# 1966 Atlanta Falcons season

The 1966 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's inaugural season in the National Football League (NFL). The Falcons finished in seventh place in the NFL Eastern Conference with a record of 3–11, ahead of only the New York Giants.

## Offseason

The Falcons attempted to acquire Green Bay Packers running back Jim Taylor. There were tensions in Green Bay because the Packers first round pick, Jim Grabowski would be groomed to take over for Taylor. The signing of Grabowski upset Taylor but he stated he would leave Green Bay once his contract expired, therefore the Falcons could not acquire the running back.

### NFL Draft

Due to the addition of the team for the 1966 NFL season, the Falcons were allotted the first pick in all twenty rounds of the 1966 NFL draft, as well as five compensatory picks and the end of the first five rounds.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | School |
| 1 | 1 | Tommy Nobis | Linebacker | Texas |
| 1 | 16 | Randy Johnson | Quarterback | Texas A&I |
| 2 | 17 | Nick Rassas | Defensive Back | Notre Dame |
| 2 | 32 | Jerry Jones | Tackle | Bowling Green |
| 3 | 33 | Mike Dennis | Running Back | Mississippi |
| 3 | 48 | Phil Sheridan | Wide Receiver | Notre Dame |
| 4 | 49 | Ken Reaves | Defensive Back | Virginia State |
| 4 | 64 | Willie Asbury | Running Back | Kent State |
| 5 | 65 | Bill Wolski | Running Back | Notre Dame |
| 5 | 80 | Martin Kahn | Tackle | North Texas State |
| 6 | 81 | Charley Casey | Wide Receiver | Florida |
| 7 | 96 | William Johnson | Running Back | University of the South |
| 8 | 111 | Bill Goss | Linebacker | Tulane |
| 9 | 126 | Bob Sanders | Center | North Texas State |
| 10 | 141 | Mike Bender | Guard | Arkansas |
| 11 | 156 | Steve Sloan | Quarterback | Alabama |
| 12 | 171 | Ken Hollister | Tackle | Indiana |
| 13 | 186 | Bob Collins | Tackle | South Carolina |
| 14 | 201 | Steve Ecker | Kicker | Shippensburg |
| 15 | 216 | Tom Tolleson | Wide Receiver | Alabama |
| 16 | 231 | Jim Vining | Guard | Rice |
| 17 | 246 | Lurley Archambeau | Center | Toledo |
| 18 | 261 | Doug Korver | Center | Southern Iowa |
| 19 | 276 | Walt Mainer | Defensive Back | Xavier |
| 20 | 291 | Bob Riggle | Defensive Back | Penn State |

## Personnel
### Roster

The expansion Falcons were allowed to field a roster of 46 players while the rest of the league was limited to 40 during 1966.

## Regular season

The Falcons played their first game (preseason) on August 1, 1966, against the Philadelphia Eagles before a crowd of 26,072 at Atlanta Stadium, a two-point Falcons loss, 9–7. In their inaugural regular season, Atlanta played each of the fourteen other teams in the league once. The Falcons lost their first nine regular season games; their first win was on the road against the New York Giants, 27–16, on November 20. Former Giant Ernie Wheelwright scored two touchdowns receiving and ran for 51 more yards as QB Randy Johnson hit for a trio of touchdowns.
Their first ever home victory was over the St. Louis Cardinals, 16–10, before 57,169 on December 11. The Falcons ended their inaugural season at 3–11, yet Tommy Nobis won the NFL Rookie of the Year Award and became the first Falcon named to the Pro Bowl.

### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | Recap |
| 1 | September 11 | Los Angeles Rams | L 14–19 | 0–1 | Atlanta Stadium | 54,418 | Recap |
| 2 | September 18 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 10–23 | 0–2 | Franklin Field | 54,049 | Recap |
| 3 | September 25 | at Detroit Lions | L 10–28 | 0–3 | Tiger Stadium | 47,615 | Recap |
| 4 | October 2 | Dallas Cowboys | L 14–47 | 0–4 | Atlanta Stadium | 56,990 | Recap |
| 5 | October 9 | at Washington Redskins | L 20–33 | 0–5 | D.C. Stadium | 50,116 | Recap |
| 6 | October 16 | San Francisco 49ers | L 7–44 | 0–6 | Atlanta Stadium | 54,788 | Recap |
| 7 | October 23 | at Green Bay Packers | L 3–56 | 0–7 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 48,623 | Recap |
| 8 | October 30 | Cleveland Browns | L 17–49 | 0–8 | Atlanta Stadium | 57,235 | Recap |
| 9 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 10 | November 13 | Baltimore Colts | L 7–19 | 0–9 | Atlanta Stadium | 58,850 | Recap |
| 11 | November 20 | at New York Giants | W 27–16 | 1–9 | Yankee Stadium | 62,746 | Recap |
| 12 | November 27 | at Chicago Bears | L 6–23 | 1–10 | Wrigley Field | 44,777 | Recap |
| 13 | December 4 | at Minnesota Vikings | W 20–13 | 2–10 | Metropolitan Stadium | 37,117 | Recap |
| 14 | December 11 | St. Louis Cardinals | W 16–10 | 3–10 | Atlanta Stadium | 57,169 | Recap |
| 15 | December 18 | Pittsburgh Steelers | L 33–57 | 3–11 | Atlanta Stadium | 56,229 | Recap |
| Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text. ||||||||
* A bye week was necessary in 1966, as the league expanded to an odd-number (15) of teams (Atlanta); one team was idle each week.

