Super Bowl LI Overtime Thriller
The oldest major professional sports team in America with no championships.
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) South division. The Falcons were founded on June 30, 1965, and joined the NFL in 1966 as an expansion team.
Quick Facts
- Event
- Super Bowl LI
- Date
- February 5, 2017
- Location
- NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
- Opponent
- New England Patriots
- Result
- Loss in Overtime (34-28)
- Key moment
- Largest Super Bowl comeback in history
Lore & Background
The Falcons have appeared in two Super Bowls, the first during the 1998 season in Super Bowl XXXIII, where they lost to the Denver Broncos, and the second 18 years later, a overtime loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.
Reader's Guide
The Falcons' current home field is Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which opened for the 2017 season; the team's headquarters and practice facilities are located at a 50 acre site in Flowery Branch, northeast of Atlanta in Hall County.
Did You Know?
- The Falcons were named after a suggestion by Miss Julia Elliott, a school teacher from Griffin, who wrote: 'the Falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight.'
- The Falcons' first victory came on November 20, 1966, against the New York Giants in Yankee Stadium.
- The Falcons selected linebacker Tommy Nobis from the University of Texas as the first overall pick in the 1966 NFL draft.
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