The First Atlanta Falcons Game You Remember

I have loads of memories of Falcons games.. Each has a different appeal of course.

For starters the main reason I became a fan was Falcons Vs Rams Oct 1980. The Falcons were facing a 3rd and 38 trailing late in the 4th quarter. They completed a deep ball for 21 yds and on the next play Bartkowski hit Francis I believe for a 54 yd td pass to win the game.

Endless times watching William Andrews just run over and through defenders. Scott Case and hit bone crunching hits.

Jenkins and Andrews were, and still are to this day My favorite all-time football players.

The mad scramble of QB’s to follow, Archer, Tolliver, Hebert, George and whomever else I forgot.

The insane number of coaching changes we’ve had. Could name a handful, the others would have to wiki.

The Chris Miller era with Haynes and Rison.

The superbowl team! tough loss…I never have never done a dirty bird, and to this day haven’t.

The tough years that follow with #7. Never could throw a football, blamed his receivers and was never what he could have been. Thanks for nothing.

The Petrino era…Thanks for nothing once again.

The savior TD! Numerous winning seasons now, and multiple playoff appearances. The skies the limit for the future.

When I was 11 I got to watch the Falcons beat the Eagles at the Georgia Dome with my Dad. First and unfortunately last Falcons game I have ever been to, since I moved out of Atlanta shortly after. But that probably cemented my passion for the team.

Atlanta Fulton Co.
Rams won, but Deion returned one. That’s about all I remember, aside from a humorous looking Rams fan. I was 8 years old.

I don’t remember specifics, but it was with my dad at AFCS. We lost to the Niners. It would have been late 80s.

I was 5 and didn’t watch a second of it. Now the first full game I watches was the famous “Return to the Superdome” rigged game. The first game I was emotionally invested in was te 08 Bears game.

The Falcon’s lost nearly every game I attended as a child. My family was built around the Bulldogs so I attended far more UGA games then Falcons. That said, the ‘84 Falcon’s season stands out the most and they were horrible.

October 21 to be exact. Falcons-Chargers @ then San Diego Stadium. A 41-0 Falcons blowout of the rather powerless Chargers. It was one of Dan Fouts’ first games as pro. Chargers turned the ball over five times, and the Falcons just annihlated them. Don’t remember too much more, I was just 12 at the time, wasn’t really into this stuff too much then, but I remember my brother saying to me the Falcons sure lived up to their name today by being airborne killers. Didn’t really start rooting for the team loyally until 1978. The ’73 team went 9-5, their best season until ’78. Liked the unis, name and logo. The ’73 team is a special team for me..

against Dallas when i was 12.

98’ NFC Title game. Pressure on Cunningham, Anderson running through the 15-1 team, and finally, Mortenson missing the kick. Pretty amazing, and the re-runs on NFL Network make it so much easier to remember. Ah, the good ’ol times.

Of course, as I’ve said too many times in this forum, the first Falcons game I actually saw, as in attended personally, was that 1971 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.. But I know I watched them a few times on TV that year and the one previous, when I first started to root for them. I went to a database to look at their 1970 schedule to jog my memory, and I seem to recall seeing them play the 49ers at home on CBS on October 4, a game they won 21-20. I also recall watching a late 1971 game, after the Cardinals contest, in which they beat the Oakland Raiders 24-13. I was excited because they had looked so bad when I saw them in person, and beating the Ray-duhs was no small feat in those days.

I’m sure there were others, but those are the ones I recall.

The first game that’s close to my heart was the one time I ever saw my team win in person. 1984 Falcons/rams at Anaheim Stadium. My dads boss and friend was a season ticket holder. He gave my dad his two box seats to the game that year. I think he felt a little pity for my strange and sad choice of a football team to root for. I’d gone the year before and of course, we lost, we had never beaten the rams in Socal up to that point.

Great seats, 2nd level around the 40 yard line. What a game! 28-27 rams with time winding down, our ball. Bartkowski guiding us down the field. Tick, tick, tick. I was sick to my stomach. We pounded it down into FG range. On comes Mick Luckhurst. I remember them lining up, kick is away and good! The one Falcon fan(me) in the rich seats let’s out a YEAAH!!! The greatest moment in my 10 years of life!!

After the game autograph time! Different times back then. The team bus pulls up to the curb by one of the tunnels and the players, with not a security guard to be seen, mingled with the 100 or so Falcon fans that came to see them. The fans brought the players fried chicken, pies, cakes all for their trip to the airport. The players would happily talk with everyone and sign everything. I was awestruck, didn’t say a word the whole time I was getting the autographs of Lynn Cain, Stacey Bailey, Luckhurst, “White Shoes” Johnson and of course my supreme idol Steve Bartkowski. My dad just kind of pushed me in front of them with my program and pen. They’d look at me, see I wasn’t going to talk, sign and continue to talk to the grandma that brought them food. I got the autographs of most every Falcon from the early to mid 80’s.

That was one of our brutal seasons, 4-12 but I can still see that kick go thru!! First ever win in Anaheim! Jesus…sorry about the length everyone.

But admittedly, I was a Broncos fan at the time, cause I loved John Elway, even though I was very young (only 6). When he retired after the season, I was, again, too young to realize he retired and I got angry at the Broncos and stopped being a fan. Then I remembered how awesome the Falcons jerseys and logo were and they slowly grew on me until I became the die-hard fan I am today.

I still can’t believe we’re the only ones to do it

I think it was the Jets, but my memory is a little cloudy. I was 11 and just moved to a place where I had good television reception (i.e. cable – damn the aerial antenna!). I listened to some games with my grandfather on the radio, but seeing the game got me hooked. I watched every game the next season, but the only game that stands out is the Dallas game. All my friends were Cowboys fans (a$$holes!). I was the only one upset that next day in school. The first game I attended was against GB. Atlanta was down, but Rison caught a pass and ran it in for the win. I got to see James Brown (announcer, not the singer) in the booth as I was leaving.

they were always on TV in our house since as long as I can remember…the Braves and Bulldogs too. Although I did have to suffer the Alabama games as my dad was born in Alabama and was a diehard Bama fan but when they weren’t on UGA was!!

I couldn’t tell you when my first game was that “I” can remember but since I was born on 6 Sep. 1969 and I know my dad was probably in front of the TV for the very next game after my birth holding me I wil say it was the first game of the 1969 season against the San Francisco 49ers on 21 Sep. 1969, we won 24-12 but ended the season 6-8.

Been a fan since birth…GO FALCONS!!!

I was 10 years old and watching only my second Falcons game.

Falcons VS. 49ers. Bob Berry (QB) leads the team to two 4th quarter thouchdowns (1 to TE Big Jim Mitchell) to come back and beat the 49ers 21 – 20. The Falcons sucked that year but that game cemented my fire for this team.