1991 Atlanta Falcons season

1991 Atlanta Falcons season
Head coach	Jerry Glanville
Home field	Fulton County Stadium
Results
Record	10–6
Division place	2nd NFC West
Playoff finish	Lost NFC Divisional Playoff

The 1991 Atlanta Falcons season was the team's 26th season in the National Football League (NFL). It was also the final season they played at Fulton County Stadium, before moving into the Georgia Dome the following year. The season would be the most successful Atlanta compiled in almost a decade, with the team recording a winning record for the first time in eight years. Additionally, The franchise won its first playoff game since 1978, by defeating the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Wild Card Game.

Offseason

NFL draft

Brett Favre was drafted by the Falcons in the second round, 33rd overall in the 1991 NFL draft.^[1] Head coach Jerry Glanville did not approve of the drafting of Favre, saying it would take a plane crash for him to put Favre into the game.^[2] Favre's first pass in an NFL regular season game resulted in an interception returned for a touchdown. He only attempted four passes in his career at Atlanta, completing none of them.^[3]

1991 Atlanta Falcons draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	3	Bruce Pickens	Cornerback	Nebraska
1	13	Mike Pritchard	Wide receiver	Colorado
2	33	Brett Favre * ^†	Quarterback	Southern Mississippi
4	87	Moe Gardner	Defensive tackle	Illinois
5	114	James Goode	Linebacker	Oklahoma
6	145	Erric Pegram	Running back	North Texas
7	172	Brian Mitchell	Cornerback	BYU
7	186	Mark Tucker	Guard	USC
8	199	Randy Austin	Tight end	UCLA
9	226	Ernie Logan	Defensive tackle	East Carolina
10	256	Walter Sutton	Wide receiver	Southwest Minnesota State
11	258	Pete Lucas	Offensive tackle	Wisconsin–Stevens Point
11	283	Joe Sims	Offensive tackle	Nebraska
12	310	Bob Christian	Running back	Northwestern
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[4]

Personnel

Staff

1991 Atlanta Falcons staff
	Front office Chairman of the Board – Rankin M. Smith, Sr. President – Taylor Smith Vice President of Player Personnel – Ken Herock Director of Pro Scouting – Chuck Connor Head coaches Head Coach – Jerry Glanville Offensive coaches Assistant Head Coach/Offense – June Jones Running Backs – Ollie Wilson Wide Receivers – Jimmy Robinson Tight Ends – Bobby April Offensive Line – Keith Rowen			Defensive coaches Assistant Head Coach/Defense – Doug Shively Defensive Line – Bill Kollar Secondary – Jimmy Carr Special teams coaches Special Teams – Bobby April Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Tim Jorgensen

Roster

1991 Atlanta Falcons roster
	Quarterbacks  4 Brett Favre 12 Chris Miller 13 Billy Joe Tolliver Running backs 34 Steve Broussard 28 Pat Chaffey 43 Tracy Johnson 38 Keith Jones 41 Erric Pegram 30 Mike Rozier Wide receivers 85 Shawn Collins 86 Floyd Dixon 81 Michael Haynes 82 Jason Phillips 35 Mike Pritchard 80 Andre Rison 89 George Thomas		Tight ends 46 Rich Bartlewski 83 Aundray Bruce 88 Harper LeBel 87 Gary Wilkins Offensive linemen 65 Guy Bingham C 64 Jamie Dukes C 79 Bill Fralic G 71 Chris Hinton T 69 Houston Hoover G 68 John Hunter T 78 Mike Kenn T 70 Reggie Redding G/T 55 Mike Ruether G 66 Joe Sims G/T		Defensive linemen 72 Oliver Barnett DE 77 Rick Bryan DE 74 Tory Epps NT 76 Mike Gann DE 67 Moe Gardner NT 99 Tim Green DE Linebackers 56 Darion Conner OLB 54 Robert Lyles OLB 51 Wes Pritchett 59 John Rade ILB 95 Michael Reid 52 Ken Tippins ILB/OLB 58 Jessie Tuggle ILB		Defensive backs 23 Bobby Butler CB 25 Scott Case FS 42 Jeff Donaldson S 40 Brian Jordan SS 32 Tracey Eaton S 27 William Evers CB 29 Joe Fishback S 22 Tim McKyer CB 36 Brian Mitchell CB 39 Bruce Pickens CB 21 Deion Sanders CB/RS 37 Elbert Shelley S Special teams  5 Brad Daluiso K 17 Scott Fulhage P  9 Norm Johnson K Rookies in italics

^[5]

