1966 Atlanta Falcons season

NFL team season (Inaugural season) August 2023 March 2026 Atlanta Falcons 1966 3–11 7th NFL Eastern Norb Hecker Rankin M. Smith Sr. Atlanta Stadium Did not qualify LB Tommy Nobis none true Falcons seasons The 1966 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's inaugural season in the National Football League (NFL). The Falcons finished in seventh place in the NFL Eastern Conference with a record of 3–11, ahead of only the New York Giants. Offseason The Falcons attempted to acquire Green Bay Packers running back Jim Taylor. There were tensions in Green Bay because the Packers first round pick, Jim Grabowski would be groomed to take over for Taylor.When Pride Still Mattered, David Maraniss, p. 385, Simon & Schuster, 1999, 978-0-684-84418-3 The signing of Grabowski upset Taylor but he stated he would not leave Green Bay until his contract expired, therefore the Falcons could not acquire the running back. NFL draft 1966 NFL draft Due to the addition of the team for the 1966 NFL season, the Falcons were allotted the first pick in all twenty rounds of the 1966 NFL draft, as well as five compensatory picks and the end of the first five rounds. 1966 Atlanta Falcons 1 1 Tommy Nobis Linebacker Texas yes yes 1 16 Randy Johnson Quarterback Texas A&I yes 2 17 Nick Rassas Safety Notre Dame yes 2 32 Jerry Jones Offensive tackle Bowling Green yes 3 33 Mike Dennis Running back Ole Miss no 3 48 Phil Sheridan Wide Receiver Notre Dame no 4 49 Ken Reaves Safety Norfolk State yes yes 4 64 Willie Asbury Running back Kent State no 5 65 Bill Wolski Running back Notre Dame yes 5 80 Martin Kahn Tackle North Texas State no 6 81 Charley Casey Wide Receiver Florida no 7 96 William Johnson Running Back University of the South no 8 111 Bill Goss Linebacker Tulane no 9 126 Bob Sanders Center North Texas State no 10 141 Mike Bender Guard Arkansas no 11 156 Steve Sloan Quarterback Alabama yes 12 171 Ken Hollister Tackle Indiana no 13 186 Bob Collins Tackle South Carolina no 14 201 Steve Ecker Kicker Shippensburg no 15 216 Tommy Tolleson Wide Receiver Alabama yes 16 231 Jim Vining Guard Rice no 17 246 Lurley Archambeau Center Toledo no 18 261 Doug Korver Center Southern Iowa no 19 276 Walt Mainer Defensive Back Xavier no 20 291 Bob Riggle Safety Penn State yes yes no Undrafted free agents + 1966 undrafted free agents of notePlayerPositionCollegeChuck BrooksCornerbackWileyWade TraynhamKickerFrederick Personnel Staff / Coaches 1966 Atlanta Falcons President – Rankin M. Smith Sr. Assistant to the president – Bud Erickson Vice president and treasurer – Frank E. Wall Head coach – Norb Hecker Chief offensive – Tom Fears Offensive backfield – George Dickson Offensive line – Brad Ecklund Chief defensive – Hal Herring Defensive backfield – John Symank Roster The expansion Falcons were allowed to field a roster of 42(only dress 40) players while the rest of the league was limited to 40 during 1966.NFL Roster Limits - Pro Football Archives https://www.profootballarchives.com/nflrosterlimits.html 2026-08-01 www.profootballarchives.com 1966 Atlanta Falcons 10 Dennis Claridge 11 Randy Johnson quarterback y 14 Steve Sloan y 34 Junior Coffey 37 Perry Lee Dunn 29 Ron Rector y 32 Preston Ridlehuber y 30 Ernie Wheelwright running back 84 Vern Burke 48 Angelo Coia 25 Alex Hawkins 86 Tom Hutchinson American football 82 Bob Sherlag y 86 Tommy Tolleson y 87 Taz Anderson 85 Billy Martin tight end 75 Ed Cook American football G 67 Dan Grimm G 73 Errol Linden T 53 Frank Marchlewski C 66 Jim Simon American football T/G 72 Don Talbert T 51 Bob Whitlow C 70 Bud Marshall DT 68 Bobby Richards DE 74 Karl Rubke DT/DE 77 Chuck Sieminski DT 71 Joe Szczecko y DT 88 Sam Williams defensive lineman DE 55 Ralph Heck MLB 57 Bill Jobko OLB 33 Larry Morris OLB 60 Tommy Nobis y MLB 52 Marion Rushing OLB 22 Lee Calland CB 47 Nick Rassas y SS 36 Ken Reaves y CB 43 Jerry Richardson defensive back SS 20 Bob Riggle y FS 40 Ron Smith defensive back CB 65 Lou Kirouac K 26 Billy Lothridge P 76 Guy Reese DT IR 54 Bob Sanders y no C Military 45 Carl Silvestri S IR  7 Wade Traynham y K IR 44 Bill Wolski y RB IR 49 Floyd Hudlow S 78 Richard Koeper y T 24 Jimmy Sidle RB Regular season The Falcons played their first game (preseason) on August 1, 1966, against the Philadelphia Eagles before a crowd of 26,072 at Atlanta Stadium, a two-point Falcons loss, 9–7.