?

The Indianapolis Colts got a single 4-7-1 season out of him as a starter; it was his 15th and last in the NFL after 14 years in Atlanta.

Which Texas running back did the Falcons draft eighth overall in 2023?

Bijan Robinson was picked only months after Tyler Allgeier had set the Falcons' rookie rushing record, and he still started 16 of 17 games in his first season.

Which tight end did the Falcons draft fourth overall in 2021, the highest a tight end had ever been taken?

Kyle Pitts backed up the pick at once with 1,026 receiving yards, the first 1,000-yard season by a rookie tight end since Mike Ditka in 1961.

Which quarterback did the Falcons draft eighth overall in 2024, weeks after signing a veteran starter in free agency?

Michael Penix Jr. had been the Heisman runner-up and taken Washington to the national title game, and he took over as Atlanta's starter for the last three games of his rookie season.

Who was named head coach of the Falcons in January 2026?

Kevin Stefanski had twice been named NFL Coach of the Year with his previous club, which fired him days before Atlanta hired him to replace Raheem Morris.

Which ballpark did the Falcons share with baseball's Braves from 1966 until 1991?

Fulton County Stadium, in full Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, was where Hank Aaron hit his record 715th home run in 1974; it was torn down in 1997.

What color were the Falcons' helmets when the team began play in 1966?

Red helmets were later dropped for black, but the team revived them in 2022 with its 1966-style throwback uniform once the NFL again allowed clubs a second helmet.

Which Tennessee State defensive end, a Falcon from 1968, entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014?

Claude Humphrey was the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1968, yet none of his sacks is official: the league only began counting them after he retired.

Where are the Falcons' headquarters and practice facility?

The 50-acre site is northeast of the city in Hall County.

Whose 38-yard field goal won the 1998 NFC Championship Game and sent the Falcons to their first Super Bowl?

Morten Andersen had spent 13 seasons with the rival Saints before joining Atlanta, and he retired as the leading scorer in the history of both clubs and of the NFL.

Before the NFC South was created in 2002, the Falcons spent three decades in which division?

NFC West membership sent Atlanta across the country to play San Francisco as a division rival, though the city sits farther east than Dallas, a member of the NFC East.

Whose franchise-record 509 passing yards came in a Falcons game on October 3, 2024?

Kirk Cousins broke Matt Ryan's club record of 503 that night in a 36-30 win over Tampa Bay, yet before the season was out he had lost his job to a rookie.

In January 2003 the Falcons handed which team its first-ever home playoff defeat, 27–7?

The Green Bay Packers had never lost a playoff game at home until that night, when Atlanta forced five turnovers and held them to a single touchdown.

The Falcons' first ever win, on November 20, 1966, came on the road against which struggling team?

The New York Giants were on their way to a 1-12-1 season in which they gave up 501 points, and the winless Falcons beat them 27-16 after nine straight defeats.

Which former Patriots college scouting director became Falcons general manager in January 2008?

Thomas Dimitroff ran the front office for more than 12 years, through six playoff seasons, until he and the head coach were fired together after an 0-5 start in 2020.

Who was the Falcons' first head coach in 1966?

Norb Hecker arrived from Vince Lombardi's title-winning staff but won only four games in Atlanta and was fired three games into his third season.