1978 New Orleans Saints: 7-9-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 3-5-0 (165 points scored, 165 allowed) Road record: 4-4-0 (116 points scored, 133 allowed) Head Coach: Dick Nolan 281 points scored (16th of 28 teams), 298 points allowed (16th) NFL Averages: 18.3 points/game (293.3 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 294 479 3,151 ( 5) 6.11 17 16 512 1,845 (26) 3.6 17 4,996 ( 8) 31 Defense: 215 418 2,464 (13) 5.46 21 21 579 2,420 (21) 4.2 9 4,884 (15) 41
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 3 John Leypoldt K 2 6'2 230 32 8 Northern Virginia C.C. 8 Archie Manning QB 16 6'3 200 29 7 Mississippi 10 Tom Jurich K 1 5'10 185 22 R Northern Arizona 10 Steve Mike-Mayer K 9 6'0 180 31 4 Maryland 12 Bobby Scott QB 1 6'1 197 29 6 Tennessee 15 Rich Szaro K 4 5'11 204 30 4 Harvard 16 Tom Blanchard P 16 6'0 180 30 8 Oregon 20 Eric Felton DB 16 6'0 200 23 R Texas Tech 24 Clarence Chapman DB 14 5'10 185 24 3 Eastern Michigan 27 Ray Brown DB 16 6'2 202 29 8 West Texas State 29 Mo Spencer DB 16 6'0 176 26 4 North Carolina Central 32 Kim Jones RB 16 6'4 235 26 3 Colorado State 33 Mike Strachan RB 15 6'0 200 25 4 Iowa State 34 Tony Galbreath RB 16 6'0 230 24 3 Missouri 35 Jim Van Wagner RB 5 6'0 202 23 1 Michigan Tech 37 Tom Myers DB 16 5'11 180 28 7 Syracuse 42 Chuck Muncie RB 13 6'3 220 25 3 California 45 Jack Holmes RB 11 5'11 210 25 1 Texas Southern 48 Donald Schwartz DB 16 6'1 191 22 R Washington State 49 Ralph McGill DB 16 5'11 180 28 7 Tulsa 51 Ron Crosby LB 14 6'3 225 23 1 Penn State 52 Skip Vanderbundt LB 15 6'3 225 31 10 Oregon State 53 Rick Kingrea LB 1 6'1 222 29 8 Tulane 54 Pat Hughes LB 16 6'2 225 31 9 Boston University 55 Floyd Rice LB 15 6'3 225 29 8 Alcorn State 56 Rusty Rebowe LB 1 5'10 213 22 R Nicholls State 57 Jim Merlo LB 16 6'1 220 27 5 Stanford 58 Joe Federspiel LB 16 6'1 230 28 7 Kentucky 60 Don Reese DE 14 6'6 250 27 4 Jackson State 62 John Hill C 16 6'2 246 28 7 Lehigh 63 Barry Bennett DT 16 6'4 257 22 R Concordia 64 Dave Lafary OG 15 6'7 280 23 2 Purdue 65 Robert Woods OT 16 6'4 259 28 6 Tennessee State 66 Conrad Dobler OG 3 6'3 255 28 7 Wyoming 67 John Watson OT 5 6'4 244 29 8 Oklahoma 68 Fred Sturt OG 12 6'4 255 27 4 Bowling Green 68 Richard Neal DE 2 6'3 263 31 10 Southern 69 Bill Fifer OT 4 6'4 250 23 R West Texas State 70 Mark Meseroll OT 16 6'5 270 23 R Florida State 71 J.T. Taylor OT 16 6'4 265 22 R Missouri 72 Mike Fultz DT 12 6'5 278 24 2 Nebraska 73 Joe Campbell DE 16 6'6 254 23 2 Maryland 74 Derland Moore DT 15 6'4 253 27 6 Oklahoma 75 Elex Price DT 16 6'3 265 28 6 Alcorn State 76 Kevin Hunt OT 10 6'5 260 29 7 Doane 77 Gary Anderson OG 2 6'3 250 23 2 Stanford 78 Elois Grooms DE 16 6'4 250 25 4 Tennessee Tech 79 Emanuel Zanders OG 3 6'1 248 27 5 Jackson State 82 Ike Harris WR 15 6'3 205 25 4 Iowa State 83 Tinker Owens WR 14 5'11 170 24 2 Oklahoma 84 Rich Mauti WR 16 6'0 190 24 2 Penn State 85 Henry Childs TE 16 6'2 220 27 5 Kansas State 87 Larry Hardy TE 16 6'3 230 22 R Jackson State 88 Brooks Williams TE 16 6'4 226 23 R North Carolina 89 Wes Chandler WR 16 5'11 186 22 R Florida
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Archie Manning 471 291 61.8 3,416 7.25 11.7 17 3.6 16 3.4 37 301 81.7 Bobby Scott 5 3 60.0 36 7.20 12.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 82.1 Ike Harris 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6 Chuck Muncie 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6 Mike Strachan 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Tony Galbreath 74 582 7.9 2 Henry Childs 53 869 16.4 4 Ike Harris 40 590 14.8 4 Tinker Owens 40 446 11.2 2 Wes Chandler 35 472 13.5 2 Chuck Muncie 26 233 9.0 0 Mike Strachan 10 51 5.1 0 Rich Mauti 8 69 8.6 2 Larry Hardy 5 131 26.2 1 Kim Jones 2 10 5.0 0 Jim Van Wagner 1 -1 -1.