Falcons to honor former NFC champions

Flowery Branch — Dan Reeves can’t wait to run out on the Georgia Dome field again with his NFC Championship team.

“It’s going to be a great feeling,” Reeves said.

Tommy “Mr. Falcon” Nobis, the franchise’s first draft pick, will also be on hand because the team is welcoming back almost 40 former players.

The Falcons have two celebrations planned for Sunday’s game against the Broncos: before the game there will be an alumni tailgate gathering at the Georgia World Congress Center, and at halftime they will honor the 10th anniversary of the NFC Championship team, which Reeves coached.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Reeves, who will broadcast the game for Westwood One. “I haven’t seen a lot of them in a long, long time. It’s always nice when you had some success like that.”

Nobis, the five-time Pro Bowler, is looking forward to seeing players from his era.

“There will be guys there that I played with and there will guys that I admired when they played and I was a fan,” Nobis said. “There are a lot of guys that you may not see but once a year that will be there. You try to reconnect with folks in that way.”

Reeves remembers

Some of the key players from the Super Bowl team who will attend include Chris Chandler, Tony Martin, Chuck Smith and Jessie Tuggle.

Linebacker Keith Brooking is the last active player still on the team. He was a rookie then and played in nickel situations.

“The players are a big part of it,” Reeves said. “You love to see those team players. That’s what they are.

“They all played well together. It’s going to be great to get back together again.”

Schedule breaks right

Reeves was scheduled to broadcast the Tennessee at Jacksonville game, but the start time was moved to 4 p.m. and he was re-assigned to the Falcons game.

“That’s because the Falcons are playing well,” Reeves said. “That’s a good thing.”

Staying connected

Reeves can’t believe that it was 10 years ago the Falcons stunned Minnesota 30-27 in overtime to advance to the Super Bowl.

He sees some of the players who live in the area from time to time.

“We see each other, but not nearly as much as we’d like to,” Reeves said. “But some of them you see and stay in touch with more than others.”

Assistant coaches Ed Burns, Art Shell, Ed West and Tim Jorgensen also will attend the tribute.

“It was special, there’s no question about it,” Reeves said. “It would have been much more special if we would have won it. That’s the thing that you think about, is that it didn’t end the way you’d like, but it was a great journey. It sure was.”

Robinson not on list

Eugene Robinson, who was arrested on the eve of the Super Bowl, is not on the list of attendees. However, he’ll be here next week as part of Carolina’s broadcast crew.

Bragging on the grandkids

Nobis said most of the older players would be talking about health issues and their grandchildren.

“I’ve got six grand children to brag about,” Nobis said. “The family is a big part of the conversation, then the health. The older you get the health becomes more of a conversation piece.”

Nobis likes squad

Nobis, who is still a consultant for the Falcons and has been affiliated with the franchise since its inception, has been impressed with the current team, head coach Mike Smith and his coaching staff.

“The players have seen how hard (the coaches) work and have liked what they’ve seen,” Nobis said. “The players have brought into it. I’ve heard that and just seeing the excitement in the way that they are playing it looks that way.”

Attendees

The players and coaches of the 1998 NFC Championship squad slated to attend include: Morten Andersen; Lester Archambeau; Cornelius Bennett; Ronnie Bradford; Ray Buchanan; Jack Burns (coach); John Burrough; Chris Chandler; Bob Christian; Calvin Collins; and Henri Crockett.

Also Gary Downs; Shane Dronett; Antonio Edwards; Randy Fuller; Travis Hall; Ruffin Hamilton; Ronnie Harris; Tim Jorgensen (coach); Brian Kozlowski; Tony Martin; Terance Mathis; Rod Monroe and Ken Oxendine.

Also Dan Reeves (head coach); O.J. Santiago; Adam Schreiber; Art Shell (coach); Chuck Smith; Dan Stryzinski; Shawn Swayda; Rob Tobeck; Jessie Tuggle; Ed West (player/coach); Bob Whitfield; Gene Williams and Brian Xanders (Coach).

Among the Falcon alumni attending the event will be: Gary Barnes; Dan Benish; Eric Beverly; David Brandon; James Britt; Shannon Brown; Keion Carpenter; Sonny Collins; Buddy Curry; Antone Davis; and Mitch Davis.

Also Tony Daykin; Edgar Fields; Bill Fralic; Ted Fritsch; Mike Gann; Ralph Giacomarro; Bob Glazebrook; Don Hansen; Dennis Havig; Michael Haynes; Ralph Heck; and Drew Hill.

Also Floyd Hodge; Claude Humphrey; Larron Jackson; Jeff Jackson; Alfred Jackson; Bill Johnson; Bob Jones; Jerome King; Lou Kirouac; Fulton Kuykendall; Ron Mabra; Dewey McClain; Greg McCray; Eddie Meyers; Russ Mikeska; and Tommy Nobis.

Also Nate Odomes; Ricky Patton; Tom Pridemore; James Primus; Joe Profit; Andrew Provence; Ken Reaves; Frank Reed; Michael Reid; Bob Richards; Al Richardson; Mike Ruether; and Paul Ryczek.

Also Dave Scott; John Small; Jeff Stanciel; Harmon Wages; Dan Wagoner; Dez White; Joel Williams; and John Zook.