Atlanta ? Dan Reeves will be watching the NFC championship game from afar.

He won’t have to call any plays, or manage the clock, or decide which guys to send on the field. All he has to do is make sure his television is switched to the right station.

Even so, the former Atlanta Falcons coach feels a definite sense of pride, knowing he played a role in building the team that is just one win away from the Super Bowl.

In fact, Reeves gets credit for perhaps the most significant move in franchise history — the trade that landed Pro Bowl quarterback Michael Vick on the eve of the 2001 draft.

“A lot of my coaches are still part of it. A lot of my players, too,” said Reeves, who coached the Falcons for almost seven seasons and still lives in Atlanta. “I have a good feeling about this football team.”

It’s not his team anymore. Reeves, who turned 61 on Wednesday, was fired as the 2003 season was winding down, his tenure snuffed out by that most common offense — not enough wins.

The Falcons, who reached the second round of the playoffs in Reeves’ next-to-last year, were doomed when Vick broke his leg in a preseason game. With the team at 3-10, owner Arthur Blank made his move.

Reeves was told he could finish the season but wouldn’t be back in ’04. Not surprisingly, the curmudgeonly coach decided he would rather be fired right away.

Jim Mora was hired as Reeves’ replacement.

“He deserves a tremendous amount of credit for setting the table for us,” Mora said Wednesday. “My whole life, I looked up to him. Anytime I can pick his brain about things that might help the team, I do.”

Reeves has called Mora several times this season, most notably after a 56-10 loss to Kansas City in late October. The ex-coach recounted how the Falcons were whipped by San Francisco early in the ’98 season, but bounced back to make the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

“I thought we were in position to be one of the elite teams in the league, but the 49ers kicked our butts,” Reeves remembered.