1985 Atlanta Falcons season

NFL team season

1985 Atlanta Falcons season
Owner	Rankin M. Smith Sr.
General manager	Tom Braatz
Head coach	Dan Henning
Home field	Fulton County Stadium
Results
Record	4–12
Division place	4th NFC West
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	1 RB Gerald Riggs
← 1984 Falcons seasons 1986 →

The 1985 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise’s 20th season in the National Football League (NFL). They finished last in the NFC West with a record of four wins and twelve losses.

This season marked the first time since 1972 that the Falcons played the Kansas City Chiefs, and merely the second in team history.^[1] The reason for this is that before the admission of the Texans in 2002, NFL scheduling formulas for games outside a team’s division were much more influenced by table position during the previous season. They were provisionally scheduled to play in 1976, but that game was scrapped to make room for games against the newly formed Buccaneers and Seahawks,^[2] and actually scheduled to play in 1982, but that game was cancelled by a player's strike.^[3]

Offseason

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1985 Atlanta Falcons draft
1	2	Bill Fralic *	Guard	Pittsburgh
2	45	Mike Gann	Defensive end	Notre Dame
4	89	Emile Harry	Wide receiver	Stanford
6	152	Reggie Pleasant	Defensive back	Clemson
8	201	Ashley Lee	Defensive back	Virginia Tech
8	215	Ronnie Washington	Linebacker	Northeast Louisiana
9	228	Micah Moon	Linebacker	North Carolina
10	257	Brent Martin	Center	Stanford
11	284	John Ayres	Defensive back	Illinois
12	313	Ken Whisenhunt	Tight end	Georgia Tech
Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[4]

Personnel

Staff

**1985 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 Running backs – Sam Elliott Receivers – Bob Harrison Offensive line – Larry Beightol Tight ends/h-backs – Garry Puetz			Defensive coaches Assistant head coach/defensive line – Dan Sekanovich Defensive coordinator – John Marshall Linebackers – Bobby Jackson Secondary – Jack Stanton Defensive assistant – Joe Madden Special teams coaches Special teams – Ted Fritsch Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning – George Dostal

Roster

**1985 Atlanta Falcons final roster**

	Quarterbacks 16 David Archer 8 Bob Holly Running backs 39 Cliff Austin 42 Gerald Riggs 32 Tim Tyrrell Wide receivers 85 Anthony Allen 89 Charlie Brown 81 Billy Johnson Tight ends 88 Artur Cox 49 Allama Matthews 45 Ken Whisenhunt		Offensive linemen 79 Bill Fralic G 71 Glen Howe T 78 Mike Kenn T 62 Brett Miller T 67 Eric Sanders T 61 John Scully G 66 Chuck Thomas C 57 Jeff Van Note C Defensive linemen 69 Dan Benish DT 77 Rick Bryan DT 76 Mike Gann DE 70 Willard Goff DT 74 Mike Pitts DE 72 Andrew Provence DT		Linebackers 53 Thomas Benson 50 Buddy Curry 59 John Rade 96 Johnny Taylor Defensive backs 26 James Britt CB 23 Bobby Butler CB 25 Scott Case SS 20 Wendell Cason CB 33 Tiger Greene FS 35 Reggie Pleasant 27 Tom Pridemore FS 22 Sean Thomas 36 Dan Wagoner Special teams 18 Mick Luckhurst K 3 Rick Donnelly P		Reserve lists 10 Steve Bartkowski QB (IRTooltip Injured reserve) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 8	Detroit Lions	L 27–28	0–1	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	37,785	Recap
2	September 15	at San Francisco 49ers	L 16–35	0–2	Candlestick Park	58,923	Recap
3	September 22	Denver Broncos	L 28–44	0–3	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	37,903	Recap
4	September 29	at Los Angeles Rams	L 6–17	0–4	Anaheim Stadium	49,870	Recap
5	October 6	San Francisco 49ers	L 17–38	0–5	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	44,740	Recap
6	October 13	at Seattle Seahawks	L 26–30	0–6	Kingdome	60,430	Recap
7	October 20	New Orleans Saints	W 31–24	1–6	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	44,784	Recap
8	October 27	at Dallas Cowboys	L 10–24	1–7	Texas Stadium	57,941	Recap
9	November 3	Washington Redskins	L 10–44	1–8	Atlanta–Fulton County Coliseum	42,209	Recap
10	November 10	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 17–23	1–9	Veterans Stadium	63,694	Recap
11	November 17	Los Angeles Rams	W 30–14	2–9	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	29,960	Recap
12	November 24	at Chicago Bears	L 0–36	2–10	Soldier Field	61,769	Recap
13	December 1	Los Angeles Raiders	L 24–43	2–11	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	20,858	Recap
14	December 8	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 10–38	2–12	Arrowhead Stadium	18,199	Recap
15	December 15	Minnesota Vikings	W 14–13	3–12	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	14,167	Recap
16	December 22	at New Orleans Saints	W 16–10	4–12	Louisiana Superdome	37,717	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 10

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Falcons	0	0	0	17	0	17
• Eagles	0	14	3	0	6	23

Date: November 10
Location: Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia
Game start: 1:00 p.m.
Game weather: 61 °F (16 °C), wind 16 mph (26 km/h)
Referee: Chuck Heberling

Scoring summary

2	PHI	Earnest Jackson 8 yard run (Paul McFadden kick)	Eagles 7–0

2	PHI	Ron Jaworski 1 yard run (Paul McFadden kick)	Eagles 14–0

3	PHI	Paul McFadden 30 yard field goal	Eagles 17–0

4	ATL	Joe Washington 18 yard pass from David Archer (Mick Luckhurst kick)	Eagles 17–7

4	ATL	Gerald Riggs 1 yard run (Mick Luckhurst kick)	Eagles 17–14

4	ATL	Mick Luckhurst 27 yard field goal	Tie 17–17

OT	PHI	Mike Quick 99 yard pass from Ron Jaworski	Eagles 23–17

^[5]

Standings

NFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Los Angeles Rams⁽²⁾	11	5	0	.688	3–3	8–4	340	277	L1
San Francisco 49ers⁽⁵⁾	10	6	0	.625	4–2	7–5	411	263	W2
New Orleans Saints	5	11	0	.313	2–4	5–7	294	401	L3
Atlanta Falcons	4	12	0	.250	3–3	4–8	282	452	W2

Awards and records

Bill Fralic, Sports Illustrated NFL Rookie of the Year.^[6]

References

^ Atlanta Falcons v Kansas City Chiefs
^ Urena, Ivan (2013). Pro Football Schedules: A Complete Historical Guide from 1933 to the Present. pp. 75–78. ISBN 978-0786473519.
^ History of the NFL’s Structure and Formats
^ "1985 Atlanta Falcons Draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
^ 1990 NFL Pro Set Bill Fralic trading card, Card No. 34, Pro Set Properties

External links

1985 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.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

1985 NFL season

East	Central	West	East	Central	West
Buffalo	Cincinnati	Denver	Dallas	Chicago	Atlanta
Indianapolis	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