Below is a list of every Falcon to ever wear #22, pick the one that has had the biggest impact on the franchise:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/uniform.cgi?number=22&team=atl

Bold/Italic = Currently on Falcons

Winner of #21: CB Deion Sanders | Runner up: CB Desmond Trufant

Currently:

  • #0: ED Lorenzo Carter
  • #1: QB Jeff George
  • #2: QB Matt Ryan
  • #3: K Matt Bryant
  • #4: K Jay Feely
  • #5: K Morten Andersen
  • #6: K Younghoe Koo
  • #7: QB Mike Vick
  • #8: TE Kyle Pitts
  • #9: P Michael Koenen
  • #10: QB Steve Bartkowski
  • #11: WR Julio Jones
  • #12: QB Chris Chandler
  • #13: P Chris Mohr
  • #14: WR Eric Weems
  • #15: 🐐 Felipe Franks 🐐
  • #16: WR Justin Hardy
  • #17: PR Devin Hester
  • #18: WR Calvin Ridley
  • #19: QB Bob Lee
  • #20: CB Brent Grimes
  • #21: CB Deion Sanders
  • #22: ?
  • YouCanCallMeAroae@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Bit confused about Lawrence. His numbers don’t pop out of the screen (I was not alive in the 70s and neither were 90% of the people reading this) yet his 1977 season is ranked as the 5th most valuable season of any player, any season, all time?

    Was he just a product of the Grits Blitz? Why were he and Claude Humphrey the only pro bowlers that year?

    • hospitalityNow@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Grits blitz was more a schematic thing. Humphrey and Lawrence were two absolutely integral pieces that really got the machine running, but it turns out the strategy of throwing 8 guys at the QB every time was so effective that the rules were tweaked to make it less effective in '78. It’s not surprising that Lawrence’s numbers don’t pop, fewer stats were recorded back then and defensive backs in general have historically suffered from lack of recognition because if they did their job 100% perfectly they might not have had to defend a single pass.