1978 Atlanta Falcons: 9-7-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 7-1-0 (149 points scored, 109 allowed) Road record: 2-6-0 (91 points scored, 181 allowed) Head Coach: Leeman Bennett 240 points scored (26th of 28 teams), 290 points allowed (14th) NFL Averages: 18.3 points/game (293.3 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: 221 449 2,402 (16) 4.76 11 23 533 1,660 (27) 3.1 13 4,062 (26) 41 Defense: 215 444 2,364 ( 9) 4.81 11 12 578 2,067 ( 8) 3.6 21 4,431 ( 5) 37
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 1 Fred Steinfort K 6 5'11 180 25 3 Boston College 4 Tim Mazzetti K 10 6'1 175 22 R Pennsylvania 6 John James P 16 6'3 200 29 7 Florida 10 Steve Bartkowski QB 14 6'4 213 25 4 California 14 June Jones QB 7 6'4 200 25 2 Portland State 20 Jim Stienke DB 5 5'11 182 27 6 Southwest Texas State 22 Rolland Lawrence DB 16 5'10 179 27 6 Tabor 24 Haskel Stanback RB 15 6'0 210 26 5 Tennessee 25 Ray Strong RB 14 5'9 184 22 R Nevada-Las Vegas 26 Mike Esposito RB 16 6'0 183 25 3 Boston College 27 Tom Pridemore DB 16 5'10 186 22 R West Virginia 28 Frank Reed DB 16 5'11 193 24 3 Washington 30 Ernie Jackson DB 16 5'10 176 28 7 Duke 32 Ray Easterling DB 2 6'0 192 29 7 Richmond 33 Ricky Patton RB 16 5'11 185 24 R Jackson State 36 Bob Glazebrook DB 8 6'1 200 22 R Fresno State 38 Rick Byas DB 16 5'9 180 28 5 Wayne State (MI) 40 George Franklin RB 15 6'3 226 24 1 Texas A&I 44 Bubba Bean RB 15 5'11 195 24 2 Texas A&M 45 Tom Moriarty DB 14 6'0 185 25 2 Bowling Green 50 Greg Brezina LB 16 6'1 221 32 10 Houston 52 Dewey McClain LB 16 6'3 236 24 3 East Central (OK) 53 Paul Ryczek C 16 6'2 230 26 5 Virginia 54 Fulton Kuykendall LB 16 6'5 225 25 4 UCLA 55 Ralph Ortega LB 15 6'2 220 25 4 Florida 56 Ronnie McCartney LB 15 6'1 220 24 2 Tennessee 56 Garth Ten Napel LB 1 6'1 215 24 3 Texas A&M 57 Jeff Van Note C 16 6'2 247 32 10 Kentucky 58 Steve Stewart LB 12 6'2 217 22 R Minnesota 59 Robert Pennywell LB 15 6'1 222 23 2 Grambling 66 Warren Bryant OT 13 6'6 270 22 2 Kentucky 68 R.C. Thielemann OG 16 6'4 247 23 2 Arkansas 69 Mike Lewis DT 16 6'3 261 29 8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 70 Dave Scott OG 16 6'4 285 24 3 Kansas 71 Marv Montgomery OT 1 6'6 255 30 8 Southern California 72 Jim Bailey DT 16 6'5 260 30 9 Kansas 73 Phil McKinnely OT 14 6'4 248 24 3 UCLA 74 Wilson Faumuina DT 16 6'5 275 24 2 San Jose State 75 Jeff Merrow DE 14 6'4 230 25 4 West Virginia 77 Edgar Fields DE 16 6'2 255 24 2 Texas A&M 78 Mike Kenn OT 16 6'6 257 22 R Michigan 79 Jeff Yeates DE 16 6'3 248 27 5 Boston College 81 Dennis Pearson WR 13 5'11 177 23 R San Diego State 82 Billy Ryckman WR 16 5'11 172 23 2 Louisiana Tech 83 James Wright TE 15 6'3 240 22 R Texas Christian 84 Alfred Jenkins WR 1 5'10 172 26 4 Morris Brown 85 Alfred Jackson WR 15 5'11 176 23 R Texas 86 Jim Mitchell TE 16 6'2 236 30 10 Virginia State 87 Claude Humphrey DE 4 6'5 265 34 10 Tennessee State 88 Lewis Gilbert TE 4 6'4 225 22 R Florida 88 Ken Moore TE 6 6'4 232 24 1 Northern Illinois 89 Wallace Francis WR 16 5'11 190 26 6 Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Steve Bartkowski 369 187 50.7 2,489 6.75 13.3 10 2.7 18 4.9 39 349 61.1 June Jones 79 34 43.0 394 4.99 11.6 1 1.3 4 5.1 17 132 41.9 Bubba Bean 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 1 100.0 0 0 0.0