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wrJMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tDEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6125%2C3475531 Rome News-Tribune Georgia UPI Fledgling Falcons lose, but scare Philadelphia August 2, 1966 7 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bb4zAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zPcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5188%2C418978 Spokane Daily Chronicle Washington Associated Press Falcons drop close game; grid squabbles continue August 2, 1966 13 In their inaugural regular season, Atlanta played each of the fourteen other teams in the league once. The Falcons lost their first nine regular season games; their first win was on the road against the New York Giants, 27–16, on November 20.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uZEwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rzEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6410%2C2359225 Rome News-Tribune Georgia Associated Press Falcons finally make it - cut down Giants for first victory November 21, 1966 8 "Major Events in Falcons History" https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193317/http://www.atlantafalcons.com/history/timeline.jsp 2007-09-27 , NFL Former Giant Ernie Wheelwright scored two touchdowns receiving and ran for 51 more yards as QB Randy Johnson hit for a trio of touchdowns. Their first ever home victory was over the St. Louis Cardinals, 16–10, before 57,169 on December 11.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ypEwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rzEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6716%2C5073957 Rome News-Tribune Georgia Associated Press Atlanta 'stacks 'Cards' against St. Louis, 16-10 December 12, 1966 8 The Falcons ended their inaugural season at 3–11, yet Tommy Nobis won the NFL Rookie of the Year Award and became the first Falcon named to the Pro Bowl. Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap 1 September 11 Los Angeles Rams L 14–19 0–1 Atlanta Stadium 54,418 Recap 2 September 18 at Philadelphia Eagles L 10–23 0–2 Franklin Field 54,049 Recap 3 September 25 at Detroit Lions L 10–28 0–3 Tiger Stadium 47,615 Recap 4 October 2 Dallas Cowboys L 14–47 0–4 Atlanta Stadium 56,990 Recap 5 October 9 at Washington Redskins L 20–33 0–5 D.C. Stadium 50,116 Recap 6 October 16 San Francisco 49ers L 7–44 0–6 Atlanta Stadium 54,788 Recap 7 October 23 at Green Bay Packers L 3–56 0–7 Milwaukee County Stadium 48,623 Recap 8 October 30 Cleveland Browns L 17–49 0–8 Atlanta Stadium 57,235 Recap 9 Bye 10 November 13 Baltimore Colts L 7–19 0–9 Atlanta Stadium 58,850 Recap 11 November 20 at New York Giants W 27–16 1–9 Yankee Stadium 62,746 Recap 12 November 27 at Chicago Bears L 6–23 1–10 Wrigley Field 44,777 Recap 13 December 4 at Minnesota Vikings W 20–13 2–10 Metropolitan Stadium 37,117 Recap 14 December 11 St. Louis Cardinals W 16–10 3–10 Atlanta Stadium 57,169 Recap 15 December 18 Pittsburgh Steelers L 33–57 3–11 Atlanta Stadium 56,229 Recap Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text. A bye week was necessary in 1966, as the league expanded to an odd-number (15) of teams (Atlanta); one team was idle each week. Game summaries Week 1 vs Los Angeles Rams Week One: Los Angeles Rams (0–0) at Atlanta Falcons (0–0) Atlanta