What he did: This week in 1986, the Falcons went on a four-week ride that turned the city into a sports frenzy and it was led by then 24-year-old David Archer.
For the first time in Falcons history, the team won its first four games of the season and after winning in Dallas in the third game, fans jammed concourse D at the Atlanta airport to congratulate the team when they came home. But the season unraveled.
Archer had a busy and interesting pro career which included stops in the NFL, the World Football League and in Canada.
Archer played at Soda Springs High School in the southeastern corner of Idaho and his graduating class had no more than 75 students. While he was a very good high school quarterback, he was just 5 feet 11 and 175 pounds. Archer had some smaller colleges interested in him but he wanted to play at the Division I level so he spent two seasons at Snow Junior College in Utah, a Mormon school.
During his sophomore season, he led Snow to a bowl game and No. 4 ranking and all of sudden a lot of the major college schools were interested in Archer. Mack Brown was the offensive coordinator at Iowa State, but had left for the same job at LSU and offered Archer a scholarship to come to Baton Rouge. But the Tigers, along with schools like Texas, wanted to redshirt Archer the first season, so he went to play at Iowa State where the starting job was open. He won it and in two years threw for 4,104 yards and 23 touchdowns.
Archer went undrafted but now at 6-2 and 205 pounds, NFL teams were interested and the Falcons and coach Dan Henning signed him as an undrafted free agent in 1984. Playing behind Steve Bartkowski, he came off the bench for the final game his rookie season and he helped the Falcons snap a nine-game losing streak and beat the Eagles. Then in ’85, Bartkowski got hurt midway through the season and Archer took over the job and made 11 starts.
In ’86, Falcons Henning brought in Turk Schonert from Cincinnati to compete with Archer. It was no contest as Archer won the job.
With Gerald Riggs in the backfield and Marion Campbell brought in as the defensive coordinator, the Falcons started off the season with the four victories. But then the cracks began to show. Back in Atlanta, the Falcons were shut out 16-0 by Buddy Ryan and the Eagles. The Falcons then beat the Rams 26-14 and tied the 49ers 10-10 but from there it all fell apart as Archer missed the last five games with a separated shoulder and the club finished 7-8-1.
In ’87, Archer started in only one game and then went to Washington, San Diego and Philadelphia as a backup.
Looking to get back in the NFL, Archer went to the World Football League in the spring of 1992 and played for the Sacramento Surge, throwing for 2,964 yards and leading them to a World Bowl championship. He was named game MVP and rejoined the Eagles for the ’92 season but still could not push in front of starter Randall Cunningham.
At this point Archer had to decide whether he would continue to play and he opted to do so, going in ’93 to the Canadian Football League. At that time, the CFL had expanded into the U.S. and Archer played for the Sacramento Gold Miners. He threw for 6,023 yards for the Gold Miners which is still the fifth most in any CFL season. He followed it up with 3,340 yards in 1994 and then made stops in San Antonio and Ottawa. But Ottawa folded and instead of going to Saskatchewan which drafted him in dispersal draft, he took a year off and began his broadcast career as a television analyst in the CFL, doing a game every Friday and Sunday.
Then Archer got the itch to hit the field again and returned and played with Edmonton in 1998. He played his final pro game in the CFL Western Final playoff game against the Calgary Stampeders. Archer completed 1,388 of 2,434 passes for 20,671 yards with 120 touchdown passes in his five years in the CFL.
Where he is now: Archer, 53, has been married to Jill for 30 years and they live in Cobb County. They have four children: Jimmy, twins Jackson and Jessica, and Julia.
What he does now: With more than 17 years of experience in broadcast sports, which included work as a sports talk host at 790 The Zone, Archer teams with Wes Durham on the radio broadcast of Falcons games and does an ACC football game on television every week.
On the start in '86: "That season they brought Marion Campbell in as the (defensive coordinator), which really helped. We went to a 3-4 defense and had some really good linebackers. We also had Riggs in the backfield and great run blockers like Mike Kenn and Bill Fralic, who could really come off the ball. We opened in New Orleans and crushed them and then came back to Atlanta and did the same thing to the Cardinals. We were rolling.''
On being 4-0: "I was only 24 and along with Bernie Kosar, I think we were the youngest quarterbacks in the league. All of sudden, HBO and Len Dawson and Nick Buoniconti come to town. It was crazy.''
On what happened the rest of the season which led to the 7-8-1 record: "We were playing the Bears in the 11th game and we were up 10-0 and I got hurt. Turk came in and didn't play very well and we lost 13-10. We lost four of six down the stretch and that was it.''
On his success despite not having prototypical NFL size for a QB: "I think Dan Henning liked my combination of being able to move around and also throw the ball. I was never that fast, but had a knack for pocket awareness and could make people miss. I led the league in rushing two straight years for a quarterback, and in 1986 there was some sort of stat that said of my first 30 runs, 20 were for first downs.''
On broadcasting both college and pro games: "The difference in the venues is very distinctive. You step into an NFL building and it is all business and time to go to work, but it is fun and crazy to see the college side. I always tell people I count my lucky stars that I get to be around the game all the time and nobody hits me in the back anymore.''
On broadcasting with Wes Durham: "With no disrespect to anyone else, I think he is the best in the game. You can hear the passion in his voice and he lives it, and no one is prepared more than Wes. I know I want to get out of my chair when he raises his voice. I can imagine what it is like for people that are listening to him in a car or a garage ''
