{"id":40966,"date":"2025-02-12T08:15:27","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T14:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/?p=40966"},"modified":"2025-05-03T07:34:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T12:34:14","slug":"the-story-of-the-atlanta-falcons-from-expansion-to-super-bowls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/the-story-of-the-atlanta-falcons-from-expansion-to-super-bowls\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of the Atlanta Falcons From Expansion to Super Bowls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"451\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/atlanta-falcons-logo.jpg\" alt=\"atlanta falcons logo\" class=\"wp-image-21825 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/atlanta-falcons-logo.jpg 800w, https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/atlanta-falcons-logo-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><noscript><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"451\" src=\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/atlanta-falcons-logo.jpg\" alt=\"atlanta falcons logo\" class=\"wp-image-21825 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/atlanta-falcons-logo.jpg 800w, https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/atlanta-falcons-logo-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Atlanta Falcons<\/strong> joined the NFL in 1965 as an expansion team, after the NFL offered then-owner Rankin Smith a franchise to keep him from joining the rival American Football League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Falcons have appeared in two Super Bowls, the first during the 1998 season in Super Bowl XXXIII, where they lost to the Denver Broncos 34\u201319, and the second 18 years later, a 34\u201328 overtime loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team finished the 1960s with 12 wins in four seasons. The only two winning seasons in their first 12 years were 1971 (7\u20136\u20131) and 1973 (9\u20135). The Falcons qualified for the NFL playoffs for the first time ever in 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 1977 Atlanta Falcons team coached by Jerry Glanville aka The Man In Black featured the \u201cGrits Blitz.\u201d The Falcons\u2019 129 points allowed led the league and established an all-time NFL record for fewest points allowed in a 14-game NFL season. Atlanta\u2019s 3,242 total yards allowed were second-fewest in the league, and the Falcons\u2019 1,384 passing yards allowed was by far the best in the NFL in 1977. The defense surrendered only 9.2 points per game, an all-time record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 1991 NFL Draft, the Falcons selected quarterback Brett Favre as the 33rd overall pick. During his rookie season, he played in two games where he amassed a record of four passing attempts with no receptions and two interceptions. The following February, Favre was traded to the <a href=\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/football\/nfl\/green-bay-packers\/\">Green Bay Packers<\/a> because he loved beer so much and was getting fat AF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1992, the Atlanta Falcons opened a new chapter in their history moving into the newly constructed Georgia Dome, where the team has defeated all 31 other NFL teams at least once during its existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1998, under recently acquired head coach&nbsp;Dan Reeves, quarterback&nbsp;Chris Chandler&nbsp;and running back&nbsp;Jamal Anderson&nbsp;the \u201cDirty Bird\u201d Falcons had their greatest season to date. On November 8, they beat <a href=\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/football\/nfl\/new-england-patriots\/\">the&nbsp;New England Patriots&nbsp;41\u201310<\/a>, ending a streak of 22 losses at cold-weather sites. The team finished with a franchise-best 14\u20132 regular-season record and the NFC West division championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dirty Birds were so much fun to watch, it is a shame they got crushed by the Broncos in the <a href=\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/football\/nfl\/super-bowl\/\">Super Bowl<\/a> 2 weeks later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Atlanta Falcons Stadium<\/strong>: Mercedes-Benz Stadium<br><strong>Atlanta Falcons Logo<\/strong>: The center of the helmet is a center black stripe surrounded by two gold stripes and two white stripes. These colors represented the two college rival schools in the state of Georgia; rival schools Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (white and gold) and the Georgia Bulldogs (red and black).<br><strong>Atlanta Falcons Colors<\/strong>: red, black, silver and white.<br><strong>Atlanta Falcons Mascot<\/strong>: Freddie Falcon<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How Many Super Bowls Have the Atlanta Falcons Won?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ZERO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Falcons joined the NFL in 1965 as an expansion team, after the NFL offered then-owner Rankin Smith a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Story of the Atlanta Falcons From Expansion to Super Bowls - I-80 Sports Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore the history of the Atlanta Falcons, from their founding in 1965 to iconic moments like the &quot;Grits Blitz&quot; defense and the Dirty Birds&#039; Super Bowl run. 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