The

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

season was the franchise’s 36th season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). The Falcons obtained the first pick overall in the 2001 NFL Draft. With the pick, the Falcons drafted Virginia Tech quarterback

Michael Vick Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26, 1980) is an American college football coach and former player who is the Head coach, head football coach at Norfolk State Spartans football, Norfolk State University. He played quarterback in the National F ...

. This was Jamal Anderson’s final season as he re-aggravated his surgically repaired knee in Week 3, and this time, it ended his career. The Falcons improved on their 9–23 record from the previous two seasons but still failed to qualify for the postseason for the third consecutive campaign after a 6–4 start. This was the final season under the Falcons' founding ownership, the Rankin M. Smith Sr. family, as the franchise was sold to

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., often referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportat ...

co-founder

Arthur Blank Arthur Morris Blank (born September 27, 1942) is an American Businessperson, businessman. He is best known for being a co-founder of the home improvement retailer Home Depot, The Home Depot. Blank owns three professional sports teams based in At ...

in March 2002. It was also the first season since

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

that Jessie Tuggle was not on the roster, as he announced his retirement on August 28, 2001.

Offseason

Vick was selected in the

2001 NFL draft The 2001 NFL draft was the 66th draft annual of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at the Th ...

as the first overall pick and first African American quarterback taking number 1 in the NFL Draft. The San Diego Chargers had the number one selection spot in the draft that year but traded the rights to the first overall choice to the Atlanta Falcons a day before the draft, for which they received the Falcons’ first round pick (5th overall) and third round pick in 2001 (used to draft CB Tay Cody), a second round pick in 2002 (used to draft WR Reche Caldwell) and WR/ KR Tim Dwight. With the Chargers’ downgraded spot (the 5th overall), they selected

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

LaDainian Tomlinson LaDainian Tarshane Tomlinson (born June 23, 1979), nicknamed "LT", is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. After a successful college football career with the T ...

, who went on to become league MVP in 2006. Although Vick has never become league MVP, he finished second in voting in 2004. In this way, Tomlinson and Vick are linked as having been “traded” for each other, although the transaction was actually the result of traded draft picks and contract negotiations.

NFL draft

Undrafted free agents

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Preseason

Regular season

This was the Falcons’ 32nd and final season as a member of the NFC West Division. If one counts its predecessor, the Coastal Division of the NFL’s Western Conference prior to the 1970 merger, it was the franchise’s 35th season in this division. The Falcons moved to the new

NFC South The National Football Conference – Southern Division or NFC South is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created before the 2002 NFL season when th ...

as part of the NFL’s realignment plan for the following season.

Schedule

Standings

Notes

References

External links

2001 Atlanta Falcons
at Pro-Football-Reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2001 Atlanta Falcons Season

Atlanta Falcons seasons

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

2001 in Atlanta