Deja vu - 1980

A similar game in Miami Dolphins history:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198009210atl.htm

Down 17-3 in the fourth quarter, and Bob Griese led one of three consecutive double digit second half comebacks he would lead that year, which ended up being the final three wins of his career.

Those Falcons ended up 12-4.

Damn, nice work Hal!

Believe it or not I was thinking of the exact same game. And the '80 team also had trouble scoring--21 points or less in 13 games. It's nice to have someone else who can make historical references for a change

For some reason though this team's got an '06 vibe to me (29th in scoring, 5th in points allowed) but they're clearly luckier.

In 1980 the offense lost its longtime starting QB to a season-ending injury and ended up starting Woodley the bulk of the games, after longtime backup Don Strock failed to hold the job (he'd also failed to hold the job in 1979 when Griese slumped). The 1980 team had a weak offense but was carried somewhat by the defense to 8-8.

We were damned lucky in close games in 1980. Griese's three double digit comebacks, plus two wins by a FG and a 4 point win. We did dominate the previous year's Super Bowl loser too, a 35-14 win at the Rams, one of the few games in which Delvin Williams played well.

So this year has some similiarities to 1980. 8-8 would be about right.

I will say it's a shame Griese got hurt, because he sure looked like he had rebounded from a subpar 1979. I doubt if he'd played beyond 1981 even without the shoulder injury though.