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
Dumpster Fire (2007)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We’re not going to write his name, and we only say it once just to get it on record, so let’s put it like this —— An alleged offensive genius replaces Jim Mora as head coach and burns the place down, our star quarterback goes to prison, our new starting quarterback’s claim to fame is that he’s related to Padraig Harrington, and more! In short, we hit bottom.
We were laughing about that. Welcome to the Curse of the Falcon podcast. Alright. And we're first cousins. We're related in my marriage. And everything. Of course, y'all know that by now. And we live the nightmare, as all of you have, a bunch of you have, of loving the Falcons since 1966. So before we get going, as we always say, it's a quick reminder: everything you hear on The Curse of the Falcons is strictly our opinion. We're not affiliated with the Atlanta Falcons or the NFL in any official way. This podcast is just for us, the fans. So please enjoy the show. Well, please bear with the show. Yes. This this is one where you kind of gotta knuckle, what do you say, knuckle down? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00You just gotta white knuckle it till you get to the bottom.
SPEAKER_05Oh, there you go.
SPEAKER_00And keep hope alive, because that's all we have as Falcons fans.
SPEAKER_05So so when we okay, so when we get to the end of this episode, will we is there any kind of a turn coming?
SPEAKER_00There will be nowhere else to go.
SPEAKER_05This is how low we're gonna go.
SPEAKER_00We're going to the bottom of the bottom today, son. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05You don't got any mustard over there.
SPEAKER_00You're killing people. Oh, we're gonna have to laugh at what else you're gonna do.
SPEAKER_05What else you gonna do now?
SPEAKER_02I like the way you talk.
SPEAKER_05Sorry, y'all. You gotta do something. It's like there's got to be some kind of levity somewhere. Please. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00All right. Well, there are some well-hated individuals in Falcon's lore, but they're almost all saints. You know, Sean Payton comes to mind. And in this episode, we have to talk about the worst of the worst. A tiny man so despised that I'm only going to say his name one time. Coach Jim Moore Jr.'s firing following 2006 left another vacancy at the helm. Mr. Blank hired Mora with no head coaching experience. The next guy had head coaching experience, but had gotten almost all of his time in at the college level, except for three years as a quarterback coach for Jacksonville. Let's get it over with.
SPEAKER_05I know where it's going.
SPEAKER_00Our new coach was offensive genius, so-called Bobby Petrino. Do not make me say it twice.
SPEAKER_05He who shall not be named.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_05That's it.
SPEAKER_00Things begin collapsing for this team all the way back in the spring. Here's the timeline. April 25th. Federal agents raided the Surrey County, Virginia property of star quarterback Michael Vick, uncovering a dogfighting operation. April 27th was the NFL draft, just two days later. Our best pick was second rounder Justin Blaylock, a guard from Texas who gave us eight strong seasons. But that's pretty much it. Now we get to July. July 17th, the federal grand jury formally indicted Michael Vick Michael Vick on dogfighting conspiracy charges. July 25th, just a week later, the Falcons training camp opened. Following day, Vick appears at his arraignment and entered a plea, a plea of guilty. Back in Georgia, the Falcons had their first practice. That was the same day. August 20th of the next month, Vic changes his plea to guilty and signs a federal plea agreement. The prosecution recommended a sentence of 12 to 18 months, but Judge Henry E. Hudson rejected that and handed down a 23-month sentence for after Vic failed a drug test and a polygraph examination regarding his po permanent personal involvement in killing the critters. And that's where I break away from Michael Vick right there.
SPEAKER_05Let's just dig on down to the core of the earth. Goodness gracious. Yeah, here we go. You just have to wonder it's like what do you have to do to get to that place? You know. Wow.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. Yeah. You know, he because he came from there and and he grew up poor.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That very well maybe how they made some cash on the side back there.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, well, none of us are perfect. I'll say that. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00But man, he was killing critters.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00A shell-shocked franchise and fan base opened the season in Minnesota, losing 24-3 with quarterback Joey Harrington at the helm. He threw zero TDs, two picks, was sacked six times. Let the good times roll. First win came in week four against the Texans. And recently departed quarterback Matt Schaub. So that was our alternative in case something happens. He's playing in Houston now.
SPEAKER_05Well, there you go.
