#Miller falcon logo Patch

But none of us realized that at the time.

The bad news is that the sleeve logo was historically inaccurate - it should have been Version 2. The good news is that the throwback helmet and sleeve logos were consistent. Throughout this period, regardless of manufacturer, the throwbacks used Version 1 of the logo (floating lines on the wing, vertical line present) on the helmets and on the sleeve patches: One additional point: The Falcons wore 1966 throwbacks from 2009 through 2012 - a period that includes the NFL’s switch from Reebok to Nike. Both logos stayed the same through 2002, after which the team got a makeover.Īll of this is was news to me - a great example of a uni storyline that’s been hiding in plain sight. It was the first time in Falcons history that the helmet and sleeve logos matched up. That’s right - the helmet and sleeve logos matched! They were both Version 3. So there were at least four distinct versions of this logo floating around up through 1996, and two of them were being used on the team’s uniforms at any given moment from 1966 through ’67, and again from 1978 through ’96:īut in 1997, something amazing happened. But the logo inconsistencies remained - from 1990 through 1996, the wing lines were once again floating on the helmet but touching the outline of the wing on the patch: That brings us to the end of the Falcons’ red-helmeted era. As far as I can tell, this mismatch only took place in 1985, because that’s the only year that this version of the helmet logo appeared.

#Miller falcon logo Patch

It’s there on the sleeve patch but not on the helmet. Take a look at some photos from that year:Īs you can see, this time the five lines on the wing are consistent (in both cases, they connect with the base of the wing and are no longer floating), but the vertical line is once again a problem. That was in 1985, when there was yet another mismatch.

This helmet/sleeve discrepancy lasted from 1978 through 1989 - except for one season. But this mismatch was completely different from the original mismatch in 1966 and ’67. So once again, the helmet logo and sleeve logo didn’t match. If you look closely, you’ll see that those five lines on the wing - I guess they’re supposed to show the delineation of the feathers are floating against the black background on the helmet, but those same lines on the sleeve patch connect with the wing’s white outline. To see what I mean, take a look at these photos: This time the sleeve patch included the vertical line separating the head and claw from the rest of the falcon’s body. The Falcons got rid of the sleeve patch in 1968, but they brought it back in 1978. This white line does not appear on the sleeve logo. Take a look at these photos, all of which are from those first two seasons (for everything in today’s post, you can click to enlarge):Īs you can see, the helmet logo has a vertical white line separating the falcon’s head and claw from the rest of its body. But the two logos, while very similar, didn’t quite match. For those two years, the team’s primary logo appeared on the uniform in two places: on the helmet and as a sleeve patch. Let’s start with the Falcons’ first two seasons - 1966 and ’67. The team wore its original falcon logo from 1966 through 2002 (as seen on the helmet shown at right), and then in 2003 they replaced it with the more stylized logo that they still wear today.īut here’s something you might not know (and that I didn’t know myself until reader Matthew Dunn recently brought it to my attention): There were at least four different versions of that original logo - and there have been extended periods when two of those versions routinely appeared on the Falcons’ uniforms at the same time. We all know the basics of the Atlanta Falcons’ logo history.