The Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's 38th season in the National Football League (NFL) and seventh and final under head coach Dan Reeves. It is best remembered for the third preseason game, in which quarterback Michael Vick broke his leg and was done for most of the season. Atlanta had two other quarterbacks take over for a combined 2âÂÂ10 record (Doug Johnson and Kurt Kittner). Vick returned in week 14 and ended the season with a 3âÂÂ1 record.
After a 3âÂÂ10 start, Reeves was fired by the Falcons on December 10, and defensive coordinator Wade Phillips took over as interim head coach for the rest of the season, going 2âÂÂ1.
For the season, the Falcons sported a new logo and uniforms.
In the 2003 regular season, the Falconsâ non-divisional, conference opponents were primarily from the NFC East, although they also played the Minnesota Vikings from the NFC North, and the St. Louis Rams from the NFC West. Their non-conference opponents were from the AFC South. This was the first occasion when the Falcons played the Washington Redskins since 1994, due to old NFL scheduling formulas in place prior to 2002, whereby teams had no rotating schedule opposing members of other divisions within their own conference, but instead played interdivisional conference games according to position within a seasonâÂÂs table.