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Wallace Francis 45 695 15.4 3 Billy Ryckman 45 679 15.1 2 Jim Mitchell 32 366 11.4 2 Bubba Bean 31 209 6.7 1 Alfred Jackson 26 526 20.2 2 Haskel Stanback 12 108 9.0 0 Ricky Patton 10 90 9.0 1 Ray Strong 7 56 8.0 0 Dennis Pearson 5 71 14.2 0 Mike Esposito 3 10 3.3 0 Alfred Jenkins 2 28 14.0 0 James Wright 2 26 13.0 0 George Franklin 1 19 19.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Bubba Bean 193 707 3.7 3 Haskel Stanback 188 588 3.1 5 Ricky Patton 68 206 3.0 1 Ray Strong 30 99 3.3 2 Steve Bartkowski 33 60 1.8 2 Mike Esposito 7 21 3.0 0 Dennis Pearson 1 1 1.0 0 June Jones 10 -3 -0.3 0 George Franklin 1 -8 -8.0 0 Wallace Francis 2 -11 -5.5 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Dennis Pearson 25 662 26.5 1 George Franklin 11 258 23.5 0 Alfred Jackson 11 225 20.5 0 Tom Pridemore 4 71 17.8 0 Ray Strong 3 50 16.7 0 James Wright 2 31 15.5 0 Edgar Fields 2 21 10.5 0 Jim Mitchell 1 14 14.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Billy Ryckman 28 227 8.1 18 0 Alfred Jackson 11 89 8.1 6 0 Rick Byas 2 12 6.0 0 0 Rolland Lawrence 1 17 17.0 1 0 Bob Glazebrook 0 0 ? 1 0 |
1978 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 13 OT Mike Kenn 251 Michigan 2 43 LB Steve Stewart 15 Minnesota 3 70 OG Stan Waldemore 79 Nebraska 4 95 LB Brian Cabral 70 Colorado 5 125 WR Dennis Pearson 29 San Diego State 6 152 WR Rodney Parker 19 Tennessee State 7 167 WR Alfred Jackson 88 Texas [pick acquired from TB] 7 179 TE James Wright 79 Texas Christian 8 209 LB David Adkins Ohio State 8 216 DB David Williams Tennessee-Martin [pick acquired from WAS] 9 236 DB Tom Pridemore 121 West Virginia 10 257 RB Ricky Patton 52 Jackson State [pick acquired from PHI] 10 263 RB Ray Strong 61 Nevada-Las Vegas 11 293 DB Scooter Reed Baylor 12 320 LB Daria Butler Oklahoma State
Traded draft picks: none
Transactions:
| 05-02-1978 | traded Ray Brown to Saints for Ernie Jackson |
| 08-15-1978 | placed Brian Cabral on injured reserve |
| 08-22-1978 | traded Greg McCrary to Redskins for Los Angeles' #5 pick in the 1980 draft |
| 08-28-1978 | placed Brent Adams on injured reserve |
| 08-28-1978 | traded $500 cash to Lions for Garth Ten Napel |
| 08-29-1978 | claimed Willie Shelby on waivers from Bengals |
| 09-01-1978 | claimed George Franklin on waivers from Cardinals |
| 09-06-1978 | Cardinals claimed Willie Shelby on waivers |
| 09-18-1978 | placed Ray Easterling on injured reserve |
| 09-27-1978 | Claude Humphrey retired |
Playoff Results: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result 12/24/78 vs Philadelphia Eagles W 14-13 12/30/78 at Dallas Cowboys L 20-27
1978 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/03/78 vs Houston Oilers W 20-14 1-0-0 09/10/78 at Los Angeles Rams L 0-10 1-1-0 09/17/78 vs Cleveland Browns L 16-24 1-2-0 09/24/78 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 9-14 1-3-0 10/01/78 vs New York Giants W 23-20 2-3-0 10/08/78 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 7-31 2-4-0 10/15/78 vs Detroit Lions W 14-0 3-4-0 10/22/78 at San Francisco 49ers W 20-17 4-4-0 10/30/78 vs Los Angeles Rams W 15-7 5-4-0 11/05/78 vs San Francisco 49ers W 21-10 6-4-0 11/12/78 at New Orleans Saints W 20-17 7-4-0 11/19/78 at Chicago Bears L 7-13 7-5-0 11/26/78 vs New Orleans Saints W 20-17 8-5-0 12/03/78 at Cincinnati Bengals L 7-37 8-6-0 12/10/78 vs Washington Redskins W 20-17 9-6-0 12/17/78 at St. Louis Cardinals L 21-42 9-7-0