1968 Atlanta Falcons season

1968 Atlanta Falcons season
Owner	Rankin M. Smith Sr.
General manager	Frank E. Wall
Head coach	Norb Hecker (0–3) Norm Van Brocklin (2–9)
Home field	Atlanta Stadium
Results
Record	2–12
Division place	4th Coastal
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	LB Tommy Nobis

The 1968 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's third year in the National Football League (NFL). After going an NFL-worst 1-12-1 last year, the Falcons slightly improved on that record by going 2-12, but they still finished tied for the worst record in the whole NFL and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1968 NFL Draft

1968 Atlanta Falcons draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	3	Claude Humphrey * †	Defensive end	Tennessee State
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

1968 Atlanta Falcons staff

Front office President – Rankin M. Smith Sr. Assistant to the president – Bud Erickson Vice president and general manager – Frank E. Wall Head coaches Head coach – Norb Hecker (first three games) Head coach – Norm Van Brocklin Offensive coaches Chief offensive – Lew Carpenter Receivers – Jim Phillips Offensive line – Bob Fry

Defensive coaches Chief defensive – Hal Herring Linebackers – Bill Jobko Defensive backfield – John Symank

Roster

1968 Atlanta Falcons roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 17 Bob Berry 11 Randy Johnson 18 Bruce Lemmerman Running backs (RB) 38 Joe Auer 32 Charlie Bryant 33 Cannonball Butler FB 30 Doug Goodwin 35 Billy Harris 31 Dwight Lee 37 Perry Lee Dunn  5 Harmon Wages Wide receivers (WR) 25 Rick Eber 85 Paul Flatley 80 Bob Long 44 Jerry Simmons 45 John Wright Tight ends (TE) 84 Mike Donohoe 28 Ray Ogden

Offensive linemen (OL) 56 Joe Cerne C 65 Steve Duich G 67 Dan Grimm G 73 Errol Linden T 61 Bill Sandeman T 66 Jim Simon G 53 Phil Sobocinski C 72 Don Talbert T 64 Randy Winkler G Defensive linemen (DL) 77 Rick Cash DE 79 Carlton Dabney DT 76 Jim Garcia DE 87 Claude Humphrey DE 78 Jerry Shay DT 71 Joe Szczecko DT

Linebackers (LB) 57 Dick Absher 52 Ron Acks 54 Grady Allen 50 Greg Brezina 55 Ralph Heck 60 Tommy Nobis Defensive backs (DB) 49 Jimmy Burson CB 22 Lee Calland CB 43 Mike Freeman 24 Floyd Hudlow 27 Nick Rassas S 36 Ken Reaves CB 42 Philip Spiller 46 Larry Suchy Special teams  3 Bob Etter K 26 Billy Lothridge P

Reserve 34 Junior Coffey RB (IR) 20 Bob Riggle S (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 14	at Minnesota Vikings	L 7–47	0–1	Metropolitan Stadium	45,563
2	September 22	Baltimore Colts	L 20–28	0–2	Atlanta Stadium	50,428
3	September 29	at San Francisco 49ers	L 13–28	0–3	Kezar Stadium	27,471
4	October 6	Green Bay Packers	L 7–38	0–4	Atlanta Stadium	58,850
5	October 13	New York Giants	W 24–21	1–4	Atlanta Stadium	49,962
6	October 20	at Los Angeles Rams	L 14–27	1–5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	54,443
7	October 27	at Cleveland Browns	L 7–30	1–6	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	67,723
8	November 3	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 21–41	1–7	Atlanta Stadium	47,727
9	November 10	Los Angeles Rams	L 10–17	1–8	Atlanta Stadium	53,979
10	November 17	at Chicago Bears	W 16–13	2–8	Wrigley Field	44,214
11	November 24	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 12–17	2–9	Busch Memorial Stadium	43,246
12	December 1	at Baltimore Colts	L 0–44	2–10	Memorial Stadium	60,238
13	December 8	Detroit Lions	L 7–24	2–11	Atlanta Stadium	49,437
14	December 15	San Francisco 49ers	L 12–14	2–12	Atlanta Stadium	44,977
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFL Coastal
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Baltimore Colts	13	1	0	.929	6–0	10–0	402	144	W8
Los Angeles Rams	10	3	1	.769	3–2–1	6–3–1	312	200	L2
San Francisco 49ers	7	6	1	.538	2–3–1	4–5–1	303	310	W1
Atlanta Falcons	2	12	0	.143	0–6	1–9	170	389	L4

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

External links

• 1968 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.com