# 2003 Atlanta Falcons season

The 2003 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's 38th season in the National Football League (NFL). It is best remembered for the third preseason game, in which quarterback Michael Vick broke his leg and was done for most of the season. Atlanta had two other quarterbacks take over for a combined 2–10 record (Doug Johnson and Kurt Kittner). Vick returned in week 14 and ended the season with a 3–1 record.
After losing seven straight games, Dan Reeves was let go by Falcons management, and Wade Phillps took over for the rest of the season.
For the season, the Falcons sported a new logo and uniforms.

## Offseason
### NFL draft

2003 Atlanta Falcons draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 2 | 55 | Bryan Scott | Safety | Penn State |
| 4 | 121 | Justin Griffith | Fullback | Mississippi State |
| 5 | 159 | Jon Olinger | Wide receiver | Cincinnati |
| 6 | 196 | LaTarence Dunbar | Wide receiver | TCU |
| 6 | 202 | Waine Bacon | Cornerback | Alabama |
| 7 | 238 | Demetrin Veal | Defensive end | Tennessee |
| Made roster ||||||

## Regular season
### Schedule

In the 2003 regular season, the Falcons’ non-divisional, conference opponents were primarily from the NFC East, although they also played the Minnesota Vikings from the NFC North, and the St. Louis Rams from the NFC West. Their non-conference opponents were from the AFC South. This was the first occasion when the Falcons played the Washington Redskins since 1994, due to old NFL scheduling formulas in place prior to 2002, whereby teams had no rotating schedule opposing members of other divisions within their own conference, but instead played interdivisional conference games according to position within a season’s table.
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue |
| 1 | September 7 | at Dallas Cowboys | W 27–13 | 1–0 | Texas Stadium |
| 2 | September 14 | Washington Redskins | L 31–33 | 1–1 | Georgia Dome |
| 3 | September 21 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | L 10–31 | 1–2 | Georgia Dome |
| 4 | September 28 | at Carolina Panthers | L 3–23 | 1–3 | Ericsson Stadium |
| 5 | October 5 | Minnesota Vikings | L 26–39 | 1–4 | Georgia Dome |
| 6 | October 13 | at St. Louis Rams | L 0–36 | 1–5 | Edward Jones Dome |
| 7 | October 19 | New Orleans Saints | L 17–45 | 1–6 | Georgia Dome |
| 8 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 9 | November 2 | Philadelphia Eagles | L 16–23 | 1–7 | Georgia Dome |
| 10 | November 9 | at New York Giants | W 27–7 | 2–7 | Giants Stadium |
| 11 | November 16 | at New Orleans Saints | L 20–23 | 2–8 | Louisiana Superdome |
| 12 | November 23 | Tennessee Titans | L 31–38 | 2–9 | Georgia Dome |
| 13 | November 30 | at Houston Texans | L 13–17 | 2–10 | Reliant Stadium |
| 14 | December 7 | Carolina Panthers | W 20–14 (OT) | 3–10 | Georgia Dome |
| 15 | December 14 | at Indianapolis Colts | L 7–38 | 3–11 | RCA Dome |
| 16 | December 20 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 30–28 | 4–11 | Raymond James Stadium |
| 17 | December 28 | Jacksonville Jaguars | W 21–14 | 5–11 | Georgia Dome |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. ||||||

### Standings

NFC South :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| $^{(3)}$ Carolina Panthers | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 5–1 | 9–3 | 325 | 304 | W3 |
| New Orleans Saints | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 3–3 | 7–5 | 340 | 326 | W1 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 2–4 | 6–6 | 301 | 264 | L2 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 | 2–4 | 4–8 | 299 | 422 | W2 |