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The NFL doesn't keep official statistics in the category, but
there's little doubt that the 1996 Falcons led the league in bad
mojo. It's one thing to go 3-13. It's something else altogether
for players and coaches to comport themselves like characters in
an Aaron Spelling prime-time soap.
Things got messy by the third game, when quarterback Jeff George
and coach June Jones got into a nationally televised catfight on
the sideline during a home loss to Philadelphia. "Some things
that were said you wouldn't say to your worst enemy," backup
quarterback Bobby Hebert reported. Jones suspended George for
four games, and when a trade couldn't be brokered, the
quarterback was waived. The coach thought the move would save
his credibility, but Atlanta sleepwalked to an 0-8 start, and
mutiny was in the air.
Jones was already looking like a goner when, before Game 16,
defensive end Chuck Smith told reporters that what the Falcons
needed was a coach committed to defense. A media firestorm
ensued, Smith was suspended for the last game, and the black
cloud grew darker. Players dubbed the team dinner before the
season finale against Jacksonville the Last Supper. When
ultrareliable Morten Andersen blew a 30-yard field goal in the
waning moments to lose the game, it seemed a fitting conclusion.
At season's end Atlanta did the only thing it could: clean
house. Goodbye Jones and his run-and-shoot, hello Dan Reeves and
his old-school approach. Reeves, who at 149-113-1 has the most
wins among active NFL coaches, will also run Atlanta's football
operations, a significant departure from his role in four
seasons as coach of the Giants. "I'm much more comfortable
here," says Reeves. "I have the authority to do things. If I
don't get it done, it's my fault."
One of Reeves's first moves was to trade two draft picks to the
Oilers for Chris Chandler, his new starting quarterback. Don't
laugh. Although this will be Chandler's sixth team in 10 years,
he has emerged as a dependable and occasionally spectacular
quarterback—a fact he is happy to elaborate on. "I think in the
last three years I've played as well as anybody in the league,"
says Chandler, who threw 33 touchdown passes and completed more
than 60% of his passes in two seasons in Houston. "I have a lot
of experience, and I have a lot of confidence."
What he doesn't have is Eric Metcalf, the dangerous slot
receiver who left the Falcons for San Diego. But under Reeves
the passing game will take a backseat to what could be a
formidable power running offense. Fullback Craig Heyward
moved on to St. Louis, but the presence of fullback Jamal
Anderson, a 5'11", 234-pound wrecking ball, will compensate.
The 1994 seventh-rounder broke through last year, leaving trampled
defenders in his wake. "Anytime you talk discipline and running
the ball, I get excited," says Anderson.
The Falcons pulled a heist in April when they picked Byron
Hanspard, a blazing back from Texas Tech, in the second round.
He and Anderson will work behind an offensive line that rates as
one of the team's strengths. It's led by a pair of former
first-rounders in tackles Bob Whitfield and Antone Davis, and by
tenacious left guard Robbie Tobeck.
Defensively, the Falcons have addressed their biggest
weakness—cornerback—with the signing of free agent "Big Play"
Ray Buchanan and the selection of Nebraska's Michael Booker with
the 11th pick in the draft. Last year Atlanta used eight
starting combos at corner and finished 27th in the league in
pass defense—this after allowing the most passing yards in NFL
history in 1995.
It will be up to the linebackers to carry the defense.
Three-time Pro Bowler Jessie Tuggle continues to be a tackling
machine. Mike Croel may finally be ready to put his considerable
physical gifts to use, especially now that he has been reunited
with Reeves, who drafted him in the first round in Denver in
1991. Cornelius Bennett must show more life than he did during
his three-sack campaign in '96.
The line is serviceable, led by the fiery Smith. Of his new
coach, Smith says, "This is an opportunity to have some
structure, to help us rise to higher levels. Dan Reeves knows
what it takes to win in this league."
The Falcons may not win many more games this year, but a season
in which they take out their frustrations on the opposition, not
on each other, would constitute progress.
—by Alan Shipnuck
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