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1989 Atlanta Falcons season
The 1989 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise’s 24th season in the National Football League (NFL). The Falcons drafted Deion Sanders with their first round pick in the NFL Draft. Marion Campbell retired after the twelfth game of the season.
| 1989 Atlanta Falcons season |
|---|
| Marion Campbell (fired November 28, 3-9 record)Jim Hanifan (interim; 0-4 record) |
| Fulton County Stadium |
| 3–13 |
| 4th NFC West |
| Did not qualify |
| 1 |
| G Bill Fralic |
The 1989 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise’s 24th season in the National Football League (NFL). The Falcons drafted Deion Sanders with their first round pick in the NFL Draft. Marion Campbell retired after the twelfth game of the season.
Despite having Sanders in their defensive backfield, the Falcons surrendered 7.59 yards per pass attempt (including quarterback sacks) in 1989, one of the ten worst totals in NFL history.
The latter part of the season was marred by two tragedies. On November 24, rookie offensive tackle Ralph Norwood was killed in an automobile accident eight miles from the Falcons’ training facilities. Just under a month later, on December 19, backup tight end Brad Beckman was also killed in an auto accident. It marked the death of three players of the team in the space of two seasons (the previous year, cornerback David Croudip died of an overdose).
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | Column 5 | Column 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 Atlanta Falcons draft | |||||
| 1 | 5 | Deion Sanders * † | Cornerback | Florida State | |
| 1 | 27 | Shawn Collins | Wide receiver | Northern Arizona | |
| 2 | 38 | Ralph Norwood | Offensive tackle | LSU | |
| 3 | 62 | Keith Jones | Running back | Illinois | |
| 6 | 145 | Troy Sadowski | Tight end | Georgia | |
| 7 | 172 | Undra Johnson | Running back | West Virginia | |
| 8 | 202 | Paul Singer | Quarterback | Western Illinois | |
| 9 | 229 | Chris Dunn | Linebacker | Cal Poly | |
| 11 | 286 | Greg Paterra | Running back | Slippery Rock | |
| 12 | 313 | Tony Bowick | Defensive tackle | Chattanooga | |
| .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career |
| Player | Position | College |
|---|---|---|
| Oscar Angulo | Tight end | Eastern Kentucky |
| Norris Blount | Cornerback | Baylor |
| Deon Booker | Running back | Louisville |
| Ivan Cook | Linebacker | Washington State |
| Tyreese Knox | Running back | Nebraska |
| Steve McMillon | Cornerback | Wyoming |
| Maury Metcalf | Linebacker | Washington State |
| Mark Millett | Tight end | Southwest Texas State |
| Kevin Simien | Wide receiver | Fort Hays State |
| Alonzo Washington | Running back | Arizona |
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | Column 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front office |
Chairman of the board — Rankin M. Smith Sr. President — Rankin M. Smith, Jr. Executive vice president — Taylor Smith Director of player personnel — Ken Herock Director of pro scouting — Chuck Connor Head coaches
Head coach — Marion Campbell Offensive coaches
Assistant head coach/offense — Jim Hanifan Offensive coordinator — Rod Dowhower Running backs — Steve Crosby Receivers — Jimmy Raye Tight ends — Foge Fazio | | | Defensive coaches Assistant head coach/defense — Fred Bruney Defensive line — Tommy Brasher Linebackers _ Chuck Clausen Defensive assistant — Claude Humphrey Special teams coaches
Special teams — Foge Fazio Strength and conditioning
Strength and conditioning — Tim Jorgensen |
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | Column 5 | Column 6 | Column 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterbacks (QB) | ||||||
| 10 Scott Campbell | ||||||
| 7 Hugh Millen | ||||||
| 12 Chris Miller | ||||||
| Running backs (RB) |
