1971 Atlanta Falcons Statistics
National Football League (NFL)
Team Record: 7-6-1
Finishing 3rd in the NFL's West Division of the National Football Conference
Coach: Norm Van Brocklin (7-6-1)
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
1971 Atlanta Falcons RosterTeam Record: 7-6-1
Finishing 3rd in the NFL's West Division of the National Football Conference
Coach: Norm Van Brocklin (7-6-1)
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
1971 Atlanta Falcons Results
The Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League ended the 1971 season with a record of 7 wins and 6 losses and 1 ties, finishing third in the NFL's West Division of the National Football Conference.
The Falcons chalked up 274 points, but the defense conceded 277. Cannonball Butler ran for a team-best 594 yards for Atlanta.
Bob Berry passed for 2,005 yards. Art Malone paced the receiving corps, hauling in 34 passes, while Ken Burrow accumulated 741 receiving yards. Jim Mitchell contributed to the receiving game, too.
Ken Reaves picked off 6 errant tosses from the opposition.
Norm Van Brocklin coached the team.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Player | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Sacked | Yds Lost | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Berry | 226 | 136 | 60.2 | 2005 | 8.9 | 11 | 4.9 | 16 | 7.1 | 84 | 21 | 150 | 75.9 |
| Dick Shiner | 57 | 30 | 52.6 | 463 | 8.1 | 5 | 8.8 | 5 | 8.8 | 47 | 10 | 89 | 72.5 |
| Billy Lothridge | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 27 | 27.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 118.8 |
| Leo Hart | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 |
| Totals | 285 | 167 | 58.6 | 2495 | 8.8 | 16 | 5.6 | 21 | 7.4 | 84 | 31 | 239 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cannonball Butler | 186 | 594 | 3.2 | 19 | 2 |
| Art Malone | 120 | 438 | 3.6 | 19 | 6 |
| Harmon Wages | 64 | 266 | 4.2 | 27 | 1 |
| Willie Belton | 56 | 237 | 4.2 | 16 | 1 |
| Sonny Campbell | 29 | 79 | 2.7 | 8 | 0 |
| Bob Berry | 19 | 31 | 1.6 | 9 | 0 |
| Jim Mitchell | 4 | 25 | 6.2 | 24 | 0 |
| Ray Jarvis | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 |
| Joe Profit | 3 | 10 | 3.3 | 4 | 1 |
| Dick Shiner | 10 | 9 | 0.9 | 4 | 1 |
| Ken Burrow | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | 0 |
| Wes Chesson | 1 | -4 | -4.0 | -4 | 0 |
| Totals | 494 | 1703 | 3.4 | 27 | 12 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art Malone | 34 | 380 | 11.2 | 46 | 2 |
| Ken Burrow | 33 | 741 | 22.5 | 84 | 6 |
| Jim Mitchell | 33 | 593 | 18.0 | 43 | 5 |
| Wes Chesson | 20 | 224 | 11.2 | 24 | 0 |
| Harmon Wages | 19 | 249 | 13.1 | 47 | 1 |
| Cannonball Butler | 15 | 143 | 9.5 | 27 | 2 |
| Ray Poage | 4 | 71 | 17.8 | 31 | 0 |
| Sonny Campbell | 3 | 40 | 13.3 | 29 | 0 |
| Willie Belton | 3 | 22 | 7.3 | 10 | 0 |
| John Mallory | 1 | 27 | 27.0 | 27 | 0 |
| Greg Brezina | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 3 | 0 |
| George Kunz | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 |
| Totals | 167 | 2495 | 14.9 | 84 | 16 |
Kicking:
Punting:
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willie Belton | 30 | 163 | 5.4 | 32 | 0 |
| Tom McCauley | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 8 | 0 |
| John Mallory | 5 | 3 | 0.6 | 2 | 0 |
| Ray Brown | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 37 | 174 | 4.7 | 32 | 0 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willie Belton | 28 | 706 | 25.2 | 58 | 0 |
| Cannonball Butler | 13 | 372 | 28.6 | 82 | 0 |
| Joe Profit | 10 | 247 | 24.7 | 35 | 0 |
| Sonny Campbell | 4 | 95 | 23.8 | 33 | 0 |
| Harmon Wages | 1 | 21 | 21.0 | 21 | 0 |
| Dick Enderle | 1 | 20 | 20.0 | 20 | 0 |
| John Small | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 12 | 0 |
| John Matlock | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 4 | 0 |
| Totals | 59 | 1477 | 25.0 | 82 | 0 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ken Reaves | 6 | 43 | 7.2 | 31 | 0 |
| Don Hansen | 3 | 56 | 18.7 | 40 | 1 |
| Ray Brown | 3 | 32 | 10.7 | 23 | 0 |
| Tom Hayes | 3 | 27 | 9.0 | 27 | 0 |
| Greg Brezina | 3 | 22 | 7.3 | 11 | 0 |
| Tom McCauley | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ron Acks | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 20 | 180 | 9.0 | 40 | 1 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don Hansen | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 0 | ||
| Tom Hayes | 0 | 0 | 3 | 69 | 1 | 0 | |
| Art Malone | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
| John Mallory | 1 | 3 | 54 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Cannonball Butler | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
| John Small | 0 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Greg Brezina | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sonny Campbell | 1 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Dick Shiner | 3 | 2 | -6 | 0 | |||
| Bob Berry | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jim Miller | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jim Mitchell | 3 | 1 | 55 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Ken Reaves | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Joe Profit | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Bill Sandeman | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Harmon Wages | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Willie Belton | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Ray Brown | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ken Burrow | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Greg Lens | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Glen Condren | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Tommy Nobis | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jeff Van Note | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 39 | 39 | 233 | 3 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| Bill Bell | 13 | 29 | 0 | 68 | ||||||||||
| Art Malone | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | ||||||||
| Ken Burrow | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | ||||||||
| Jim Mitchell | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | |||||||
| Cannonball Butler | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | |||||||
| Tom Hayes | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||||||
| Harmon Wages | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||
| Joe Profit | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Don Hansen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| John Mallory | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| Willie Belton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||
| Dick Shiner | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| John Zook | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Totals | 12 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 274 |
