2016 Atlanta Falcons season

The **2016 Atlanta Falcons season** was the franchise's 51st season in the National Football League (NFL) and the second under head coach Dan Quinn.

## Free agents

|Position|Player|Tag|2016 Team|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|S|Ricardo Allen||Atlanta Falcons||
|DE|Kroy Biermann||Buffalo Bills||
|G|Chris Chester||Atlanta Falcons||
|DE|Adrian Clayborn||Atlanta Falcons||
|S|Charles Godfrey||Atlanta Falcons||
|PK|Shayne Graham||_None_|Retired|
|C|Gino Gradkowski||Carolina Panthers||
|T|Bryce Harris||Atlanta Falcons||
|T|Jake Long||Minnesota Vikings||
|TE|Tony Moeaki||Chicago Bears||
|T|Ryan Schraeder||Atlanta Falcons||
|LB|Nathan Stupar||New Orleans Saints||
|TE|D.J. Tialavea||Atlanta Falcons||
|LB|Philip Wheeler||Atlanta Falcons||
|LB|Paul Worrilow||Atlanta Falcons||

### Draft

**Notes**
- The Falcons did not select a player in the fifth round:
    - The team forfeited their fifth-round selection as the punishment for piping artificial crowd noise into the Georgia Dome during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. If the Falcons receive multiple fifth-round selections, the team will forfeit its first fifth-round selection;
    - The Falcons traded their sixth-round selection (No. 193) to the Tennessee Titans in exchange for guard Andy Levitre and a future undisclosed selection. They subsequently acquired Pick No. 195 from the New York Jets.

### Schedule

The Falcons preseason opponents and schedule were announced on April 7, 2016.
|style=""|Week|style=""|Date|style=""|Opponent|style=""|Result|style=""|Record|style=""|Venue|style=""|Recap|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Washington Redskins|**W** 23–17|1–0|Georgia Dome|Recap|||||||||
||at Cleveland Browns|**W** 24–13|2–0|FirstEnergy Stadium|Recap|||||||||
||at Miami Dolphins|**L** 6–17|2–1|Camping World Stadium|Recap|||||||||
||Jacksonville Jaguars|**W** 17–15|3–1|Georgia Dome|Recap|||||||||

### Schedule

|style=""|Week|style=""|Date|style=""|Opponent|style=""|Result|style=""|Record|style=""|Venue|style=""|Recap|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|September 11|**Tampa Bay Buccaneers**|**L** 24–31|0–1|Georgia Dome|Recap|||||||||
|September 18|at Oakland Raiders|**W** 35–28|1–1|Oakland Alameda Coliseum|Recap|||||||||
||at **New Orleans Saints**|**W** 45–32|2–1|Mercedes-Benz Superdome|Recap|||||||||
|October 2|**Carolina Panthers**|**W** 48–33|3–1|Georgia Dome|Recap|||||||||
|October 9|at Denver Broncos|**W** 23–16|4–1|Sports Authority Field at Mile High|Recap|||||||||
|October 16|at Seattle Seahawks|**L** 24–26|4–2|CenturyLink Field|Recap|||||||||
|October 23|San Diego Chargers|**L** 30–33|4–3|Georgia Dome|Recap|||||||||
|October 30|Green Bay Packers|**W** 33–32|5–3|Georgia Dome|Recap|||||||||
||at **Tampa Bay Buccaneers**|**W** 43–28|6–3|Raymond James Stadium|Recap|||||||||
|November 13|at Philadelphia Eagles|**L** 15–24|6–4|Lincoln Financial Field|Recap|||||||||
|colspan=6|_Bye_|||||||||||||
|November 27|Arizona Cardinals|**W** 38–19|7–4|Georgia Dome|Recap|||||||||
|December 4|Kansas City Chiefs|**L** 28–29|7–5|Georgia Dome|Recap|||||||||
|December 11|at Los Angeles Rams|**W** 42–14|8–5|Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum|Recap|||||||||
|December 18|San Francisco 49ers|**W** 41–13|9–5|Georgia Dome|Recap|||||||||
||at **Carolina Panthers**|**W** 33–16|10–5|Bank of America Stadium|Recap|||||||||
|January 1|**New Orleans Saints**|**W** 38–32|11–5|Georgia Dome|Recap|||||||||

### Schedule

|Playoff round|Date|Opponent (seed)|Result|Record|Game site|NFL.com recap|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan=8|_First-round bye_||||||
||Seattle Seahawks (3)|**W** 36–20|1–0|Georgia Dome|Recap||
|January 22, 2017|Green Bay Packers (4)|**W** 44–21|2–0|Georgia Dome|Recap||
|February 5, 2017|vs. New England Patriots (A1)|**L** 28–34|2–1|NRG Stadium|Recap||

## Infobox (nfl team season)

- **team**: Atlanta Falcons
- **year**: 2016
- **record**: 11–5
- **division place**: 1st NFC South
- **playoffs**: **Won 2016–17 NFL playoffs, Divisional Playoffs** (vs. 2016 Seattle Seahawks season, Seahawks) 36–20
 **Won 2016–17 NFL playoffs, NFC Championship** (vs. 2016 Green Bay Packers season, Packers) 44–21
 Lost Super Bowl LI (vs. 2016 New England Patriots season, Patriots) 28–34
- **coach**: Dan Quinn (American football), Dan Quinn
- **owner**: Arthur Blank
- **general manager**: Thomas Dimitroff
- **stadium**: Georgia Dome
- **pro bowlers**: Selected but did not participate due to participation in Super Bowl LI:
LB Vic Beasley
K Matt Bryant
RB Devonta Freeman
WR Julio Jones
C Alex Mack
QB Matt Ryan (American football), Matt Ryan
- **uniform**: File:Atlanta falcons unif 16.png
- **shortnavlink**: Falcons seasons