1983 Atlanta Falcons season

NFL team season

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The 1983 Atlanta Falcons season was the Falcons’ eighteenth season in the National Football League. The team looked to improve on its 5–4 1982 season and make the playoffs for the second consecutive season. However, the Falcons started out terribly, losing five of their first seven games. The Falcons would finish the season with a 7–9 record in their first season under head coach Dan Henning. This would ultimately prove the first of eight consecutive losing seasons for the Falcons.

Offseason

NFL Draft

1983 Atlanta Falcons Draft
Round	Selection	Player	Position	College
1	16	Mike Pitts	DE	Alabama
2	43	Jim Britt	DB	Louisiana State
3	75	Andrew Provence	DT	South Carolina
4	102	John Harper	LB	Southern Illinois
5	129	Brett Miller	OT	Iowa
6	156	Anthony Allen	WR	Washington
7	183	Jeff Turk	DB	Boise State
8	215	John Rade	LB	Boise State
10	268	Ralph Giacomarro	P	Penn State
11	295	John Salley	DB	Wyoming
12	322	Allama Matthews	TE	Vanderbilt

Personnel

Staff

**1983 Atlanta Falcons staff**
	Front office Chairman of the board – Rankin M. Smith Sr. President – Rankin M. Smith, Jr. Executive vice president/chief operating officer – Eddie LeBaron General manager – Tom Braatz Head coaches Head coach – Dan Henning Offensive coaches Quarterbacks/running backs – Steve Crosby Receivers – Bob Harrison Offensive line – Bob Fry Assistant offensive line – Garry Puetz			Defensive coaches Assistant head coach/defensive line – Dan Sekanovich Defensive coordinator – John Marshall Linebackers – Bobby Jackson Secondary – Jack Christiansen Special teams coaches Special teams – Ted Fritsch Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning – George Dostal

Roster

**1983 Atlanta Falcons final roster**

	Quarterbacks 10 Steve Bartkowski 15 Mike Moroski Running backs 31 William Andrews 21 Lynn Cain 42 Gerald Riggs Wide receivers 83 Floyd Hodge 85 Alfred Jackson 84 Alfred Jenkins 81 Billy Johnson Tight ends 88 Arthur Cox 80 Junior Miller 86 Ben Young		Offensive linemen 71 Dan Dufour G 78 Mike Kenn T 62 Brett Miller G 67 Eric Sanders T 61 John Scully G 68 R.C. Thielemann G 57 Jeff Van Note C Defensive linemen 69 Dan Benish DT 72 Andrew Provence DT 77 Doug Rogers DE 65 Don Smith DT 79 Jeff Yeates DE		Linebackers 50 Buddy Curry 54 Fulton Kuykendall 55 Dave Levenick 59 John Rade Defensive backs 26 James Britt CB 23 Bobby Butler CB 34 Blane Gaison 37 Kenny Johnson CB 27 Tom Pridemore FS Special teams 1 Ralph Giacomarro P 18 Mick Luckhurst K		Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 4	at Chicago Bears	W 20–17	1–0	Soldier Field	60,165
2	September 11	New York Giants	L 13–16	1–1	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	58,075
3	September 18	at Detroit Lions	W 30–14	2–1	Pontiac Silverdome	54,622
4	September 25	at San Francisco 49ers	L 20–24	2–2	Candlestick Park	57,814
5	October 2	Philadelphia Eagles	L 24–28	2–3	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	50,621
6	October 9	New Orleans Saints	L 17–19	2–4	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	51,654
7	October 16	at Los Angeles Rams	L 21–27	2–5	Anaheim Stadium	50,404
8	October 23	at New York Jets	W 27–21	3–5	Giants Stadium	46,878
9	October 30	New England Patriots	W 24–13	4–5	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	47,546
10	November 6	at New Orleans Saints	L 10–27	4–6	Louisiana Superdome	67,062
11	November 14	Los Angeles Rams	L 13–36	4–7	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	31,202
12	November 20	San Francisco 49ers	W 28–24	5–7	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	39,782
13	November 27	Green Bay Packers	W 47–41	6–7	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	35,688
14	December 4	at Washington Redskins	L 21–37	6–8	RFK Stadium	52,074
15	December 10	at Miami Dolphins	L 24–31	6–9	Miami Orange Bowl	56,725
16	December 18	Buffalo Bills	W 31–14	7–9	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	31,015
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
San Francisco 49ers⁽²⁾	10	6	0	.625	4–2	8–4	432	293	W3
Los Angeles Rams⁽⁵⁾	9	7	0	.563	5–1	8–4	361	344	W1
New Orleans Saints	8	8	0	.500	2–4	7–5	319	337	L1
Atlanta Falcons	7	9	0	.438	1–5	4–8	370	389	W1

Awards and records

References

Falcons on Pro Football Reference
Falcons on jt-sw.com

v t e Atlanta Falcons
Founded in 1966 Based in Atlanta, Georgia Headquartered in Flowery Branch, Georgia
Franchise	Franchise Team history Seasons Players Quarterbacks Head coaches Expansion draft Draft history First-round draft picks
Stadiums	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Georgia Dome Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Culture	Rankin M. Smith Sr. Arthur Blank Freddie Falcon The "Dirty Bird" (dance) "2 Legit 2 Quit" Brian Banks Quarterback
Lore	Grits Blitz Gary Anderson's missed field goal Michael Vick dog fighting investigation Timeline 28–3
Rivalries	Carolina Panthers New Orleans Saints Philadelphia Eagles
Wild card / First round berths (8)	1978 1982 1991 1995 2002 2008 2011 2017
Division championships (6)	1980 1998 2004 2010 2012 2016
Conference championships (2)	1998 2016
Ring of Honor	10 21 28 31 42 57 58 60 78 84 87
Current league affiliations	League: National Football League Conference: National Football Conference Division: South Division
Category

v t e Atlanta Falcons seasons
1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Italics indicates Super Bowl appearance

1983 NFL season

East	Central	West	East	Central	West
Baltimore	Cincinnati	Denver	Dallas	Chicago	Atlanta
Buffalo	Cleveland	Kansas City	NY Giants	Detroit	LA Rams
Miami	Houston	LA Raiders	Philadelphia	Green Bay	New Orleans
New England	Pittsburgh	San Diego	St. Louis	Minnesota	San Francisco
NY Jets		Seattle	Washington	Tampa Bay