The Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's 38th season in the National Football League (NFL) and seventh and final under head coach Dan Reeves. It is best remembered for the third preseason game, in which quarterback Michael Vick broke his leg and was done for most of the season. Atlanta had two other quarterbacks take over for a combined 2–10 record (Doug Johnson and Kurt Kittner). Vick returned in week 14 and ended the season with a 3–1 record.
After a 3–10 start, Reeves was fired by the Falcons on December 10, and defensive coordinator Wade Phillips took over as interim head coach for the rest of the season, going 2–1.
For the season, the Falcons sported a new logo and uniforms.
Offseason NFL draft
Personnel
Roster
Regular season Schedule In the 2003 regular season, the Falcons’ non-divisional, conference opponents were primarily from the NFC East, although they also played the Minnesota Vikings from the NFC North, and the St. Louis Rams from the NFC West. Their non-conference opponents were from the AFC South. This was the first occasion when the Falcons played the Washington Redskins since 1994,Urena, Ivan; Pro Football Schedules: A Complete Historical Guide from 1933 to the Present, p. 221 due to old NFL scheduling formulas in place prior to 2002, whereby teams had no rotating schedule opposing members of other divisions within their own conference, but instead played interdivisional conference games according to position within a season’s table.
Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue 1 September 7 at Dallas Cowboys W 27–13 1–0 Texas Stadium 2 September 14 Washington Redskins L 31–33 1–1 Georgia Dome 3 September 21 Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 10–31 1–2 Georgia Dome 4 September 28 at Carolina Panthers L 3–23 1–3 Ericsson Stadium 5 October 5 Minnesota Vikings L 26–39 1–4 Georgia Dome 6 at St. Louis Rams L 0–36 1–5 Edward Jones Dome 7 October 19 New Orleans Saints L 17–45 1–6 Georgia Dome 8 Bye 9 November 2 Philadelphia Eagles L 16–23 1–7 Georgia Dome 10 November 9 at New York Giants W 27–7 2–7 Giants Stadium 11 November 16 at New Orleans Saints L 20–23 2–8 Louisiana Superdome 12 November 23 Tennessee Titans L 31–38 2–9 Georgia Dome 13 November 30 at Houston Texans L 13–17 2–10 Reliant Stadium 14 December 7 Carolina Panthers W 20–14 3–10 Georgia Dome 15 December 14 at Indianapolis Colts L 7–38 3–11 RCA Dome 16 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 30–28 4–11 Raymond James Stadium 17 December 28 Jacksonville Jaguars W 21–14 5–11 Georgia DomeNote: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Standings
References
External links 2003 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.com