1976 Atlanta Falcons season

1976 Atlanta Falcons season
Owner	Rankin M. Smith Sr.
General manager	Pat Peppler
Head coach	Marion Campbell (1–4) Pat Peppler (3–6)
Home field	Atlanta Stadium
Results
Record	4–10
Division place	3rd NFC West
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
← 1975 Falcons seasons 1977 →

The 1976 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's 11th year in the National Football League (NFL). The season saw the Falcons attempting to improve on their 4–10 record from 1975. However, they were only able to match the record, as they finished the 1976 season at 4–10 and missed the playoffs for the 11th straight season. After a 1–4 start to the season, head coach Marion Campbell was fired by general manager Pat Peppler, who himself would close out the season as the interim head coach and finish the season with a 3–6 record. The Falcons also suffered the ignominy of being the only established NFL team to lose to one of the league's two expansion teams when they lost 30–13 to the Seattle Seahawks on November 7.

For the season, the Falcons converted from gray facemasks to white facemasks.

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Offseason

Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1976 Atlanta Falcons draft
1	9	Bubba Bean	RB	Texas A&M
2	36	Sonny Collins	RB	Kentucky
3	71	Dave Scott	OG	Kansas
4	102	Walt Brett	DE	Montana
6	169	Stan Varner	DT	BYU
7	193	Karl Farmer	WR	Pittsburgh
8	219	Frank Reed	DB	Washington
9	246	Phil McKinnely	OT	UCLA
11	302	Chuck Brislin	OT	Mississippi St
12	329	Phil Bolton	K	Montana St
13	356	Mike Williams	OT	Florida
14	383	Mark Husfloen	DE	Washington St
15	414	Ron Olson	DB	Washington
16	441	Pat Curto	LB	Ohio St
17	468	Tony Green	DB	Texas Tech
Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[1]

Personnel

Staff

**1976 Atlanta Falcons staff**

	Front office Chairman of the board – Rankin M. Smith Sr. President – Frank E. Wall General manager – Pat Peppler Head coaches Head coach – Marion Campbell Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – Bill Nelsen Receivers – Jimmy Orr Offensive line – Bill Walsh			Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Fred Bruney Defensive line – Eddie Khayat Linebackers – Marv Matuszak Defensive backfield – Al Lavan

Roster

**1976 Atlanta Falcons final roster**

	Quarterbacks 16 Scott Hunter 11 Kim McQuilken Running backs 44 Bubba Bean 41 Sonny Collins 47 Brad Davis 26 Mike Esposito 43 Dave Hampton 48 Woody Thompson FB Wide receivers 80 Karl Farmer 89 Wallace Francis 42 John Gilliam 84 Alfred Jenkins 82 Scott Piper Tight ends 81 Bob Adams 86 Jim Mitchell		Offensive linemen 62 Brent Adams T 65 Len Gotshalk T 63 Greg Kindle G 68 Larron Jackson G 73 Phil McKinnely T 70 Dave Scott G 64 Royce Smith G 57 Jeff Van Note C 58 Jim Weatherly C Defensive linemen 72 Jim Bailey DT 87 Claude Humphrey DE 69 Mike Lewis DT 71 Greg Marderian DT 75 Jeff Merrow DE -- Wally Pesuit DE 78 Bill Windauer DT 79 Jeff Yeates DE		Linebackers 50 Greg Brezina 51 Jim Cope 52 Dewey McClain 55 Ralph Ortega 56 Guy Roberts Defensive backs 34 Ray Brown S 38 Rick Byas CB 32 Ray Easterling FS 40 Bob Jones S 22 Rolland Lawrence CB 29 Ron Mabra 28 Frank Reed CB Special teams 6 John James P 12 Nick Mike-Mayer K		Reserve lists 10 Steve Bartkowski QB (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 88 Greg McCrary TE (IRTooltip Injured reserve) Rookies in italics , 5 practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 12	Los Angeles Rams	L 14–30	0–1	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	53,607
2	September 19	at Detroit Lions	L 10–24	0–2	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	50,840
3	September 26	at Chicago Bears	W 10–0	1–2	Soldier Field	41,029
4	October 3	Philadelphia Eagles	L 13–14	1–3	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	45,535
5	October 10	at New Orleans Saints	L 0–30	1–4	Louisiana Superdome	51,521
6	October 17	Cleveland Browns	L 17–20	1–5	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	33,364
7	October 23	at San Francisco 49ers	L 0–15	1–6	Candlestick Park	50,240
8	October 31	New Orleans Saints	W 23–20	2–6	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	34,127
9	November 7	at Seattle Seahawks	L 13–30	2–7	Kingdome	57,985
10	November 14	San Francisco 49ers	W 21–16	3–7	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	20,058
11	November 21	Dallas Cowboys	W 17–10	4–7	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	54,992
12	November 28	at Houston Oilers	L 14–20	4–8	Astrodome	25,838
13	December 4	at Los Angeles Rams	L 0–59	4–9	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	57,366
14	December 12	Green Bay Packers	L 20–24	4–10	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	23,436
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Los Angeles Rams⁽³⁾	10	3	1	.750	7–0	9–2–1	351	190	W4
San Francisco 49ers	8	6	0	.571	5–2	7–5	270	190	W1
New Orleans Saints	4	10	0	.286	2–5	3–8	253	346	L3
Atlanta Falcons	4	10	0	.286	2–5	4–8	172	312	L3
Seattle Seahawks	2	12	0	.143	1–3	1–12	229	429	L5

Season summary

Week 2 at Lions

Week Two: Atlanta Falcons (0–1) at Detroit Lions (0–1)

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Falcons	0	7	3	0	10
Lions	0	0	0	24	24

at Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium, Pontiac, Michigan

Date: September 19, 1976
Game time: 1:00 p.m.
Game weather: Indoors (dome)
Game attendance: 50,840
Box Score

Game information

Second quarter

ATL – Bubba Bean 5-yard run (Nick Mike-Mayer kick). Falcons 7–0. Drive:

Third quarter

ATL – Nick Mike-Mayer 41-yard field goal. Falcons 10–0. Drive:

Fourth quarter

DET – Greg Landry 5-yard run (Errol Mann kick). Falcons 10–7. Drive:
DET – Errol Mann 32-yard field goal. Tie 10–10. Drive:
DET – Ed O'Neil 32-yard pass from Joe Reed (Errol Mann kick). Lions 17–10. Drive:
DET – James Hunter 39-yard interception return (Errol Mann kick). Lions 24–10.

Top passers

ATL – Steve Bartkowski – 5/16, 59 yards, 3 INT
DET – Joe Reed – 5/11, 78 yards, TD

Top rushers

ATL – Bubba Bean – 22 rushes, 98 yards, TD
DET – Dexter Bussey – 15 rushes, 79 yards

Top receivers

ATL – Alfred Jenkins – 3 receptions, 47 yards
DET – Horace King – 3 receptions, 33 yards

References

^ "1976 Atlanta Falcons draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 24, 2014.

External links

1976 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

1976 NFL season

East	Central	West	East	Central	West
Baltimore	Cincinnati	Denver	Dallas	Chicago	Atlanta
Buffalo	Cleveland	Kansas City	NY Giants	Detroit	Los Angeles
Miami	Houston	Oakland	Philadelphia	Green Bay	New Orleans
New England	Pittsburgh	San Diego	St. Louis	Minnesota	San Francisco
NY Jets		Tampa Bay	Washington		Seattle

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