Curse of the Falcons
A podcast for Falcons fans by Falcons fans. Join Chuck and Dan, both lifelong Falcons fans, for an in-depth journey through Falcons history. We feel every bit of your pain. We’re going to examine the Falcons historically more in-depth than any single podcast ever has. From Ernie “The Wheel” Wheelwright to Bijan Robinson, this is the place where we gather together to tape up and get back out on the field. Is THIS The Year? Surely it can’t continue… can it?… Join us weekly as we endeavor to Reverse the Curse!
Curse of the Falcons
Forgettable (2003)
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Vick breaks his leg, Coach gets canned, and all sorts of Falconing and so forth.
We're first cousins, in-laws, best friends, altogether related, and we've lived the nightmare of loving the Falcons since 1966.
SPEAKER_00Do you remember that when people would say 19 and I I still do from time to time just to remind myself that my days are numbered.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well, listen, before we get going on this week's episode, a quick reminder: everything you hear on The Curse of the Falcons is strictly our opinion. We've got a lot of those. We're not affiliated with the Falcons, the Atlanta Falcons, or any of the NFL in any official way. This podcast is just for us, the fans, so please enjoy the show. Please do. All right. How are you doing, Sonny? I'm doing well, thank you. You know, this time in Atlanta, it's like pretty rainy, and you never know when a shower's gonna pop out or thunder, whatever. So anyway, that's kind of where we are right now. Uh the dog days of summer.
SPEAKER_00They're brutal too. Now I I used to I have a weather station that I have behind my house, a little home weather station, and I I kind of track it and and keep track of what the temperatures are and all that. It seems to me, year after year, the hottest day is on or around July 4th. So we're supposed to be starting to get just a tick cooler right now, and I'm I'm not seeing it. No. No. I think this is permanent. Yeah. No more snow, nothing but hot. Well, we gotta have some snow. One of these years.
SPEAKER_01One of these years we've got to have some snow. Okay, enough of that. Hey, hopefully all you guys are doing well, and uh man, it's time to uh it's time to have a recap of some past stuff.
SPEAKER_00Oh, we're we're moving episode 62, we're moving into the 2003 season. And for those of you with a bookmark, you know exactly where we are, and you'll understand that this is probably a fairly short episode because nothing good happened. Uh one very bad thing happened very early, and it kind of ruined the whole season. Let's start with the draft. Um, we didn't have a first rounder that year. That seems to happen a great deal. And 2003 is no exception. That's a typical way to start a very bad year. Second round, we draft Brian Scott, safety out of Penn State. He played 10 years in the league, three with Atlanta, and a good solid career. We should have kept that guy. Uh let's see. Fourth round, we took Justin Griffith, fullback out of Mississippi State. Another solid player, seven years in the league, four with Atlanta. His production dropped off when he went elsew elsewhere, when he left us. Uh seventh, seventh round, defensive end from Tennessee, Demetrius Veal. I don't know. Played parts of four seasons with three different teams, only three games as a Falcon, only one total start in the league. Win some lose some.
SPEAKER_01I'm just gonna say I don't remember him.
SPEAKER_00No. Demetrius Veal.
SPEAKER_01Sorry if you're listening, sorry.