38 Keith Jones 33 Gene Lang 36 Greg Paterra 44 John Settle Wide receivers (WR)
82 Stacey Bailey 85 Shawn Collins 86 Floyd Dixon 81 Michael Haynes 89 George Thomas Tight ends (TE)
80 Ron Heller 45 Ken Whisenhunt 87 Gary Wilkins | | Offensive linemen (OL) 74 Stan Clayton G 64 Jamie Dukes C 79 Bill Fralic G 69 Houston Hoover T 68 John Hunter G 75 Mike Kenn T 55 Wayne Radloff C 66 Tommy Robison Defensive linemen (DL)
70 Tony Bowick DT 75 Tony Casillas DT 76 Mike Gann DE 67 Malcolm Taylor DE 72 Ben Thomas DE | | Linebackers (LB) 93 Aundray Bruce OLB 51 Marcus Cotton OLB 99 Tim Green OLB 59 John Rade ILB 95 Michael Reid ILB 53 Galand Thaxton ILB 58 Jessie Tuggle ILB 54 Joel Williams OLB Defensive backs (DB)
23 Bobby Butler CB 20 Evan Cooper SS 22 Charles Dimry CB 41 Tim Gordon FS 40 Brian Jordan SS 34 Robert Moore S 21 Deion Sanders CB 32 Tony Zackery CB Special teams (ST)
65 Guy Bingham LS 5 Greg Davis K 17 Scott Fulhage P | | Practice squad 28 Undra Johnson RB 24 Darron Norris RB 96 Benji Roland DE 45 Troy Sadowski TE 83 Kevin Simien WR 9 Paul Singer QB Reserve
77 Rick Bryan DE (IR) 25 Scott Case CB (IR) 3 Rick Donnelly P (PUP) 88 Alex Higdon TE (PUP) 6 Paul McFadden K (IR) 27 Steve McMillon CB (IR) 49 James Primus RB (IR) 37 Elbert Shelley S (IR) Rookies in italics 47 active, 8 reserve, 6 practice squad |
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 10 | Los Angeles Rams | L 21–31 | 0–1 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 38,708 | |
| September 17 | Dallas Cowboys | W 27–21 | 1–1 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 55,285 | |
| September 24 | at Indianapolis Colts | L 9–13 | 1–2 | Hoosier Dome | 57,816 | |
| October 1 | at Green Bay Packers | L 21–23 | 1–3 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 54,647 | |
| October 8 | at Los Angeles Rams | L 14–26 | 1–4 | Anaheim Stadium | 52,182 | |
| October 15 | New England Patriots | W 16–15 | 2–4 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 39,697 | |
| October 22 | at Phoenix Cardinals | L 20–34 | 2–5 | Sun Devil Stadium | 33,894 | |
| October 29 | at New Orleans Saints | L 13–20 | 2–6 | Louisiana Superdome | 65,153 | |
| November 5 | Buffalo Bills | W 30–28 | 3–6 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 45,267 | |
| November 12 | at San Francisco 49ers | L 3–45 | 3–7 | Candlestick Park | 59,914 | |
| November 19 | New Orleans Saints | L 17–26 | 3–8 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 53,173 | |
| November 26 | at New York Jets | L 7–27 | 3–9 | Giants Stadium | 40,429 | |
| December 3 | San Francisco 49ers | L 10–23 | 3–10 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 43,128 | |
| December 10 | at Minnesota Vikings | L 17–43 | 3–11 | Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome | 58,116 | |
| December 17 | Washington Redskins | L 30–31 | 3–12 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 37,501 | |
| December 24 | Detroit Lions | L 24–31 | 3–13 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 7,792 | |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |
This would be the final win of the season for Atlanta.
| NFC West | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco 49ers(1) | 14 | 2 | 0 | .875 | 5–1 | 10–2 | 442 | 253 | W5 |
| Los Angeles Rams(5) | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 4–2 | 8–4 | 426 | 344 | W2 |
| New Orleans Saints | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 3–3 | 5–7 | 386 | 301 | W3 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 3 | 13 | 0 | .188 | 0–6 | 1–11 | 279 | 437 | L7 |
- Shawn Collins, led all NFL rookie wide receivers in receptions (58)
The Falcons drew a franchise-low attendance of 7,792 for their finale, a 31–24 loss to the Detroit Lions on December 24.
- 1989 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.com
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