| Team: | Atlanta Falcons |
| Year: | 1973 |
| Record: | 9–5 |
| Division Place: | 2nd NFC West |
| Coach: | Norm Van Brocklin |
| General Manager: | Norm Van Brocklin |
| Owner: | Rankin M. Smith Sr. |
| Stadium: | Atlanta Stadium |
| Playoffs: | Did not qualify |
| Shortnavlink: | Falcons seasons |
The 1973 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's eighth year in the National Football League (NFL). The team improved on their previous season's output of 7–7 and achieved their best record until 1980, but failed to reach a maiden playoff berth.
Despite entering the last month of the regular season at 8–3, they were upset by the Buffalo Bills, forcing them into a race with the Washington Redskins for the wild card playoff spot. The NFL's tiebreaker format at the time, which favored teams with the best combined scoring offense and defense, necessitated a blowout win over a Cardinals team that had won only one of its last ten and was playing an unknown quarterback, Gary Keithley.[1] However, while Keithley completed only ten of 32 passes (he and Falcons quarterback Bob Lee recorded a 0.0 passer rating in the game), the Falcons were instead blown out 32–10 at home courtesy of an unexpected Cardinals rushing game and six field goals from Jim Bakken.[2] [3] [4] Although the Falcons won the regular season finale to end the season at 9–5, Washington also won and qualified as the wild card with a 10–4 record.[5]
A highlight for the 1973 Falcons was defeating the Vikings when that team was 9–0 and looking at emulating the previous season‘s Dolphins’ perfect season.[6] Despite the Falcons’ success between 2008 and 2012, this was the last time the Falcons defeated the last unbeaten NFL team until they defeated the 14–0 Carolina Panthers in week 16 of the 2015 season.
See main article: article and 1973 NFL Draft.
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 16 | at New Orleans Saints | W 62–7 | 1–0 | Tulane Stadium | 66,428 | |
| 2 | September 23 | at Los Angeles Rams | L 0–31 | 1–1 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 61,197 | |
| 3 | at Detroit Lions | L 6–31 | 1–2 | Tiger Stadium | 45,599 | ||
| 4 | October 7 | San Francisco 49ers | L 9–13 | 1–3 | Atlanta Stadium | 51,107 | |
| 5 | October 14 | Chicago Bears | W 46–6 | 2–3 | Atlanta Stadium | 58,850 | |
| 6 | October 21 | at San Diego Chargers | W 41–0 | 3–3 | San Diego Stadium | 41,527 | |
| 7 | October 28 | at San Francisco 49ers | W 17–3 | 4–3 | Candlestick Park | 56,825 | |
| 8 | November 4 | Los Angeles Rams | W 15–13 | 5–3 | Atlanta Stadium | 55,837 | |
| 9 | November 11 | at Philadelphia Eagles | W 44–27 | 6–3 | Veterans Stadium | 63,114 | |
| 10 | November 19 | Minnesota Vikings | W 20–14 | 7–3 | Atlanta Stadium | 56,519 | |
| 11 | November 25 | at New York Jets | W 28–20 | 8–3 | Shea Stadium | 47,283 | |
| 12 | December 2 | Buffalo Bills | L 6–17 | 8–4 | Atlanta Stadium | 54,607 | |
| 13 | December 9 | St. Louis Cardinals | L 10–32 | 8–5 | Atlanta Stadium | 48,030 | |
| 14 | December 16 | New Orleans Saints | W 14–10 | 9–5 | Atlanta Stadium | 34,147 | |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. | |||||||