A quarter of a century later, Robbie Tobeck remembered what Dan Reeves did for the Falcons.
Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the former Falcons center gathered with teammates from the 1998 Super Bowl team, the historic squad that was recognized in the first half of the Falcons’ 29-25 loss to Tampa Bay. Retired from a post-football career in insurance, Tobeck has lost his offensive lineman’s heft and gained some gray.
Tobeck was already a Falcon when Reeves was hired in January 1997. Over the previous five seasons, the club was 31-49 with one playoff appearance. After a 3-13 record in 1996, owner Rankin Smith was ready to move on from coach June Jones’ run-and-shoot offense. Reeves brought something entirely different.
“He was old school,” Tobeck said of Reeves. “We banged (in practice), we got ready. He turned the team around.”
In Reeves’ first season, the Falcons started out 1-7 before winning six of their final eight. The next year, the pieces came together. The Falcons went 14-2, stunned the Vikings in the NFC championship game and secured the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance.
“You’ve got to forever be grateful for a guy coming in and doing what needed to be done to get us to that next level,” Tobeck told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Reeves was most worthy of memory on Sunday as the team that he assembled and led was duly recognized for providing Atlanta with one of its all-time sports moments and seasons.
“I think he came and brought a football mindset when we were a glamorous team from the Deion (Sanders) era, and then we hunkered down on football and had a lot of grit, a lot of toughness,” said Bob Whitfield, the longtime left tackle, told the AJC. “And I think not only physically, but mentally tough, as well. And I think Dan implemented a style of play that made us all better players, better for our team, better for the city.”
Reeves, who died on New Year’s Day 2022 at the age of 77, left behind an incomparable NFL career. Born and raised in the state of Georgia, Reeves made the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina in 1965 and played for eight seasons before becoming an assistant coach for Hall of Famer Tom Landry. His greatest days as a head coach were in Denver, where he partnered with John Elway to lead the Broncos to three Super Bowl appearances.
Reeves also provided Atlanta with an incomparable moment, lifting a franchise that had known little more than heartache and embarrassment to the sport’s pinnacle game. His induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame seems an eventuality, though sadly too late for him to enjoy it. His 190 wins are 10th most in NFL history and he is the only non-active coach in the Super Bowl era to make the title game four times who has not yet been inducted.
But there is a local accolade that Reeves also merits, even if posthumously – inclusion in the Falcons’ ring of honor.
“Definitely,” said Whitfield, a Falcon for 12 years and another candidate worthy of consideration. “Not even just the ring – he should be in Canton and all that. Because he did a lot for football. Not only just from playing to coaching to taking multiple teams to the Super bowl. Dan is the man.”
Given that the club made its first inductions in 2004, Reeves’ induction seems unlikely. Owner Arthur Blank, who inherited Reeves when he bought the team in 2002, has had opportunities. The last three inductees – running back Warrick Dunn, wide receiver Roddy Jones and center Todd McClure – all finished their careers long after Reeves’ final season in 2003.
Maybe the primary reasons against inducting Reeves is that his record over seven seasons was 49-59-1 and his teams made the playoffs twice. Further, including Reeves could open the door, for better or worse, for other former Falcons coaches with a higher winning percent age or more playoff seasons. Team officials, including Blank and CEO Rich McKay, meet regularly to consider candidates. Induction is not imminent, the last in 2022 (McClure).
I would submit that Reeves deserves inclusion for at least a few reasons. His hire brought legitimacy to a franchise sorely needing it. He delivered a Super Bowl appearance after 32 years of mostly losing and irrelevance. And, in the second half of his tenure, he negotiated the pre-draft trade that brought Michael Vick to the Falcons. In January 2003, when Vick stunned the Packers on a snowy night in Lambeau Field to give Green Bay its first-ever home playoff loss, Reeves directed the upset. And, not least, Reeves, born and raised in the state of Georgia, was a most honorable coach.
“Dan helped legitimize the Atlanta Falcons when he was hired based on his success in the NFL,” former Falcons special-teams coach Joe DeCamillis (and Reeves’ son in law) wrote in a statement from the family. “The Falcons got a homegrown man in charge when they hired him. And within a year, the team was in the Super Bowl. That was Dan’s ninth Super Bowl in the first 30-odd years, one Super Bowl out of every three, basically. And to culminate a hall of fame career in his home state is something that should be recognized and honored.”
This part must be understood about the 1998 Falcons and Reeves’ role in it. The Falcons under the ownership of the Smith family were failure-ridden. Ridicule was easily invited.
In the franchise’s first 32 years, the Falcons made the playoffs five times and won a total of two postseason games. In bringing his Super Bowl pedigree, Reeves first brought credibility and then success that the franchise had never known.
The team, with its cast of personable stars and Dirty Bird dance, captured the city’s attention. After the NFC title game, Peachtree Street was shut down in Buckhead to accommodate revelers. In a column from that game, legendary AJC columnist Furman Bisher confessed to shedding tears.
“As Reeves has said, ‘Not in my wildest dreams,’” Bisher wrote. “I, too, sir, and may you be blessed for having brought this wild dream to reality. The Falcons are going to the Super Bowl! Not in my wildest dreams. …”
Reeves made dreams come true. For a franchise desperately lacking in such moments, honoring him among the Falcons’ all-time greats seems a most fitting tribute.
“For a coach who was the first coach to take the franchise to a Super Bowl, he truly needs better recognition than he’s getting and better credit than he’s getting,” said longtime Falcons wide receiver Terance Mathis, one more great who ought to be inducted. “Because here’s the thing. He turned the city to pay attention to the Atlanta Falcons and the organization. And then after the Super Bowl, was it two years, three years later, you go out and draft Michael Vick and that’s where it went. The Atlanta Falcons became a popular franchise, and that was Dan Reeves’ doing. And I think he needs his due credit for that.”
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