1975 Atlanta Falcons season

1975 Atlanta Falcons season
1975 Atlanta Falcons season
Owner	Rankin M. Smith Sr.
Head coach	Marion Campbell
General manager	Pat Peppler
Home field	Atlanta Stadium
Results
Record	4–10
Division place	3rd NFC West
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
	← 1974; Falcons seasons; 1976 →;

The 1975 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's tenth year in the National Football League (NFL). With the first overall pick of the NFL draft, the Falcons selected quarterback Steve Bartkowski out of the University of California. However, the pick would do them no good as the Falcons slumped to another miserable 4–10 record and missed the playoffs for the 10th straight season. This was also the first and only full season for head coach Marion Campbell until the 1980s, as he was hired to coach the final 6 games of the previous season and was fired 5 games into the following season.

Offseason[]

NFL Draft[]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1975 Atlanta Falcons draft
1	1	Steve Bartkowski *	Quarterback	California
Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[1]

Personnel[]

Staff[]

**1975 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 Offensive Backfield – John Rauch 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[]

**1975 Atlanta Falcons final roster**

	Quarterbacks 10 Steve Bartkowski 11 Kim McQuilken 7 Pat Sullivan Running backs 25 47 Brad Davis 46 Monroe Eley 43 Dave Hampton 30 Oscar Reed 24 Haskel Stanback 48 Woody Thompson FB Wide receivers 82 Ken Burrow 89 Wallace Francis 84 Alfred Jenkins Tight ends 88 Greg McCrary 86 Jim Mitchell		Offensive linemen 61 Brent Adams T 63 Nick Bebout T 65 Len Gotshalk T 56 Dennis Havig G 68 Larron Jackson G 64 Royce Smith G 57 Jeff Van Note C Defensive linemen 78 Roy Hilton DE 69 Mike Lewis DT 75 Jeff Merrow DE 74 Mike Tilleman DT 79 Chuck Walker DT 71 John Zook DE		Linebackers 50 Greg Brezina 58 Don Hansen 54 Fulton Kuykendall 60 Tommy Nobis 55 Ralph Ortega 59 Carl Russ Defensive backs 34 Ray Brown S 38 Rick Byas CB 32 Ray Easterling FS 40 S 22 Rolland Lawrence CB 29 Ron Mabra Special teams 6 John James P 12 Nick Mike-Mayer K		Reserve lists 87 Claude Humphrey DE (IR) Practice squad Rookies in italics

Regular season[]

Schedule[]

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 21	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 20–23	0–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	42,172	Recap
2	September 28	Detroit Lions	L 14–17	0–2	Atlanta Stadium	45,218	Recap
3	October 5	New Orleans Saints	W 14–7	1–2	Atlanta Stadium	29,444	Recap
4	October 12	at San Francisco 49ers	W 17–3	2–2	Candlestick Park	44,043	Recap
5	October 19	at Los Angeles Rams	L 7–22	2–3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	64,843	Recap
6	October 26	Cincinnati Bengals	L 14–21	2–4	Atlanta Stadium	45,811	Recap
7	November 2	at New Orleans Saints	L 7–23	2–5	Louisiana Superdome	49,342	Recap
8	November 9	at Minnesota Vikings	L 0–38	2–6	Metropolitan Stadium	43,751	Recap
9	November 16	Los Angeles Rams	L 7–16	2–7	Atlanta Stadium	44,595	Recap
10	November 23	Denver Broncos	W 35–21	3–7	Atlanta Stadium	28,686	Recap
11	November 30	at Oakland Raiders	L 34–37	3–8	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	50,860	Recap
12	December 7	Washington Redskins	L 27–30	3–9	Atlanta Stadium	52,809	Recap
13	December 14	San Francisco 49ers	W 31–9	4–9	Atlanta Stadium	38,501	Recap
14	December 21	at Green Bay Packers	L 13–22	4–10	Lambeau Field	56,267	Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings[]

NFC West
view talk	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Los Angeles Rams⁽²⁾	12	2	0	.857	5–1	9–2	312	135	W6
San Francisco 49ers	5	9	0	.357	3–3	4–7	255	286	L4
Atlanta Falcons	4	10	0	.286	3–3	3–8	240	289	L1
New Orleans Saints	2	12	0	.143	1–5	2–9	165	360	L7

^[2]

Game summaries[]

Week 1: at St. Louis Cardinals[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Falcons	7	6	7	0	20
Cardinals	7	6	0	10	23

at Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

Date: Sunday, September 21
Game time: 1:00 p.m.
Game weather: 54°F, wind 10 mph
Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

First quarter

STL – Terry Metcalf 39-yard run (Jim Bakken kick) – Cardinals 7–0
ATL – Steve Bartkowski 1-yard run (Nick Mike-Mayer kick) – Tied 7–7

Second quarter

STL – Jim Bakken 22-yard field goal – Cardinals 10–7
ATL – Dave Hampton 6-yard run (kick failed) – Falcons 13–10
STL – Jim Bakken 39-yard field goal – Tied 13–13

Third quarter

ATL – Dave Hampton 1-yard run (Nick Mike-Mayer kick) – Falcons 20–13

Fourth quarter

STL – Earl Thomas 8-yard pass from Jim Hart (Jim Bakken kick) – Tied 20–20
STL – Jim Bakken 25-yard field goal – Cardinals 23–20

Falcons

Steve Bartkowski
8/16, 81 Yds, INT
Dave Hampton
23 Rush, 135 Yds, 2 TD
Woody Thompson
3 Rec, 29 Yds

Cardinals

Jim Hart
12/23, 150 Yds, TD, 2 INT
Terry Metcalf
20 Rush, 99 Yds, TD
Mel Gray
3 Rec, 65 Yds

References[]

^ "1975 Atlanta Falcons draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 296

External links[]

1975 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.com

[1] "1975 Atlanta Falcons draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 24, 2014.

[2] NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 296

[1]

[2]

v t 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 Cheerleaders The "Dirty Bird" (dance) "2 Legit 2 Quit"
Lore	Grits Blitz Gary Anderson's missed field goal Michael Vick dog fighting investigation 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 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
Italics indicates Super Bowl appearance