### Game Summaries
#### Week 1 vs Los Angeles Rams

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Rams | 3 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
| Falcons | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
at Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta
* Date: September 11
* Game weather: 71 °F (22 °C)
* Box Score
Game information :
First Quarter
Los Angeles – Bruce Gossett 15-yard field goal, Rams 7–0.
Second Quarter
Los Angeles – Jack Snow) 51-yard pass from Roman Gabriel (Gossett kick), Rams 10–0.
Los Angeles – Bruce Gossett 15-yard field goal, Rams 13–0.
Los Angeles – Bruce Gossett 23-yard field goal, Rams 16–0.
Atlanta – Gary Barnes 53-yard pass from Randy Johnson (Traynham kick), Rams 16–7.
Third Quarter
Atlanta – Randy Johnson 3-yard rush (Traynham kick), Rams 16–14.
Los Angeles – Bruce Gossett 22-yard field goal, Rams 19–14.
Fourth Quarter
Top Passers
Rams – Roman Gabriel: 21/35, 294 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Falcons – Randy Johnson: 9/25, 154 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT
Top rushers
Rams – Dick Bass: 14 car, 81 yds.
Falcons – Ernie Wheelwright: 6 car, 91 yds,
Top receivers
Rams– Tommy McDonald: 9 rec, 114 yds
Falcons – Gary Barnes: 1 rec, 53 yds 1 TD :

#### Week 11 at New York Giants

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Falcons | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 27 |
| Giants | 0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 16 |
at Yankee Stadium, New York City
* Date: November 20
* Game weather: 36 °F (2 °C)
* Box Score
Game information :
First Quarter
Atlanta – Ernie Wheelwright 9-yard pass from Randy Johnson (Kirouac kick), Falcons 7–0.
Second Quarter
New York – Pete Gogolak 24-yard field goal, Falcons 7–3.
Atlanta – Vern Burke 8-yard pass from Randy Johnson, Falcons 13–3.
Third Quarter
Atlanta – Ernie Wheelwright 6-yard pass from Randy Johnson (Kirouac kick), Falcons 20–3.
New York – Joe Morrison 25-yard pass from Tom Kennedy (Gogolak kick), Falcons 20–10.
Fourth Quarter
Atlanta – Randy Johnson 3-yard rush (Kirouac kick), Falcons 27–10.
New York – Joe Morrison 12-yard rush, Falcons 27–16.
Top Passers
Falcons – Randy Johnson 15/25, 177 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT
Giants – Tom Kennedy: 18/33, 188 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Top rushers
Falcons – Junior Coffey: 16 car, 64 yds.
Giants – Joe Morrison: 17 car, 91 yds 1 TD
Top receivers
Falcons– Ernie Wheelwright: 5 rec, 35 yds 2 TD
Giants – Aaron Thomas: 5 rec, 83 yds :

## Standings

NFL Eastern Conference :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Dallas Cowboys | 10 | 3 | 1 | .769 | 9–3–1 | 445 | 239 | W1 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 8–5 | 326 | 340 | W4 |
| Cleveland Browns | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 9–4 | 403 | 259 | W1 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 8 | 5 | 1 | .615 | 7–5–1 | 264 | 265 | L3 |
| Washington Redskins | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 7–6 | 351 | 355 | L1 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 5 | 8 | 1 | .385 | 4–8–1 | 316 | 347 | W2 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 3 | 11 | 0 | .214 | 2–5 | 204 | 437 | L1 |
| New York Giants | 1 | 12 | 1 | .077 | 1–11–1 | 263 | 501 | L8 |
    Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
NFL Western Conference :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Green Bay Packers | 12 | 2 | 0 | .857 | 10–2 | 335 | 163 | W5 |
| Baltimore Colts | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 7–5 | 314 | 226 | W1 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 8 | 6 | 0 | .571 | 6–6 | 289 | 212 | L1 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 6 | 6 | 2 | .500 | 5–5–2 | 320 | 325 | L1 |
| Chicago Bears | 5 | 7 | 2 | .417 | 4–6–2 | 234 | 272 | W1 |
| Detroit Lions | 4 | 9 | 1 | .308 | 3–8–1 | 206 | 317 | L3 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 4 | 9 | 1 | .308 | 4–7–1 | 292 | 304 | L1 |
    Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

## Awards and records

* Tommy Nobis, NFL Rookie of the Year