1971 Atlanta Falcons: 7-6-1
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 4-3-0 (142 points scored, 128 allowed) Road record: 3-3-1 (132 points scored, 149 allowed) Head Coach: Norm Van Brocklin 274 points scored (14th of 26 teams), 277 points allowed (13th) NFL Averages: 19.4 points/game (271.1 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 167 285 2,256 (11) 7.14 16 21 494 1,703 (16) 3.4 12 3,959 (15) 36 Defense: 164 343 1,638 ( 1) 4.38 9 20 500 2,149 (21) 4.3 19 3,787 ( 8) 38
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 5 Harmon Wages RB 14 6'1 222 25 4 Florida 10 Leo Hart QB 1 6'4 203 22 R Duke 11 Dick Shiner QB 10 6'0 195 29 8 Maryland 17 Bob Berry QB 11 5'11 190 29 7 Oregon 20 Tom McCauley DB 4 6'3 193 24 3 North Carolina 22 John Mallory DB 14 6'0 184 25 4 West Virginia 23 Joe Profit RB 4 6'0 204 22 R Northeast Louisiana 25 Art Malone RB 13 5'11 209 23 2 Arizona State 26 Billy Lothridge P 9 6'1 200 29 8 Georgia Tech 27 Tom Hayes DB 14 6'1 193 25 R San Diego State 28 Willie Belton RB 14 5'11 196 22 R Maryland Eastern Shore 30 Larry Shears DB 9 5'10 185 22 R Lincoln (Mo.) 33 Cannonball Butler RB 13 5'10 200 28 7 Edward Waters 34 Ray Brown DB 10 6'2 198 22 R West Texas State 35 Tony Plummer DB 7 5'11 190 24 2 Pacific 36 Ken Reaves DB 14 6'3 203 27 6 Norfolk State 37 Bill Bell K 14 6'1 190 23 1 Kansas 45 Sonny Campbell RB 14 5'11 192 23 2 Northern Arizona 46 Ray Jarvis WR 2 5'11 193 22 R Norfolk State 47 Rudy Redmond DB 8 6'0 190 24 3 Pacific 50 Greg Brezina LB 14 6'2 226 25 3 Houston 52 Ron Acks LB 14 6'2 220 27 2 Illinois 53 John Matlock C 12 6'4 250 27 4 Miami 54 Grady Allen LB 3 6'3 230 25 4 Texas A&M 55 Jim Miller OG 14 6'3 240 22 R Iowa 57 Jeff Van Note C 14 6'2 244 25 3 Kentucky 58 Don Hansen LB 14 6'3 220 27 5 Illinois 59 Rudy Kuechenberg LB 3 6'2 215 28 5 Indiana 60 Tommy Nobis LB 4 6'2 237 28 6 Texas 61 Bill Sandeman OT 14 6'6 256 28 6 Pacific 62 John Bramlett LB 7 6'2 220 30 7 Memphis 63 Dick Enderle OG 14 6'1 248 23 3 Minnesota 64 Andy Maurer OG 14 6'3 257 23 2 Oregon 66 John Small DT 14 6'5 254 24 2 Citadel 67 Mal Snider OT 13 6'4 252 24 3 Stanford 69 Mike Lewis DE 9 6'3 223 22 R Arkansas-Pine Bluff 71 John Zook DE 14 6'5 248 24 3 Kansas 72 Greg Lens DT 7 6'5 260 26 2 Trinity (TX) 75 George Kunz OT 14 6'5 256 24 3 Notre Dame 79 Cleo Walker LB 11 6'3 220 23 2 Louisville 80 Todd Snyder WR 4 6'2 184 23 2 Ohio 81 Wes Chesson WR 14 6'2 190 22 R Duke 82 Ken Burrow WR 14 6'0 190 23 R San Diego State 84 Mike Donohoe TE 9 6'3 228 26 3 San Francisco 85 Ray Poage TE 4 6'4 215 30 8 Texas 86 Jim Mitchell TE 13 6'2 225 23 3 Virginia State 87 Claude Humphrey DE 14 6'5 248 27 4 Tennessee State 88 Glen Condren DT 12 6'2 250 29 6 Oklahoma 89 Randy Marshall DE 6 6'5 237 24 2 Linfield
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Bob Berry 226 136 60.2 2,005 8.87 14.7 11 4.9 16 7.1 21 150 75.9 Dick Shiner 57 30 52.6 463 8.12 15.4 5 8.8 5 8.8 10 89 72.5 Billy Lothridge 1 1 100.0 27 27.00 27.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 118.8 Leo Hart 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Art Malone 34 380 11.2 2 Ken Burrow 33 741 22.5 6 Jim Mitchell 33 593 18.0 5 Wes Chesson 20 224 11.2 0 Harmon Wages 19 249 13.1 1 Cannonball Butler 15 143 9.5 2 Ray Poage 4 71 17.8 0 Sonny Campbell 3 40 13.3 0 Willie Belton 3 22 7.3 0 John Mallory 1 27 27.0 0 Greg Brezina 1 3 3.0 0 George Kunz 1 2 2.