1978 New Orleans Saints season

The 1978 New Orleans Saints season was the Saints’ twelfth season. Quarterback Archie Manning put together one of his finest seasons, earning the NFC Player of the Year award and becoming the Saints’ first Pro Bowl representative since the NFL–AFL merger[1] as the Saints finished with a franchise-best 7–9 mark under new head coach Dick Nolan. Seven of the Saints’ losses came against teams that qualified for the playoffs (including both Super Bowl XIII teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys), whilst all nine losses came against teams who finished at or above .500.

1978 New Orleans Saints season
Head coachDick Nolan
Results
Record7–9
Division place3rd NFC West
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersQB Archie Manning

Offseason edit

NFL draft edit

1978 New Orleans Saints draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 3 Wes Chandler *  Wide receiver Florida
2 33 James Taylor  Offensive tackle Missouri
3 60 Barry Bennett  Defensive tackle Concordia College
4 87 Don Schwartz  Defensive back Washington State
5 115 Eric Felton  Defensive back Texas Tech
6 142 Mike Rieker  Quarterback Lehigh
6 157 Francis Chesley  Linebacker Wyoming
8 199 Brooks Williams  Tight end North Carolina
9 226 Richard Carter  Defensive back North Carolina State
11 283 Nathan Besaint  Defensive tackle Southern
11 285 Dave Riley  Running back West Virginia
12 310 Larry Hardy  Tight end Jackson State
      Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

[3]

Personnel edit

Staff edit

1978 New Orleans Saints staff

Front office

  • President – John W. Mecom, Jr.
  • Executive Vice President – Eddie Jones
  • Vice President of Player Personnel – Harry Hulmes

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Conditioning – Bob Hill

[4]

Roster edit

1978 New Orleans Saints roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

Regular season edit

Schedule edit

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 3 Minnesota Vikings W 31–24 1–0 Louisiana Superdome 54,187
2 September 10 at Green Bay Packers L 17–28 1–1 Milwaukee County Stadium 54,336
3 September 17 Philadelphia Eagles L 17–24 1–2 Louisiana Superdome 49,242
4 September 24 at Cincinnati Bengals W 20–18 2–2 Riverfront Stadium 40,455
5 October 1 Los Angeles Rams L 20–26 2–3 Louisiana Superdome 61,659
6 October 8 Cleveland Browns L 16–24 2–4 Louisiana Superdome 50,158
7 October 15 at San Francisco 49ers W 14–7 3–4 Candlestick Park 37,671
8 October 22 at Los Angeles Rams W 10–3 4–4 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 47,574
9 October 29 New York Giants W 28–17 5–4 Louisiana Superdome 59,807
10 November 5 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 14–20 5–5 Three Rivers Stadium 48,526
11 November 12 Atlanta Falcons L 17–20 5–6 Louisiana Superdome 70,323
12 November 19 at Dallas Cowboys L 7–27 5–7 Texas Stadium 57,920
13 November 26 at Atlanta Falcons L 17–20 5–8 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 55,121
14 December 3 San Francisco 49ers W 24–13 6–8 Louisiana Superdome 50,068
15 December 10 Houston Oilers L 12–17 6–9 Louisiana Superdome 63,169
16 December 17 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 17–10 7–9 Tampa Stadium 51,207
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings edit

NFC West
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Los Angeles Rams(1) 12 4 0 .750 4–2 10–2 316 245 W1
Atlanta Falcons(4) 9 7 0 .563 5–1 8–4 240 290 L1
New Orleans Saints 7 9 0 .438 3–3 6–6 281 298 W1
San Francisco 49ers 2 14 0 .125 0–6 1–11 219 350 L1

References edit

  1. ^ "New Orleans Saints All-Pros and Pro Bowlers". Pro Football Reference.
  2. ^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p.284
  3. ^ "1978 New Orleans Saints draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  4. ^ "All-Time Roster". NewOrleansSaints.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2014.

External links edit