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Results		Attendance
			Final score	Team record
1	September 1	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 3–14	0–1	74,246
2	September 8	Minnesota Vikings	L 19–20	0–2	50,936
3	September 15	at San Diego Chargers	W 13–10	1–2	44,804
4	September 22	Los Angeles Raiders	W 21–17	2–2	53,615
5	September 29	New Orleans Saints	L 6–27	2–3	56,556
6	Bye
7	October 13	at San Francisco 49ers	W 39–34	3–3	57,343
8	October 20	at Phoenix Cardinals	L 10–16	3–4	29,804
9	October 27	Los Angeles Rams	W 31–14	4–4	50,187
10	November 3	San Francisco 49ers	W 17–14	5–4	51,259
11	November 10	at Washington Redskins	L 17–56	5–5	52,461
12	November 17	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 43–7	6–5	41,274
13	November 24	at New Orleans Saints	W 23–20	7–5	68,591
14	December 1	Green Bay Packers	W 35–31	8–5	43,270
15	December 8	at Los Angeles Rams	W 31–14	9–5	35,315
16	December 15	Seattle Seahawks	W 26–13	10–5	53,834
17	December 22	at Dallas Cowboys	L 27–31	10–6	60,962

Standings

NFC West
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
^(3) New Orleans Saints	11	5	0	.688	4–2	8–4	341	211	W2
^(6) Atlanta Falcons	10	6	0	.625	5–1	7–5	361	338	L1
San Francisco 49ers	10	6	0	.625	3–3	7–5	393	239	W6
Los Angeles Rams	3	13	0	.188	0–6	2–10	234	390	L10

Game summaries

Week 9: vs. Los Angeles Rams

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rams	0	0	0	14	14
Falcons	7	14	10	0	31

at Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia

• Date: Sunday, October 27
• Game time: 1:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 71°F, wind 10 mph
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

First Quarter ATL – Floyd Dixon 19 yard pass from Chris Miller (Norm Johnson kick) – Falcons 7–0 Second Quarter ATL – Pat Chaffey 5 yard run (Norm Johnson kick) – Falcons 14–0 ATL – Andre Rison 20 yard pass from Chris Miller (Norm Johnson kick) – Falcons 21–0 Third Quarter ATL – Mike Haynes 55 yard pass from Chris Miller (Norm Johnson kick) – Falcons 28–0 ATL – Norm Johnson 44 yard field goal – Falcons 31–0 Fourth Quarter LA – Robert Delpino 9 yard run (Tony Zendejas kick) – Falcons 31–7 LA – Pat Carter 18 yard pass from Mike Pagel (Tony Zendejas kick) – Falcons 31–14 Rams Jim Everett 9/27, 92 Yds, INT Robert Delpino 8 Rush, 56 Yds, TD Henry Ellard 3 Rec, 46 Yds Falcons Chris Miller 14/19, 237 Yds, 3 TD Mike Rozier 16 Rush, 54 Yds Michael Haynes 4 Rec, 110 Yds, TD

Playoffs

NFC Wild Card Game

Atlanta Falcons 27, New Orleans Saints 20

	1	2	3	4	Total
Falcons	0	10	7	10	27
Saints	7	6	0	7	20

at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

• Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST / 3:00 p.m. CST
• Game weather: Played indoors, domed stadium
• Game attendance: 68,794
• Referee: Howard Roe
• TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, and Dan Dierdorf

Falcons quarterback Chris Miller completed the game-winning 61-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Michael Haynes with 2:41 left in the contest. Miller completed 18 out of 30 passes for 291 yards and 3 touchdowns.

NFC Divisional Playoff

Washington Redskins 24, Atlanta Falcons 7

	1	2	3	4	Total
Falcons	0	7	0	0	7
Redskins	0	14	3	7	24

at RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

• Game time: 12:30 p.m. EST
• Game weather: 49 °F (9 °C), heavy rain with strong winds
• Game attendance: 55,181
• Referee: Red Cashion
• TV announcers (CBS): Verne Lundquist and Dan Fouts

During their regular season meeting, Washington defeated Atlanta 56–17, with quarterback Mark Rypien throwing for 446 yards and 6 touchdowns. In this game the score was closer, but the result was still the same.

Under rainy and muddy conditions, the Redskins forced 6 turnovers, held the ball for over 36 minutes, and scored two touchdowns in a span of 3:11 in the second quarter.

Awards and records

• Deion Sanders, Pro Bowl selection (1991)
• Deion Sanders, Associated Press Second-team All-pro selection (1991)

References

1. "NFL Draft History – 1991". NFL.com. Archived from the original on 2007-02-10. Retrieved 2007-02-16.
2. D'Amato, Gary (2005-10-24). "Trading places". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2007-06-03. Retrieved 2007-02-08.
3. http://www.nfl.com/players/brettfavre/careerstats?id=FAV540222
4. "1991 Atlanta Falcons draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
5. "1991 Atlanta Falcons starters and roster". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 6, 2014.

External links

• 1991 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.com