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.

2003 Atlanta Falcons season
Owner	Arthur Blank
General manager	Rich McKay
Head coach	Dan Reeves (fired December 10, 3-10 record) Wade Phillips (interim, 2-1 record)
Offensive coordinator	Pete Mangurian
Defensive coordinator	Wade Phillips
Home stadium	Georgia Dome
Results
Record	5–11
Division place	4th NFC South
Playoffs	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	TE Alge Crumpler LB Keith Brooking
← 2002 Falcons seasons 2004 →

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.^[1]

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 2003 NFL draft

2003 Atlanta Falcons draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
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

^[2]

Personnel

2003 Atlanta Falcons staff

Front office Owner/chief executive officer – Arthur Blank Senior advisor to the president – Bobby Beathard Vice president of football operations – Ron Hill College scouting coordinator – Reed Johnson Director of pro personnel – Les Snead Assistant to head coach/pro personnel – Marvin Bass Head coaches Executive vice president/head coach – Dan Reeves Interim head coach – Wade Phillips Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – Pete Mangurian Quarterbacks – Mike Johnson Running backs – Ollie Wilson Wide receivers – George Stewart Tight ends – James Daniel Offensive line – Rennie Simmons Offensive quality control – Bill Lazor

Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Wade Phillips Defensive line – Bill Johnson Linebackers – Billy Davis Secondary – Emmitt Thomas Defensive quality control – Dennis Allen Special teams coaches Special teams – Joe DeCamillis Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning – Al Miller Assistant strength and conditioning – Rocky Colburn

Roster

2003 Atlanta Falcons roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 11 Doug Johnson 15 Kurt Kittner  7 Michael Vick Running backs (RB) 30 Woody Dantzler 45 T. J. Duckett 33 Justin Griffith FB Wide receivers (WR) 80 Terrence Edwards 87 Jimmy Farris 86 Brian Finneran 88 John Lewis 81 Peerless Price Tight ends (TE) 89 Sean Brewer 83 Alge Crumpler 85 Brian Kozlowski 48 Derek Rackley LS

Offensive linemen (OL) 64 Martin Bibla G 65 Kynan Forney G 72 Matt Knutson T 62 Todd McClure C 67 Michael Moore G 76 Kevin Shaffer T 74 Todd Weiner T Defensive linemen (DL) 98 Travis Hall DE 93 Raymond House DE 95 Ed Jasper NT 61 Ellis Johnson NT 97 Patrick Kerney DE 51 Karon Riley DE 91 Brady Smith DE 99 Demetrin Veal DE

Linebackers (LB) 56 Keith Brooking ILB 54 Chris Draft ILB 53 Keith Newman OLB 92 Terrence Robinson ILB 55 Twan Russell OLB 52 Matt Stewart OLB 50 Artie Ulmer OLB Defensive backs (DB) 21 Juran Bolden CB 34 Ray Buchanan CB 29 Keion Carpenter FS 27 Cory Hall FS 23 Kevin Mathis CB 32 Tod McBride CB 22 Gerald McBurrows SS 47 Kevin McCadam S 25 Derek Ross CB 20 Allen Rossum CB 24 Bryan Scott SS 39 Siddeeq Shabazz FS 26 Brandon Williams CB 37 Tyrone Williams CB Special teams (ST)  4 Jay Feely K 13 Chris Mohr P

Practice squad 35 Jeremy Allen FB 77 Charles Alston DE 17 Brian Guthrie SS 16 Willie Quinnie WR Reserve 71 Travis Claridge G (IR) 82 LaTarence Dunbar WR (IR) 28 Warrick Dunn RB (IR) 63 Roberto Garza G (IR) 36 Travis Jervey RB (IR) 38 George Layne FB (IR) 73 Dwayne Morgan T (IR) 90 Will Overstreet LB (IR) 59 Sam Rogers LB (IR) 70 Bob Whitfield T (IR) Rookies in italics 53 active, 10 reserve, 4 practice squad

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,^[3] 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.^[4]

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
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
view talk edit	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