Bart2Ryan+beyond 850 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Check the video between the 1:04 to the 2:00 minute mark: I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (about a 90 minute drive to Buffalo) and I was a huge Vikings fan when the Purple People Eaters defense and Tarkenton, Foreman, Rashad, etc were on those mid-70s teams. All my fav players from those Vikings teams retired by 1980 and the Vikings became just a .500 team in the weak NFC Central (back then). I was in my freshman year in HS just watching games that Sunday afternoon when whatever game was on TV concluded and CBS gave us bonus coverage to see how the Falcons-Rams game would finish. I hated the Rams because they were an absolute rival to the Vikings in the 70s. When they went to the Falcons' game, there was just over a minute remaining in the 4th and the Falcons had 3rd and 38 from their 18-yard line. Just watch what happens between 1:04 and 2:00! The crowd went nuts and I went nuts, and the beauty of those 1980 Falcons home unis with the amazing shade of red - they became instantly my new fav team and that's the way it's been for 40 years! After watching yesterday's loss, it crossed my mind it might have been Karma's plan to make me a Falcons fan that day. I grew up a Boston Celtics fans and a Montreal Canadiens fan and I've enjoyed those teams win a combined 11 championships, so this is Karma's way of balancing my sports pleasure, I figure. A few thoughts about yesterday and the rest of the season: 1) I'd have to rewatch Gurley's last TD run but I just can't shake the nagging feeling that he really didn't want to stop at the 1-yard line. I wonder if he has a bonus for TDs? Now, the lasting memory of the game for me won't be Gurley's TD. It will be watching Stafford face 1st and 10 at their 38-yard line with 34 seconds left and no TOs - and 3 passes later they have a TD! Now you see what I mean about Karma getting back at me? 2) When we beat the Vikes in week 6, I figured we could win the next 3 games and be 4-5, then have a bye before we play the Saints. That would give me hope for a playoff spot. Now at 1-6, consider me a conscript for the Tank Brigade. I never watch the Falcons and want them to lose. As the game starts my fandom takes over and I want to see a win. But from a strategic perspective, for the best chance at improving next year, the highest draft position possible is what we need. I hope we go 3-13, beating only the Saints and the Bucs once each (just because), and I will be cheering for the Bengals, Jets, Giants, Cowboys, Washingtons, Texans, Broncos, and Vikings every week, so that they end up with a better record than the Falcons. AB can then fire the entire coaching staff as far as I'm concerned. vitaman, Drew4719, Ergo Proxy and 15 others 18 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
deester11 374 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Man...what a time. I was a kid....but if you've never seen one William Andrews run the football, Lynn Cain, that Oline...wow! All of the the WR'S came to my church once....they were a special bunch. Steve Bartkowski was fun with his pitter patter feet. I just enjoyed that team so much. Bart2Ryan+beyond, dothan_birdman, FalconinPA and 6 others 9 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Black Francis 6,830 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 And then our hearts were ripped out against the hated Cowboys. Danny White...smh. 40 years later...it got worse. FalconinPA, Lowndesfalc, HouseofEuphoria and 7 others 9 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bart2Ryan+beyond 850 Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 14 minutes ago, Black Francis said: And then our hearts were ripped out against the hated Cowboys. Danny White...smh. 40 years later...it got worse. Man, you said it! That loss to Dallas is one of the toughest sports losses I've had to endure. But man, just watching that video brought back some great memories of Andrews, Cain, Jenkins and Jackson, Wallace Francis, the O-line, a pretty LB corp. And my man Bart. And those home unis, that deep shade of red with the original Falcon logo on the sleeve, the best unis the Falcons have ever had - I have to find a replica!. Black Francis, sappy1, Lowndesfalc and 2 others 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Goal2Go 447 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 I became a fan the first year I played Football two years after the 1980 season. I think the 1982 season was cut in half with a strike that year but William Andrews,Lynn Cain and Gerald Riggs, and so on . Yeah great to watch.. Loved the Running backs!! We lost to Minnesota in the wild card round i think but I have been a fan and hooked ever since.. 38 years later and we are still rebuilding.. Man I hope something works before I croak! Would be a lifetime event for me to see US win it all before I am 6 feet under... Would love nothing more than to have a real running game again!! Feels like decades since we had a few years of good backs.. Oh well, all we can do is have patience and hope.. egoprime II 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WhenFalconsWin 27,930 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Might as well reminisce about the old Falcons because these Falcons are a disgrace and the coaches surely don't help them out. Probability of us winning that game was 99%, the 1% was the very low probably on missing the game winning FG (chip shot 22 yarder) a time expires. fuego and egoprime II 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marvinthemartian 4,404 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Great team and absolutely the BEST UNIFORMS this team has ever had. NCFalconfan, egoprime II, Lowndesfalc and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FalconinPA 12,664 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 5 hours ago, Black Francis said: And then our hearts were ripped out against the hated Cowboys. Danny White...smh. 40 years later...it got worse. Still hate the Cowboys until this day because of it. Ruined my childhood memories. That 1980 season felt magical as a kid in the Atlanta area. The Christmas song was great also. ratesforless, Lowndesfalc and egoprime II 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AvidFalconFan 120 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 The 80s team is still my favorite Falcons team. Bartkowski remains my favorite Falcon of all time. Leeman Bennett was one of the best coaches IMO the Falcons ever had. Dan Reeves was another good coach. Reeves could get the most out of just an average player. Will never forget Bartkowski to Jenkins, Wallace Francis and Alfred Jackson. William Andrews, Lynn Cain. The Grits Blitz! Good ole days! Hopefully those of us who have watched this team this long will see us finally win a SB before we leave this life. putnam6, ratesforless, egoprime II and 2 others 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Black Francis 6,830 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 3 hours ago, FalconinPA said: Still hate the Cowboys until this day because of it. Ruined my childhood memories. That 1980 season felt magical as a kid in the Atlanta area. The Christmas song was great also. Yes it was a great song “on a Leeman Bennett Super Bowl Team...” ratesforless, FalconinPA and egoprime II 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bart2Ryan+beyond 850 Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 2 hours ago, AvidFalconFan said: The 80s team is still my favorite Falcons team. Bartkowski remains my favorite Falcon of all time. Leeman Bennett was one of the best coaches IMO the Falcons ever had. Dan Reeves was another good coach. Reeves could get the most out of just an average player. Will never forget Bartkowski to Jenkins, Wallace Francis and Alfred Jackson. William Andrews, Lynn Cain. The Grits Blitz! Good ole days! Hopefully those of us who have watched this team this long will see us finally win a SB before we leave this life. Going into 1981 the Falcons were a SB favourite. They started the year 3-0 but limped home and finished the year 7-9 (losing their last 3 games). I'd love to ask one of the players what happened, I heard a lot of injuries. Seven of the nine losses came by 5 points or less. What could have been....... egoprime II 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
enricque 1 Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 (edited) William Andrews interviewed by Bobby Butler- from Youtube -My 2nd ever post so not sure if my link will show. And for some reason I was not able to start/create a new thread as this forum page was grayed out when selecting when to post?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE4pqG2RgMY Edited October 31, 2020 by enricque Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jesus 24,573 Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 I fell in love with the Falcons because I like pain. Lots of pain. ATLSlobberKnockers, bertrain7 and rounz 2 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
E. T. 5,679 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 That 1980 team, much like the 1998 and 2016 teams, had the championship in the palms of their hands! They all fell apart at the worst possible times! Still stings after all these years. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fuego 15,822 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 On 10/26/2020 at 8:43 AM, AvidFalconFan said: The 80s team is still my favorite Falcons team. Bartkowski remains my favorite Falcon of all time. Leeman Bennett was one of the best coaches IMO the Falcons ever had. Dan Reeves was another good coach. Reeves could get the most out of just an average player. Will never forget Bartkowski to Jenkins, Wallace Francis and Alfred Jackson. William Andrews, Lynn Cain. The Grits Blitz! Good ole days! Hopefully those of us who have watched this team this long will see us finally win a SB before we leave this life. I still remember during the broadcast of our game against the Patriots, John Madden saying that our team was the best he had seen all year so far while watching us putting it to the Patriots. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fuego 15,822 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 3 minutes ago, E. T. said: That 1980 team, much like the 1998 and 2016 teams, had the championship in the palms of their hands! They all fell apart at the worst possible times! Still stings after all these years. Yep. I remember thinking at the time if we would have beat Dallas we would have won the SB. After the 28-3 debacle now I can't be so sure. ATLSlobberKnockers and E. T. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
celtiksage 1,240 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 This was the same year I became a falcon fan. Never seen an NFL game before that year. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Falcons_own_nfc_south 2,972 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 2 hours ago, E. T. said: That 1980 team, much like the 1998 and 2016 teams, had the championship in the palms of their hands! They all fell apart at the worst possible times! Still stings after all these years. 1998-1980 18 years 2016-1998 18 years don’t tell me that we would have to wait until 2034 now egoprime II 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ATLSlobberKnockers 8,204 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 6 hours ago, Jesus said: I fell in love with the Falcons because I like pain. Lots of pain. I've heard that about you Jesus and egoprime II 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
1989Fan 14,796 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 Every time I reminisce on the game that made me a Falcons fan I follow it up by wishing time travel was a real thing so I could go back and change the channel. egoprime II 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
egoprime II 2,313 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 On 10/26/2020 at 11:31 AM, Bart2Ryan+beyond said: Going into 1981 the Falcons were a SB favourite. They started the year 3-0 but limped home and finished the year 7-9 (losing their last 3 games). I'd love to ask one of the players what happened, I heard a lot of injuries. Seven of the nine losses came by 5 points or less. What could have been....... 3-0 start in 1981.... the Falcons looked like they had arrived. Problem is the Falcons lost Joel Williams to a knee injury, it happened against Green Bay in game three. Couple of other starters went down too. Joel Williams had posted, like, 16 sacks in 1980. Losing him was a -huge- blow. Joel was never the same after that injury. As I recall, Williams wanted more money, and the Falcons ended up trading Williams to Philly for a 2nd round pick. Later on in his career Williams did return to the Falcons. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
egoprime II 2,313 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, Falcons_own_nfc_south said: 1998-1980 18 years 2016-1998 18 years don’t tell me that we would have to wait until 2034 now Good analysis. Depressing.... but good. 😗 Here's a slightly more positive one. Both times the Falcons went to the Super Bowl? Was in year two of our new coach's tenure. And both coach's first name was Dan. Hmmm.... I wonder if this season would count as Morris' first year..... 🙄 Edited November 1, 2020 by egoprime II Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Draftnut57 4,018 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 47 years ago I became a Falcon Fan, I was 16 years old.. used to hate football on TV until I actually started watching the Game... Now the only time I ever buy a New TV has been right before Football Season. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
E. T. 5,679 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 8 hours ago, Falcons_own_nfc_south said: 1998-1980 18 years 2016-1998 18 years don’t tell me that we would have to wait until 2034 now Don't hold your breath brother, I certainly am not. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NCFalconfan 9,634 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 First game I remember watching was the 80 win at St Louis with my dad. I remember him explaining that we were rooting for Atlanta because that's where he grew up. I was 6 and have been a fan ever since. And I agree, those were the best Falcons uniforms to date. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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