Who's the ultimate Falcon? And who's the ultimate anti-Falcon? That's what we're going to find out with our summer project: the Scale of Falconliness. We'll rate former Falcons on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most Falconly. The rule: minimum of three seasons with the Falcons for coaches, five seasons for players.
Prepare to be bummed out.
William Andrews, Running back (1979 - 1983, 1986)
| Falconly |
Unfalconly |
- Four straight Pro Bowls, 1980 to 1983. 1983 All Pro.
- 1981 and 1983 Falcons Player of the Year.
- A dual-threat back who led the NFL in yards from scrimmage in 1981 and finished in the top four three other times.
- Led team in rushing five straight years -- in 1982, led team in receiving too.
- Three of the top nine rushing seasons in team history. All-time yards from scrimmage leader. Second in career rushing yards despite only being fourth in attempts.
- Battled back from a devastating 1984 knee injury to play one more season as a Falcon in 1986.
- #31: retired by the team.
- In 1980, piled up 1,764 yards from scrimmage while blocking for halfback Lynn Cain, who tallied 1,137. Cain's yardage slipped in the coming years, as the team realized just giving it to Andrews saved everyone a lot of time.
- The best running back we've ever had? Uh, yeah. The injury-shortened career of William Andrews might be the saddest story in Falcons' history, which is saying something. Over his first five seasons he averaged 116.4 yards from scrimmage per game, including 136 per game in his final pre-injury season. Compare 136 to some of the numbers put up by Marshall Faulk, Roger Craig, LaDainian Tomlinson, or Thurman Thomas and weep loudly into your carpet until you go to sleep tomorrow morning.
- tl;dr: A preseason knee injury cost us a Hall of Famer.
- Born in Thomasville, Georgia. Still hangs around the Branch from time to time.
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- Some of you may be concerned by his collegiate career as an Auburn Tiger.
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Current standings after the jump:
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