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Tony Galbreath 186 635 3.4 5 Chuck Muncie 160 557 3.5 7 Mike Strachan 108 388 3.6 4 Archie Manning 38 202 5.3 1 Kim Jones 9 31 3.4 0 Ike Harris 2 22 11.0 0 Wes Chandler 2 10 5.0 0 Jack Holmes 2 4 2.0 0 Bobby Scott 1 0 0.0 0 Tom Blanchard 2 0 0.0 0 Henry Childs 2 -4 -2.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Wes Chandler 32 760 23.8 0 Rich Mauti 17 388 22.8 0 Clarence Chapman 9 149 16.6 0 Donald Schwartz 3 51 17.0 0 Larry Hardy 2 3 1.5 0 Jack Holmes 1 18 18.0 0 Floyd Rice 1 15 15.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Wes Chandler 34 233 6.9 10 0 Ralph McGill 1 5 5.0 0 0 Donald Schwartz 1 4 4.0 0 0 Rich Mauti 0 0 ? 3 0 Tom Myers 0 0 ? 1 0 |
1978 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 3 WR Wes Chandler 150 Florida 2 33 OT J.T. Taylor 57 Missouri 3 60 DT Barry Bennett 132 Concordia 4 87 DB Don Schwartz 51 Washington State 5 115 DB Eric Felton 35 Texas Tech 6 142 QB Mike Rieker Lehigh 6 157 LB Frank Chesley 1 Wyoming [pick acquired from WAS via HOU] 8 199 TE Brooks Williams 78 North Carolina 9 226 DB Richard Carter North Carolina State 11 283 DT Nathan Besaint Southern 11 285 RB Dave Riley West Virginia [pick acquired from SEA] 12 310 TE Larry Hardy 101 Jackson State
Traded draft picks: #7 to NYJ (Levi Armstrong), #10 to NYG (Greg Jorgensen)
Transactions:
| 01-31-1978 | traded Bob Pollard and Terry Stieve to Cardinals for Conrad Dobler and Ike Harris |
| 03-06-1978 | claimed Jim Van Wagner on waivers from ? |
| 04-25-1978 | traded Greg Boykin to 49ers for Ralph McGill |
| 05-02-1978 | traded Ernie Jackson to Falcons for Ray Brown |
| 05-06-1978 | traded Kurt Schumacher to 49ers for future considerations |
| 05-19-1978 | traded future considerations to Steelers for Brent Sexton |
| 07-06-1978 | traded New Orleans' #9 pick in the 1979 draft to Chiefs for Keith Simons |
| 07-19-1978 | Buccaneers claimed Robert Watts on waivers |
| 07-22-1978 | Gary Hrivnak retired |
| 08-15-1978 | traded Chuck Crist to 49ers for Skip Vanderbundt |
| 08-22-1978 | placed Ken Bordelon on injured reserve |
| 08-22-1978 | placed Wayne Simmons on injured reserve |
| 08-22-1978 | signed Don Reese from Dolphins as a free agent |
| 08-27-1978 | traded Jim Thaxton to Cardinals for a #7 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 08-28-1978 | traded New Orleans' #10 pick in the 1979 draft to Raiders for Floyd Rice |
| 08-29-1978 | Cardinals claimed Greg Westbrooks on waivers |
| 09-1978 | sent New Orleans' #3 pick in the 1979 draft to Dolphins as compensation for free agent Don Reese |
| 10-04-1978 | placed Jim Van Wagner on injured reserve |
| 10-04-1978 | placed John Watson on injured reserve |
| 10-11-1978 | placed Rich Szaro on injured reserve |
| 10-26-1978 | placed Gary Anderson on injured reserve |
| 10-26-1978 | claimed Bill Fifer on waivers from Lions |
1978 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/03/78 vs Minnesota Vikings W 31-24 1-0-0 09/10/78 at Green Bay Packers L 17-28 1-1-0 09/17/78 vs Philadelphia Eagles L 17-24 1-2-0 09/24/78 at Cincinnati Bengals W 20-18 2-2-0 10/01/78 vs Los Angeles Rams L 20-26 2-3-0 10/08/78 vs Cleveland Browns L 16-24 2-4-0 10/15/78 at San Francisco 49ers W 14-7 3-4-0 10/22/78 at Los Angeles Rams W 10-3 4-4-0 10/29/78 vs New York Giants W 28-17 5-4-0 11/05/78 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 14-20 5-5-0 11/12/78 vs Atlanta Falcons L 17-20 5-6-0 11/19/78 at Dallas Cowboys L 7-27 5-7-0 11/26/78 at Atlanta Falcons L 17-20 5-8-0 12/03/78 vs San Francisco 49ers W 24-13 6-8-0 12/10/78 vs Houston Oilers L 12-17 6-9-0 12/17/78 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 17-10 7-9-0