SPEAKER_0026-16. Uh, we beat him. Joey Harrington was efficient that day, and our offense showed at least some semblance of life as he completed 22 of 29. Schaub threw for 317 yards and a touchdown. The 26 points by our offense, and this is key. Remember, our coach is an offensive genius. The 26 we scored here against Houston was the highest total of the year, and the only time we scored more than 20. Wow. Under under Coach Offensive Genius' Helm. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, he he did good. Then we lost another three straight, bringing us to one and six. Included in this second streak was a national embarrassment on Monday night football at home against the Giants 31-10, which was followed by a six-point loss in New Orleans 22-16. Thank you, offensive genius. To reset. We had been a playoff contender with two very good quarterbacks in Michael Vick and Matt Shaw a season ago. Turn the calendar back one year. We're in great shape. Now we find ourselves at one and six and brew a brewing quarterback controversy between Joey Harrington and Byron Leftwich. Oh. And by the time the season's over, Chris Redman. Who are these guys? As a fan, certain things stick in your memory after the dust settles, and things in the rear view mirror begin to fade. I remember Leftwich throwing the ball into the stands unintentionally. He wasn't throwing it away, he was just throwing it very badly. I remember Joey Harrington never looking for an over open receiver beyond 10 yards. I remember the half-empty Georgia Dome crowd chanting Joey, Joey, Joey during another particularly dismal performance by Leftwich. And I remember loudly yelling at our offensive genius coach to answer his phone just in case it's a job offer. It was quiet enough that I think he heard me. Oh wow. Yeah. The season was a dumpster fire. We won back to back games coming out of a bye week to move to three and six. The offensive genius head coach guided us to an output of twenty points in each of those two wins, tying our second highest output of the year to that point. November eighteenth, shredded by Tampa thirty-one to seven. November nineteenth, Vic turns himself in to begin serving his pr prison time. Yeah. December tenth, another Monday night football appearance, another embarrassment, this time to the Dad Gum Saints, thirty four fourteen. December eleventh, our offensive genius head coach quits his job with three games remaining in the most cowardly way. Instead of addressing the players, he left a four sentence laminated note at their lockers and he skipped town. After telling Mr Mr. Blank the day before, guaranteeing him looking him in the eye and saying, I'm not going anywhere. The next day he's announced as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
SPEAKER_05My goodness.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Talk about rejection.
SPEAKER_05Wow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. We extended our losing streak to six games and we're three and twelve heading into the finale. At least we were in good draft draft position. But again, what do we always do when it's the end of the year and we've got a bad record? Win.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And we won that last game. Somehow scoring 44 points against Mike Holbren's Seattle team, including 24 in the fourth quarter. Wow. Behind quarterback superstar Chris Redman. It was a favorite of our early departing offensive genius head coach. The 2000 season ranks as one of the most gut-wrenching experiences of any sports fan's lifetime in any city anywhere. An argument can be made that our 1989 campaign, in which we had two young men die in car crashes within three weeks of each other, was worse than 07. And in a lot of ways, of course it was, but in other ways it's really debatable. People, when they say the darkest hour is just before the dawn, this is what they mean. It's almost morning in Atlanta. This is Curse of the Falcons.
SPEAKER_05Well, anyway. I just I just felt something coming on there.
SPEAKER_01But we haven't heard a thing all day. We're so sorry. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_02Well but if anything should happen, we'll be sure to win a game.
SPEAKER_05Okay, sorry, y'all. Yeah, no problem. But that was fun. We just we haven't had one of those. No, we haven't. Okay, so but anyway, uh we needed something to just to get the mess off of us. Yeah. Anyway, sorry. But thank y'all for joining us and commiserating together.
SPEAKER_00And just so you understand our state of mind at this particular moment as we're recording, we recorded the last two history episodes before this one in this session. So the three that we've recorded now, right in a row, we're at the bottom, man. So Sonny and I are looking for a way out.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we are. But there's better stuff coming.
SPEAKER_00It's coming. It's coming. I'm telling you. Y'all tune in next week and you'll see.
SPEAKER_03Stay with us. Stay with us.
SPEAKER_00Okay. All right. You ready to go out?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we better. Yeah, let's get out of here. Well, let's hang around for a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Thank y'all for listening. Curse of the Falcons is produced by Sonny Lawerstead, recorded by Sonny and me, Dan Cox, and created by Chucky and me. Theme song Reverse the Curse, written, produced, and performed by Sonny and the Reverse the Curse Dirty Bird Rock and Roll Band. That's the original lineup. Would 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 curse of the Falcons 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, get off my log. 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_04Come back now.
