The 1977 Atlanta Falcons season was the team's 12th year in the National Football League. The team finished the season .500, and did not qualify for the playoffs.
Although the Falcons' offense struggled, the defense, nicknamed "Grits Blitz", was dominant.Pro-Football-Reference.com: 1977 Atlanta Falcons The Falcons' 129 points allowed led the league (the best ever for a 14 game regular season) and established an all-time NFL record for fewest points allowed in an NFL season.Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1960 to 1977, in the regular season, sorted by ascending Points Allowed. Atlanta's 3,242 total yards allowed were second-fewest in the league,behind Dallas's 3,213: Pro-Football-Reference.com: 1977 NFL Opposition & Defensive Statistics and the Falcons' 1,384 passing yards allowed was by far the best in the NFL in 1977.Dallas's 1,562 passing yards allowed was second-best
Offseason NFL draft
Personnel
Staff / Coaches
Roster
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 18 Los Angeles Rams W 17–6 1–0 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 55,956 2 September 25 at Washington Redskins L 6–10 1–1 RFK Stadium 55,031 3 October 2 New York Giants W 17–3 2–1 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 46,374 4 October 9 at San Francisco 49ers W 7–0 3–1 Candlestick Park 38,009 5 October 16 at Buffalo Bills L 0–3 3–2 Rich Stadium 27,348 6 October 23 at Chicago Bears W 16–10 4–2 Soldier Field 49,407 7 October 30 Minnesota Vikings L 7–14 4–3 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 59,257 8 November 6 San Francisco 49ers L 3–10 4–4 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 46,577 9 November 13 Detroit Lions W 17–6 5–4 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 47,461 10 November 20 at New Orleans Saints L 20–21 5–5 Louisiana Superdome 43,135 11 November 27 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 17–0 6–5 Tampa Stadium 43,592 12 December 4 New England Patriots L 10–16 6–6 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 57,911 13 December 11 at Los Angeles Rams L 7–23 6–7 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 52,574 14 December 18 New Orleans Saints W 35–7 7–7 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 36,895 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries Week 1 Date: September 18 Television: CBS Announcers: Vin Scully The Falcons pulled a Week 1 surprise at home against the heavily-favored Rams, who opened the season with new quarterback Joe Namath. The Falcons shut down the Rams' vaunted running game, holding them to 59 yards. Namath had an early touchdown pass, but threw for only 141 yards otherwise and was sacked three times. Falcons' opening day starter Scott Hunter played close to the vest, completing 10 of 17 passes and running for a touchdown.
Week 4 Date: October 9 Television: CBS Announcers: Don Criqui, Tom Matte The Atlanta Falcons, with the NFL's leading defensive unit, have now allowed just 19 points in four games while climbing to the top of the NFC West with a 3-1 record. A 39-yard touchdown pass from Scott Hunter to Alfred Jenkins was the only score in the game and was set up when Edgar Fields blocked a punt by San Francisco's Tom Wittum. The Falcons' Rolland Lawrence had both an interception return touchdown and fumble return touchdown called back by offsides penalties.
Week 11 Date: November 27 Television: CBS Announcers: Bob Costas, Emerson Boozer The Falcons had possession of the ball nine times inside Tampa Bay 40, four times as a result of turnovers. Four times they marched to the Tampa Bay 20, scoring on three possessions. Two one-yard scoring plunges by Haskel Stanback and a 26-Yard field goal by Fred Stemfort and the Falcons ran out the clock at the Tampa Bay 19 to preserve their 6th win of '77. "I was pleased with the way we controlled the ball and the clock", said coach Leeman Bennett, "Our defense we're outstanding. They went in for three plays and we're out again quite a few times".
Week 14 Date: December 18 Television: CBS Announcers: Lindsey Nelson, Paul Hornung The Falcons had their most productive offensive game of the season as they scored 35 points, their most in a game since they scored that many in week 10 of 1975 against the Denver Broncos. Haskel Stanback ran for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns from 2 and 7 yards out, while Steve Bartkowski passed for 2 touchdowns, one from 27 yards to Secdrick Mclntyre and the other from 5 yards to Billy Ryckman. But the story was that the Falcons allowed the Saints only 7 points, and finished with a new NFL record for fewest points allowed in a season by a team, 129, breaking the Minnesota Vikings of 1969's 133 points allowed. After the game the Saints fired Hank Stram as head coach.
Standings
Defensive legacy Arguably the most famous personality on the 1977 Falcons was defensive assistant Jerry Glanville, who installed in a swarming style of play in Atlanta remembered as the "Grits Blitz" defense. Football analytics site Cold Hard Football Facts calls the 1977 Falcons "the stingiest defense of the Super Bowl Era" and "the stingiest defense since World War II."Cold Hard Football Facts, The 100 Stingiest Defenses In Football History April 01, 2013 Atlanta surrendered just 9.2 points-per-game, or a total of 129 points in the 14-game season (both all-time records). Against the Falcons, teams scored 7 or fewer points in half (7) of the games, and scored more than 16 points only twice. Atlanta's defense intercepted 26 passes, allowed just nine touchdown passes, and recovered 22 fumbles.Which NFL teams have allowed the fewest points in the 16-game era?
Despite its status as the stingiest defense since the 1944 New York Giants, the Falcons sent only two defenders to the Pro Bowl in 1977: cornerback Rolland Lawrence and defensive end Claude Humphrey. The 1976 Falcons possessed one of the worst defenses in the league (22.3 PPG) and largely fell apart in 1978 (18.1 PPG), therefore making the 1977 defense a "one-hit wonder".
Awards and records Milestones Jerry Glanville's "Grits Blitz" defense set the NFL record for fewest points allowed per game since the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger (129 points on a 14-game schedule, an average of 9.2 per game).
References
External links 1977 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.com