1976 Atlanta Falcons season

The 1976 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's 11th year in the National Football League (NFL). The season saw the Falcons attempting to improve on their 4–10 record from 1975. However, they were only able to match the record, as they finished the 1976 season at 4–10 and missed the playoffs for the 11th straight season. After a 1–4 start to the season, head coach Marion Campbell was fired by general manager Pat Peppler, who himself would close out the season as the interim head coach and finish the season with a 3–6 record. The Falcons also suffered the ignominy of being the only established NFL team to lose to one of the league's two expansion teams when they lost 30–13 to the Seattle Seahawks on November 7.

1976 Atlanta Falcons season
Owner	Rankin M. Smith Sr.
General manager	Pat Peppler
Head coach	Marion Campbell (first 5 games; 1–4 record) Pat Peppler (interim; 3–6 record)
Home stadium	Atlanta Stadium
Results
Record	4–10
Division place	3rd NFC West
Playoffs	Did not qualify
← 1975 Falcons seasons 1977 →

For the season, the Falcons converted from gray facemasks to white facemasks.

Offseason

1976 expansion draft

Main article: 1976 NFL expansion draft

Atlanta Falcons selected during the expansion draft

Round	Overall	Name	Position	Expansion team
0	0	Nick Bebout	Offensive tackle	Seattle Seahawks
0	0	Don Hansen	Linebacker	Seattle Seahawks
0	0	Vince Kendrick	Running back	Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Draft

Main article: 1976 NFL draft

1976 Atlanta Falcons draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	9	Bubba Bean	Running back	Texas A&M
2	36	Sonny Collins	Running back	Kentucky
3	71	Dave Scott	Guard	Kansas
4	102	Walt Brett	Defensive end	Montana
6	169	Stan Varner	Defensive tackle	BYU
7	193	Karl Farmer	Wide receiver	Pittsburgh
8	219	Frank Reed	Cornerback	Washington
9	246	Phil McKinnely	Offensive tackle	UCLA
11	302	Chuck Brislin	Offensive tackle	Mississippi St
12	329	Phil Bolton	Kicker	Montana St
13	356	Mike Williams	Offensive tackle	Florida
14	383	Mark Husfloen	Defensive end	Washington St
15	414	Ron Olson	Defensive back	Washington
16	441	Pat Curto	Linebacker	Ohio St
17	468	Tony Green	Defensive back	Texas Tech
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[1]

Personnel

Staff

1976 Atlanta Falcons staff

Front office Chairman of the board – Rankin M. Smith Sr. President – Frank E. Wall General manager – Pat Peppler Head coaches Head coach – Marion Campbell Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – Bill Nelsen Receivers – Jimmy Orr Offensive line – Bill Walsh

Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Fred Bruney Defensive line – Eddie Khayat Linebackers – Marv Matuszak Defensive backfield – Al Lavan

Roster

1976 Atlanta Falcons roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 16 Scott Hunter 11 Kim McQuilken Running backs (RB) 44 Bubba Bean 41 Sonny Collins 26 Mike Esposito 24 Haskel Stanback Wide receivers (WR) 89 Wallace Francis 42 John Gilliam 84 Alfred Jenkins 82 Scott Piper Tight ends (TE) 81 Bob Adams 86 Jim Mitchell

Offensive linemen (OL) 62 Brent Adams T 65 Len Gotshalk T 63 Greg Kindle G 68 Larron Jackson G 73 Phil McKinnely T 53 Paul Ryczek C 70 Dave Scott G 64 Royce Smith G 58 Jim Weatherly C Defensive linemen (DL) 77 Ron East DE 71 Steve George DT 87 Claude Humphrey DE 69 Mike Lewis DT 75 Jeff Merrow DE 74 Mike Tilleman DT 79 Jeff Yeates DE