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Cannonball Butler 186 594 3.2 2 Art Malone 120 438 3.6 6 Harmon Wages 64 266 4.2 1 Willie Belton 56 237 4.2 1 Sonny Campbell 29 79 2.7 0 Bob Berry 19 31 1.6 0 Jim Mitchell 4 25 6.2 0 Ray Jarvis 1 13 13.0 0 Joe Profit 3 10 3.3 1 Dick Shiner 10 9 0.9 1 Ken Burrow 1 5 5.0 0 Wes Chesson 1 -4 -4.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Willie Belton 28 706 25.2 0 Cannonball Butler 13 372 28.6 0 Joe Profit 10 247 24.7 0 Sonny Campbell 4 95 23.8 0 Harmon Wages 1 21 21.0 0 Dick Enderle 1 20 20.0 0 John Small 1 12 12.0 0 John Matlock 1 4 4.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Willie Belton 30 163 5.4 3 0 John Mallory 5 3 0.6 2 0 Tom McCauley 1 8 8.0 1 0 Ray Brown 1 0 0.0 2 0 |
1971 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 7 RB Joe Profit 23 N.E. Louisiana 2 33 WR Ken Burrow 64 San Diego State 3 59 QB Leo Hart 3 Duke 4 85 OT Mike Potchad Pittsburg St. (Kan.) 5 111 WR Ray Jarvis 82 Norfolk State 6 137 DB Tom Hayes 78 San Diego State 6 148 DB Ray Brown 137 West Texas State [pick acquired from NYG] 7 163 WR Wes Chesson 43 Duke 8 189 OG Dennis Havig 76 Colorado 9 215 WR Alvin Griffin Tuskegee 10 241 DE Faddie Tillman 1 Boise State 11 267 DB Larry Shears 10 Lincoln (Mo.) 12 293 WR Ronnie Lowe Fort Valley State 13 319 DB Dan Crooks Wisconsin 14 345 TE Deryl Comer Texas 15 371 RB Wallace Clark Auburn 16 397 RB Lindsey James San Diego State 17 423 RB Willie Martin Johnson C. Smith
Traded draft picks: none
Transactions:
| 03-1971 | Rams claimed Ron Acks on waivers |
| 04-23-1971 | traded Rich Stepanek to Chargers for a draft pick |
| 06-24-1971 | Gail Cogdill retired |
| 07-10-1971 | Patriots claimed Gary Roberts on waivers |
| 07-12-1971 | Patriots claimed Paul Flatley on waivers |
| 07-23-1971 | Billy Lothridge retired |
| 07-29-1971 | Francis Winkler retired |
| 08-03-1971 | traded Atlanta's #6 pick in the 1972 draft to Saints for Ray Poage |
| 08-03-1971 | traded Atlanta's #10 pick in the 1972 draft to Cardinals for Tony Plummer |
| 08-05-1971 | Mike Potchad retired |
| 08-26-1971 | Packers claimed Dan Crooks on waivers |
| 09-02-1971 | claimed Gene Foster on waivers from Chargers |
| 09-03-1971 | claimed Dick Shiner on waivers from ? |
| 09-08-1971 | traded Randy Johnson to Giants for the Giants' #4 pick in the 1973 draft |
| 09-09-1971 | traded Paul Gipson to Lions for Philadelphia's #2 pick in the 1972 draft |
| 09-09-1971 | Saints claimed Skip Butler on waivers |
| 10-19-1971 | Billy Lothridge unretired |
1971 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/19/71 vs San Francisco 49ers W 20-17 1-0-0 09/26/71 at Los Angeles Rams T 20-20 1-0-1 10/03/71 at Detroit Lions L 38-41 1-1-1 10/10/71 vs St. Louis Cardinals L 9-26 1-2-1 10/17/71 vs Los Angeles Rams L 16-24 1-3-1 10/24/71 vs New Orleans Saints W 28-6 2-3-1 10/31/71 at Cleveland Browns W 31-14 3-3-1 11/07/71 at Cincinnati Bengals W 9-6 4-3-1 11/14/71 vs New York Giants L 17-21 4-4-1 11/22/71 vs Green Bay Packers W 28-21 5-4-1 11/28/71 at Minnesota Vikings L 7-24 5-5-1 12/05/71 vs Oakland Raiders W 24-13 6-5-1 12/12/71 at San Francisco 49ers L 3-24 6-6-1 12/19/71 at New Orleans Saints W 24-20 7-6-1