Falcons 1966 2; text-align:center 7 3 0 0 3 13 0 7 Falcons Rams Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta September 11 71 °F °C Box Score First quarter Los Angeles – Bruce Gossett 15-yard field goal, Rams 7–0. Second quarter Los Angeles – Jack Snow) 51-yard pass from Roman Gabriel (Gossett kick), Rams 10–0. Los Angeles – Bruce Gossett 15-yard field goal, Rams 13–0. Los Angeles – Bruce Gossett 23-yard field goal, Rams 16–0. Atlanta – Gary Barnes 53-yard pass from Randy Johnson (Traynham kick), Rams 16–7. Third quarter Atlanta – Randy Johnson 3-yard rush (Traynham kick), Rams 16–14. Los Angeles – Bruce Gossett 22-yard field goal, Rams 19–14. Fourth quarter Top Passers Rams – Roman Gabriel: 21/35, 294 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT Falcons – Randy Johnson: 9/25, 154 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT Top rushers Rams – Dick Bass: 14 car, 81 yds. Falcons – Ernie Wheelwright: 6 car, 91 yds, Top receivers Rams– Tommy McDonald: 9 rec, 114 yds Falcons – Gary Barnes: 1 rec, 53 yds 1 TD Week 7: at Green Bay Packers Atlanta Falcons 1966 2; text-align:center collapsed Week Seven: Atlanta Falcons (0–6) at Green Bay Packers (5–1) Sunday, October 23 Falcons 0 0 3 0 Packers 7 21 7 21 Milwaukee County Stadium, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 46 °F °C Box Score First quarter Green Bay – Elijah Pitts 3-yard run (Don Chandler kick), Packers 7–0 Second quarter Green Bay – Jim Taylor 1-yard run (Don Chandler kick), Packers 14–0 Green Bay – Carroll Dale 51-yard pass from Bart Starr (Don Chandler kick), Packers 21–0 Green Bay – Donny Anderson 5-yard run (Don Chandler kick), Packers 28–0 Third quarter Atlanta – Lou Kirouac 41-yard field goal, Packers 28–3 Green Bay – Herb Adderley 68-yard interception return, Packers 35–3 Fourth quarter Green Bay – Max McGee 24-yard pass from Bart Starr (Don Chandler kick), Packers 42–3 Green Bay – Donny Anderson 77-yard punt return (Don Chandler kick), Packers 49–3 Green Bay – Doug Hart 40-yard interception return (Don Chandler kick), Packers 56–3 Passing Falcons – Randy Johnson 5/17, 91 yards, 3 INT Packers – Bart Starr 8/13, 220 yards, TD Rushing Falcons – Ernie Wheelwright 8 att, 51 yards Packers – Jim Grabowski 7 att, 52 yards Receiving Falcons – Bill Martin 4 rec, 42 yards Packers – Carroll Dale 4 rec, 110 yards, TD Week 11 at New York Giants Week Eleven: Atlanta Falcons (0-9) at New York Giants (1-7-1) Atlanta Falcons 1966 2; text-align:center 7 7 6 7 7 6 0 3 Giants Falcons Yankee Stadium, New York City November 20 36 °F °C Box Score First quarter Atlanta – Ernie Wheelwright 9-yard pass from Randy Johnson (Kirouac kick), Falcons 7–0. Second quarter New York – Pete Gogolak 24-yard field goal, Falcons 7–3. Atlanta – Vern Burke 8-yard pass from Randy Johnson, Falcons 13–3. Third quarter Atlanta – Ernie Wheelwright 6-yard pass from Randy Johnson (Kirouac kick), Falcons 20–3. New York – Joe Morrison 25-yard pass from Tom Kennedy (Gogolak kick), Falcons 20–10. Fourth quarter Atlanta – Randy Johnson 3-yard rush (Kirouac kick), Falcons 27–10. New York – Joe Morrison 12-yard rush, Falcons 27–16. Top Passers Falcons – Randy Johnson 15/25, 177 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT Giants – Tom Kennedy: 18/33, 188 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT Top rushers Falcons – Junior Coffey: 16 car, 64 yds. Giants – Joe Morrison: 17 car, 91 yds 1 TD Top receivers Falcons– Ernie Wheelwright: 5 rec, 35 yds 2 TD Giants – Aaron Thomas: 5 rec, 83 yds Standings Awards and records Tommy Nobis, NFL Rookie of the YearSporting News Rookie of the Year Winners https://www.pro-football-reference.com/awards/sporting-news-rookie-of-the-year-award.htm Pro Football Reference References External links 1966 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.com Atlanta Falcons Category:Atlanta Falcons seasons Atlanta