Linebackers (LB) 50 Greg Brezina OLB 51 Jim Cope MLB 52 Dewey McClain OLB 60 Tommy Nobis MLB 55 Ralph Ortega OLB 56 Guy Roberts OLB Defensive backs (DB) 34 Ray Brown SS 38 Rick Byas CB 32 Ray Easterling FS 40 Bob Jones FS 22 Rolland Lawrence CB 29 Ron Mabra CB 28 Frank Reed CB Special teams (ST)  6 John James P 12 Nick Mike-Mayer K

Reserve 72 Jim Bailey DT (IR) 10 Steve Bartkowski QB (IR) -- Walt Brett T/G (IR) 46 Monroe Eley RB (IR) 80 Karl Farmer WR (IR) 54 Fulton Kuykendall LB (IR) 88 Greg McCrary TE (IR) 48 Woody Thompson RB (IR) 57 Jeff Van Note C (IR) 78 Bill Windauer DT (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 12	Los Angeles Rams	L 14–30	0–1	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	53,607
2	September 19	at Detroit Lions	L 10–24	0–2	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	50,840
3	September 26	at Chicago Bears	W 10–0	1–2	Soldier Field	41,029
4	October 3	Philadelphia Eagles	L 13–14	1–3	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	45,535
5	October 10	at New Orleans Saints	L 0–30	1–4	Louisiana Superdome	51,521
6	October 17	Cleveland Browns	L 17–20	1–5	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	33,364
7	October 23	at San Francisco 49ers	L 0–15	1–6	Candlestick Park	50,240
8	October 31	New Orleans Saints	W 23–20	2–6	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	34,127
9	November 7	at Seattle Seahawks	L 13–30	2–7	Kingdome	57,985
10	November 14	San Francisco 49ers	W 21–16	3–7	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	20,058
11	November 21	Dallas Cowboys	W 17–10	4–7	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	54,992
12	November 28	at Houston Oilers	L 14–20	4–8	Astrodome	25,838
13	December 4	at Los Angeles Rams	L 0–59	4–9	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	57,366
14	December 12	Green Bay Packers	L 20–24	4–10	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	23,436
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Los Angeles Rams(3)	10	3	1	.750	7–0	9–2–1	351	190	W4
San Francisco 49ers	8	6	0	.571	5–2	7–5	270	190	W1
New Orleans Saints	4	10	0	.286	2–5	3–8	253	346	L3
Atlanta Falcons	4	10	0	.286	2–5	4–8	172	312	L3
Seattle Seahawks	2	12	0	.143	1–3	1–12	229	429	L5

Season summary

Week 2 at Lions

See also: 1976 Detroit Lions season

Week Two: Atlanta Falcons (0–1) at Detroit Lions (0–1)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Falcons	0	7	3	0	10
Lions	0	0	0	24	24

at Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium, Pontiac, Michigan

• Date: September 19, 1976
• Game time: 1:00 p.m.
• Game weather: Indoors (dome)
• Game attendance: 50,840
• Box Score

Game information

Second quarter ATL – Bubba Bean 5-yard run (Nick Mike-Mayer kick). Falcons 7–0. Drive: Third quarter ATL – Nick Mike-Mayer 41-yard field goal. Falcons 10–0. Drive: Fourth quarter DET – Greg Landry 5-yard run (Errol Mann kick). Falcons 10–7. Drive: DET – Errol Mann 32-yard field goal. Tie 10–10. Drive: DET – Ed O'Neil 32-yard pass from Joe Reed (Errol Mann kick). Lions 17–10. Drive: DET – James Hunter 39-yard interception return (Errol Mann kick). Lions 24–10. Top passers ATL – Steve Bartkowski – 5/16, 59 yards, 3 INT DET – Joe Reed – 5/11, 78 yards, TD Top rushers ATL – Bubba Bean – 22 rushes, 98 yards, TD DET – Dexter Bussey – 15 rushes, 79 yards Top receivers ATL – Alfred Jenkins – 3 receptions, 47 yards DET – Horace King – 3 receptions, 33 yards