1968 Atlanta Falcons season

1968 Atlanta Falcons season
Owner	Rankin M. Smith Sr.
General manager	Frank E. Wall
Head coach	Norb Hecker (0–3) Norm Van Brocklin (2–9)
Home field	Atlanta Stadium
Results
Record	2–12
Division place	4th Coastal
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	LB Tommy Nobis
← 1967 Falcons seasons 1969 →

The 1968 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's third year in the National Football League (NFL). After going an NFL-worst 1-12-1 last year, the Falcons slightly improved on that record by going 2-12, but they still finished tied for the worst record in the whole NFL and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

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Offseason

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1968 Atlanta Falcons draft
1	3	Claude Humphrey * ^†	Defensive end	Tennessee State
Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[1]

Personnel

Staff

**1968 Atlanta Falcons staff**

	Front office President – Rankin M. Smith Sr. Assistant to the president – Bud Erickson Vice president and general manager – Frank E. Wall Head coaches Head coach – Norb Hecker (first three games) Head coach – Norm Van Brocklin Offensive coaches Chief offensive – Lew Carpenter Receivers – Jim Phillips Offensive line – Bob Fry			Defensive coaches Chief defensive – Hal Herring Linebackers – Bill Jobko Defensive backfield – John Symank

Roster

**1968 Atlanta Falcons final roster**

	Quarterbacks 17 Bob Berry 11 Randy Johnson 18 Bruce Lemmerman Running backs 38 Joe Auer 32 Charlie Bryant 33 Cannonball Butler FB 30 Doug Goodwin 35 Billy Harris 31 Dwight Lee 37 Perry Lee Dunn 5 Harmon Wages Wide receivers 25 Rick Eber 85 Paul Flatley 80 Bob Long 44 Jerry Simmons 45 John Wright Tight ends 84 Mike Donohoe 28 Ray Ogden		Offensive linemen 56 Joe Cerne C 65 Steve Duich G 67 Dan Grimm G 73 Errol Linden T 61 Bill Sandeman T 66 Jim Simon G 53 Phil Sobocinski C 72 Don Talbert T 64 Randy Winkler G Defensive linemen 77 Rick Cash DE 79 Carlton Dabney DT 76 Jim Garcia DE 87 Claude Humphrey DE 78 Jerry Shay DT 71 Joe Szczecko DT		Linebackers 57 Dick Absher 52 Ron Acks 54 Grady Allen 50 Greg Brezina 55 Ralph Heck 60 Tommy Nobis Defensive backs 49 Jimmy Burson CB 22 Lee Calland CB 43 Mike Freeman 24 Floyd Hudlow 27 Nick Rassas S 36 Ken Reaves CB 42 Philip Spiller 46 Larry Suchy Special teams 3 Bob Etter K 26 Billy Lothridge P		Reserve lists 34 Junior Coffey RB (IR) 20 Bob Riggle S (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 14	at Minnesota Vikings	L 7–47	0–1	Metropolitan Stadium	45,563
2	September 22	Baltimore Colts	L 20–28	0–2	Atlanta Stadium	50,428
3	September 29	at San Francisco 49ers	L 13–28	0–3	Kezar Stadium	27,471
4	October 6	Green Bay Packers	L 7–38	0–4	Atlanta Stadium	58,850
5	October 13	New York Giants	W 24–21	1–4	Atlanta Stadium	49,962
6	October 20	at Los Angeles Rams	L 14–27	1–5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	54,443
7	October 27	at Cleveland Browns	L 7–30	1–6	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	67,723
8	November 3	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 21–41	1–7	Atlanta Stadium	47,727
9	November 10	Los Angeles Rams	L 10–17	1–8	Atlanta Stadium	53,979
10	November 17	at Chicago Bears	W 16–13	2–8	Wrigley Field	44,214
11	November 24	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 12–17	2–9	Busch Memorial Stadium	43,246
12	December 1	at Baltimore Colts	L 0–44	2–10	Memorial Stadium	60,238
13	December 8	Detroit Lions	L 7–24	2–11	Atlanta Stadium	49,437
14	December 15	San Francisco 49ers	L 12–14	2–12	Atlanta Stadium	44,977
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFL Coastal
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Baltimore Colts	13	1	0	.929	6–0	10–0	402	144	W8
Los Angeles Rams	10	3	1	.769	3–2–1	6–3–1	312	200	L2
San Francisco 49ers	7	6	1	.538	2–3–1	4–5–1	303	310	W1
Atlanta Falcons	2	12	0	.143	0–6	1–9	170	389	L4

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

^ "1968 Atlanta Falcons draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 24, 2014.

External links

1968 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.com

v t e Atlanta Falcons
Founded in 1966 Based in Atlanta, Georgia Headquartered in Flowery Branch, Georgia
Franchise	Franchise Team history Seasons Players Quarterbacks Head coaches Expansion draft Draft history First-round draft picks
Stadiums	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Georgia Dome Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Culture	Rankin M. Smith Sr. Arthur Blank Freddie Falcon The "Dirty Bird" (dance) "2 Legit 2 Quit" Brian Banks Quarterback
Lore	Grits Blitz Gary Anderson's missed field goal Michael Vick dog fighting investigation Timeline 28–3
Rivalries	Carolina Panthers New Orleans Saints Philadelphia Eagles
Wild card / First round berths (8)	1978 1982 1991 1995 2002 2008 2011 2017
Division championships (6)	1980 1998 2004 2010 2012 2016
Conference championships (2)	1998 2016
Ring of Honor	10 21 28 31 42 57 58 60 78 84 87
Current league affiliations	League: National Football League Conference: National Football Conference Division: South Division
Category

v t e Atlanta Falcons seasons
1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Italics indicates Super Bowl appearance

1968 NFL season

Capitol	Century	Coastal	Central
Dallas	Cleveland	Atlanta	Chicago
New York	New Orleans	Baltimore	Detroit
Philadelphia	Pittsburgh	Los Angeles	Green Bay
Washington	St. Louis	San Francisco	Minnesota