On this week’s NFL slate of games, the Atlanta Falcons meet the Indianapolis Colts. Our Throwback Thursday feature game took place on December 6, 1998 at the Georgia Dome between these 2 clubs. The final result was a 28-21 Falcons’ victory, but it was a groundbreaking contest for the Atlanta franchise for a shocking reason. The teams had met 10 times prior to this game since the Falcons entered the NFL as an expansion team in 1966, and amazingly the Colts had won all 10. If ever there was going to be an ideal time for Atlanta to break that streak, this would be it. The Falcons, under coach Dan Reeves, entered the contest with a 10-2 record, and would ultimately wind up qualifying for the first Super Bowl appearance in club history. Indy, on the other hand, sported a 2-10 mark and were led by a struggling rookie quarterback – some guy named Peyton Manning.
Manning looked like anything but a scuffling rookie to start the game, as he engineered a pair of touchdown drives that culminated with scoring passes of 11 yards to running back Marshall Faulk and 30 yards to receiver Torrance Small. The lowly Colts now led 14-0. Would they shock the world and continue their crazy domination of the Falcons? Atlanta QB Chris Chandler cut the deficit in half with a 40 yard touchdown toss to Tony Martin, but Faulk scored again, this time on a 3 yard run, to put the Colts up 21-7. Atlanta was just too good of a club to stay down, and they rallied to score twice, on touchdown runs of 1 yard by Jamal Anderson and 3 yards by Chandler (with 5 seconds left in the half), to tie the game at 21-21 going into the break.
The defenses of both teams rose up in the second half, with the only score coming on a third quarter 3 yard pass from Chandler to Terance Mathis, giving the Falcons a 28-21 lead that wound up being the final score. Statistically, Atlanta had a 100 yard rusher in Anderson (30 carries for 122 yards) and a 100 yard receiver in Martin (7 catches for 140 yards). Anderson’s “Dirty Bird” touchdown celebration dance was a feature of the team’s surprising Super Bowl season, and as for the Colts, although the ’98 season was a wash, they faced a bright future with Manning under center as he matured into a Hall of Famer.
Jamal Anderson does his “Dirty Bird” TD celebration