SPEAKER_00You'll you'll never forget his name now, Demetrius Veal. Yeah. So anyway, preseason. Vic broke his leg during a preseason game versus Baltimore. That's that's gonna tell most of this story. He had missed most of the year without too much detail, it went something like this. We won the opener against a good Dallas team somehow, coached by Bill Parcells 27-13. The Falcons started Doug Johnson at quarterback, and we beat a good Cowboys team. But after losing the next seven games in a row without Michael Vick, including a 45-17 embarrassment at home against the Saints. Wow. And quarterback Aaron Andrews, who I believe is Michael Vick's cousin, if I'm remembering that right. I think he and Aaron Brooks were playing against each other as first cousins. Um wow. Yeah. Vic Vick was Aaron Brooks was a gifted athlete too. He just he didn't have the football intelligence that Michael did. Uh anyway, we finally won another one uh 27-7 over the Giants after going one and seven. Back to the Saints game for a second, Aaron Brooks was kind of a knucklehead as far as quarterbacks go, and we made him look like he could do no wrong that day. Anyway, we beat the Giants with Kurt the Cat Kittner as our quarterback to move to two and seven. Shout out to Chucky. A couple of weeks later, while trailing Houston 17-7 in the fourth, Coach Dan Reeves replaced quarterback Doug Johnson with Michael Vick. Wait. Vick is healthy, but we started Doug Johnson. Coach, you okay? We scored a field goal on each of his two possessions to get us within 17-13, but no closer. Vick would start the last four games, uh, winning three to finish at five-11. But the main thing that happened late in the year was that Coach got called to the office after beating Carolina in overtime to bring our record to three and ten. He won a game, got called to the office, and was done. He was out, he got fired. Uh besides the sweet ten dollar ticket prices he had doled out, this was Arthur Blank's first big football move. Wade Phillips, if you'll remember, son of bum, and as good of a defensive coordinator as you'll see, would have the interim job through the through the year's end. He went two and one, and the Falcons had another stellar five and eleven campaign. That's what we do. A few words about Coach Dan Reeves. There have been better coaches, but few have had as much success over decades long careers as Coach did. He was a winner as a player for the Cowboys, playing in two Super Bowls and winning Super Bowl six over Miami twenty-four to three. He also played a big role in the famous Ice Bowl NFL championship game at Green Bay, and would have been the game's MVP had Dallas won that game. He had a whale of a day, passing the ball, running the ball, catching the ball. He did everything. Twenty-three years as a head coach for three teams. He won UPI Coach of the Year three times, four conference championships, including one with our 1998 original Dirty Birds. He was 11-9 in postseason games, won a total of 201 NFL games. I thought he got the short end a little bit there at the end, but the front office disagreed. What I think happened, and Sonny and I were talking about this before we we hit record on this one, as I remember it, there was some friction between Coach Reeves and Mr. Blank about Mr. Blank being on the sidelines in the fourth quarter. I don't think Coach liked that very much. He was old school, and that was his team as far as he saw it. And Arthur signing his check. He says, no, it's not. And he had every every right to come down there. So I I think that may have been part of what hurried Coach Reeves out the door a little bit. What would come next would be the first of a handful of head coach selections that had no NFL head coaching experience. And by the way, 2003 was our 38th as a franchise, and we still had no back-to-back winning seasons. A new head coach always brings hope for a better future for our team. They bring a new energy, and this coaching change would move out the old guard with Coach Dan Reese and his conservative philosophy, and would bring in a brash, eager 43-year-old NFL Nepo baby. We introduce Jim Moore Jr. next time. This is Curse of the Falcons.
SPEAKER_01Sure is.
SPEAKER_00So that was that was a fun year.
SPEAKER_01Oh I I remember, I remember um I was on uh I was on staff at a different church than I am now, and uh our our team was together uh at a little restaurant down in Buckhead and there was a TV on and um off to the side. So we were having a great time together, spending time together, talking and everything, and somebody said Vic got hurt, and all our heads turned, and it was like, oh no. I mean, just remember seeing that whole thing, and it was oh I I remember I wasn't in the building.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I didn't go to the preseason games even when I had season tickets, because it was it was fake football as far as I was concerned. Well, it was it was real on that play. But uh I do remember hearing something and then looking up and seeing Vic on the field, and then about a minute later I'm thinking, wait a minute, and I look up again and Vic's still on the field. Nah, it's over. We're done.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, I guess as they say down here in the South, you can stick a fork in it. That season's over.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's what we did, but there will be more to come. Um, thank you all for listening. Today, Curse of the Falcons is produced by Sonny Lawlerstatt, recorded by Sonny and me, Dan Cox, and created by Chuck E and me. Theme song Reverse the Curse, written, produced, and performed by Sonny and the Reverse the Curse Dirty Bird Rock and Roll Band. We'd appreciate any positive clicks, such as follows, likes, or five-star reviews, that can help people find us. You know, the algorithm and all that stuff. If you like what you hear, tell your friends. You can correspond directly with the show by email at cursofthefalcons at yahoo.com. Let's keep building this community so together we can reverse the curse. As far as that team down in Louisiana goes, you watch your mouth, son. Curse of the Falcons is produced and recorded at Studio A la carte, located in historic old country, Smyrna, Georgia. This has been a cruise control production.
SPEAKER_01Y'all have a good week. Hi, by the way.
