Going into the fourth Sunday of the season, the Atlanta Falcons had lost two consecutive games without scoring a single touchdown. They seemed to be on the brink of disintegration. The San Francisco 49ers were winning 10-0, and now a disgruntled home-town crowd had to watch the embarrassing spectacle of two Falcons—Fullback Art Malone and Tight End Jim Mitchell—angrily slapping each other around after a muffed play. The fight symbolized the Falcons’ frustration better than any statistics of futility on offense or defense.
No Falcon was more frustrated than Bob Lee, a tall freckle-faced redhead. At 28, Lee had been an N.F.L. quarterback for four years, but had started in only eleven games. He came to Atlanta from the Minnesota Vikings confident that he “could win the starting job.” But a training-camp injury slowed him down, and Coach Norm Van Brocklin went with well-traveled N.F.L. Veteran Dick Shiner.
When Shiner was hurt in the 49ers contest, Lee was the man Van Brocklin turned to, and he promptly moved the team downfield for two quick field goals. Though the Falcons lost once more (13-9), Lee somehow seemed to have turned them into a team. The next week, with Lee still calling signals, Atlanta buried the Chicago Bears 46-6. The Falcons have been soaring ever since. Going into last weekend, they had won seven in a row and were challenging the Los Angeles Rams for first place in the Western Division of the National Football Conference.
The difference is largely Lee. He can be a deadly drop-back passer, picking zone defenses apart with consistent accuracy, or a slippery scrambler. In sending the Vikings to their first loss of the season, Lee left defensive stalwarts Carl Eller and Alan Page grabbing air time after time until his receivers had the opportunity to cut into the open. Since taking over the Falcons, Lee has hit for ten touchdown passes while completing 56.6% of his throws.
Just as important, Lee has lifted Falcon morale. Originally nicknamed “Howdy Doody” by Van Brocklin, Lee is now called “the General” by his teammates. He claps his hands with infectious enthusiasm before the team huddles and after he calls the plays (all sent in by Van Brocklin, a former quarterback). When Lee is tackled he hops up off the ground and claps again. “I’m not afraid to admit it when I’ve made an error,” he says in his low-key way. His teammates appreciate that style. “Lee never eats us out when he gets sacked,” marvels Offensive Tackle Bill Sandeman. “He simply tells us, ‘Let’s get it together, guys.’ ”
Aside from the suddenly explosive offense, the guys have got together a formidable defense that is anchored by End Claude Humphrey. “We’re just a good young ballclub that is maturing,” says Lee, who has matured quite a bit himself from the days when he watched pro football in San Francisco, where he grew up. While a teenager, he worked as a part-time Associated Press sports reporter and diagrammed plays for his high school team. Now Atlanta fans unfurl banners proclaiming themselves LEE’S LEGION. And, quite unexpectedly, they may find that their general has a chance to do battle in the Super Bowl.
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