Byram scored 65 points in 68 games, second highest among Falcons players in 2002-03.

Falcons players and coaches have acknowledged that the arrest was a major distraction for the team.

Then there is what happened during the Nov. 15 game against Atlanta, when a Falcons player banged his helmet on Rice's other knee, the healthy one.

But Hammonds said he had telephoned Jerry Glanville, the coach of the Atlanta Falcons, to assure him that no Falcons players were involved.

He thus becomes the first Falcons player or coach to be placed in the Hall of Fame.

Archambeau said that as a pre-emptive strike, some Falcons players and their defensive line coach, Bill Kollar, plan to speak to game officials sometime Sunday before Super Bowl XXXIII.

The Falcons players say he has changed their attitudes and that of the franchise by instilling discipline and consistency.

Then, in front of a national television audience, doing the dirty bird dance with a group of Falcons players.

Off the field, eleven Falcons players found themselves in legal troubles, two of which were arrested on drug trafficking charges.

CBS Sports' Pete Prisco and an unnamed Falcons player had a problem with the Saints continuing to pass when they were up by 22 points.