1981 New Orleans Saints roster and stats

1981 New Orleans Saints: 4-12-0
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Home record: 2-6-0 (108 points scored, 203 allowed) Road record: 2-6-0 (99 points scored, 175 allowed) Head Coach: Bum Phillips 207 points scored (28th of 28 teams), 378 points allowed (24th) NFL Averages: 20.7 points/game (330.8 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: 238 441 2,419 (28) 5.02 8 27 546 2,286 ( 7) 4.2 16 4,705 (25) 47 Defense: 287 471 3,337 (20) 6.70 26 17 504 1,916 (11) 3.8 17 5,253 (11) 34

Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 1 Benny Ricardo K 16 5'10 170 27 5 San Diego State 8 Archie Manning QB 12 6'3 200 32 10 Mississippi 12 Bobby Scott QB 4 6'1 197 32 9 Tennessee 14 Russell Erxleben P 16 6'4 220 24 3 Texas 18 Dave Wilson QB 11 6'3 195 22 R Illinois 19 Guido Merkens WR 16 6'1 200 26 4 Sam Houston State 20 Russell Gary DB 14 5'11 195 22 R Nebraska 22 Ricky Ray DB 4 5'11 180 24 3 Norfolk State 25 Johnnie Poe DB 15 6'1 182 22 R Missouri 30 Wayne Wilson RB 16 6'3 208 24 3 Shepherd 32 Scott Stauch RB 10 5'11 204 22 R UCLA 37 Tom Myers DB 16 5'11 180 31 10 Syracuse 38 George Rogers RB 16 6'2 224 22 R South Carolina 41 Jimmy Rogers RB 15 5'10 190 26 2 Oklahoma 42 Toussaint Tyler RB 16 6'2 220 22 R Washington 44 Dave Waymer DB 16 6'1 195 23 2 Notre Dame 45 Jack Holmes RB 16 5'11 210 28 4 Texas Southern 47 Mike Spivey DB 12 6'0 198 27 5 Colorado 48 Jeff Groth WR 15 5'10 172 24 3 Bowling Green 49 Frank Wattelet DB 16 6'0 185 23 R Kansas 50 Ken Bordelon LB 15 6'4 226 27 5 Louisiana State 52 Jim Kovach LB 15 6'2 225 25 3 Kentucky 53 Scott Pelluer LB 16 6'2 210 22 R Washington State 54 Paul Ryczek C 8 6'2 230 29 7 Virginia 55 Rob Nairne LB 16 6'4 227 27 5 Oregon State 57 Rickey Jackson LB 16 6'2 230 23 R Pittsburgh 58 Glen Redd LB 16 6'1 225 23 R Brigham Young 59 Chuck Evans LB 16 6'3 235 24 2 Stanford 61 Sam Adams OG 16 6'3 260 33 10 Prairie View A&M 62 John Hill C 13 6'2 246 31 10 Lehigh 63 Barry Bennett DT 3 6'4 257 25 4 Concordia 64 Dave Lafary OT 16 6'7 280 26 5 Purdue 65 Bob Young OG 2 6'2 279 39 16 Howard Payne 67 Stan Brock OT 16 6'6 275 23 2 Colorado 68 Fred Sturt OG 16 6'4 255 30 7 Bowling Green 69 Nat Hudson OG 16 6'3 270 24 R Georgia 71 J.T. Taylor OT 12 6'4 265 25 4 Missouri 73 Frank Warren DE 16 6'4 275 22 R Auburn 74 Derland Moore DE 16 6'4 253 30 9 Oklahoma 76 Jim Pietrzak C 16 6'5 260 28 7 Eastern Michigan 77 Jerry Boyarsky DT 11 6'3 290 22 R Pittsburgh 78 Elois Grooms DE 16 6'4 250 28 7 Tennessee Tech 80 Gordon Banks WR 6 5'9 178 23 2 Stanford 82 Ike Harris WR 3 6'3 210 28 7 Iowa State 85 Hoby Brenner TE 9 6'4 240 22 R Southern California 86 Rich Caster TE 4 6'5 230 33 12 Jackson State 86 Rich Martini WR 12 6'2 185 25 3 California-Davis 87 Larry Hardy TE 16 6'3 230 25 4 Jackson State 88 Brooks Williams TE 7 6'4 226 26 4 North Carolina 89 Aundra Thompson WR 10 6'0 186 28 5 East Texas State 89 Wes Chandler WR 4 5'11 186 25 4 Florida 91 Monte Bennett DT 16 6'3 260 22 R Kansas State 94 Jim Wilks DE 16 6'4 252 23 R San Diego State

Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Archie Manning 232 134 57.8 1,447 6.24 10.8 5 2.2 11 4.7 21 164 63.6 Dave Wilson 159 82 51.6 1,058 6.65 12.9 1 0.6 11 6.9 12 121 46.1 Bobby Scott 46 20 43.5 245 5.33 12.2 1 2.2 5 10.9 7 72 28.2 Guido Merkens 2 1 50.0 20 10.00 20.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 2 85.4 Tom Myers 2 1 50.0 8 4.00 8.0 1 50.0 0 0.0 0 0 100.0

Receiving             Rec  Yards    Avg   TD
Jack Holmes            38    206    5.4    0
Wayne Wilson           31    384   12.4    4
Guido Merkens          29    458   15.8    1
Larry Hardy            23    275   12.0    1
Toussaint Tyler        23    135    5.9    0
Jeff Groth             20    380   19.0    1
Wes Chandler           17    285   16.8    1
George Rogers          16    126    7.9    0
Rich Martini            8     72    9.0    0
Hoby Brenner            7    143   20.4    0
Rich Caster             7    108   15.4    0
Aundra Thompson         6     81   13.5    0
Brooks Williams         5     50   10.0    0
Ike Harris              2     33   16.5    0
Gordon Banks            2     18    9.0    0
Jimmy Rogers            2     12    6.0    0
Scott Stauch            1      7    7.0    0
Dave Lafary             1      5    5.0    0

Rushing               Att  Yards    Avg   TD
George Rogers         378  1,674    4.4   13
Jack Holmes            58    194    3.3    2
Toussaint Tyler        36    183    5.1    0
Wayne Wilson           44    137    3.1    1
Jimmy Rogers            9     37    4.1    0
Archie Manning          2     28   14.0    0
Jeff Groth              2     27   13.5    0
Russell Erxleben        2     10    5.0    0
Scott Stauch            2      6    3.0    0
Dave Wilson             5      1    0.2    0
Guido Merkens           2     -1   -0.5    0
Rich Caster             1     -3   -3.0    0
Tom Myers               2     -3   -1.5    0
Bobby Scott             3     -4   -1.3    0

Kickoff Returns       Att  Yards    Avg   TD
Wayne Wilson           31    722   23.3    0
Jimmy Rogers           28    621   22.2    0
Scott Stauch            3     65   21.7    0
Jeff Groth              3     50   16.7    0
Guido Merkens           2     38   19.0    0
Stan Brock              2     18    9.0    0
Gordon Banks            1      9    9.0    0

Punt Returns          Att  Yards    Avg   FC   TD
Jeff Groth             37    436   11.8    6    0
Gordon Banks            2      0    0.0    0    0
Johnnie Poe             1      2    2.0    0    0
Guido Merkens           1    -12  -12.0    1    0

Punting Punts Yards Avg TB In20 Blk Ret Yards Net Russell Erxleben 66 2,672 40.5 6 11 0 36 282 34.4 Kicking 0-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+ Total PAT Pts Benny Ricardo 0/0 5/5 3/9 5/10 0/1 13/25 24/24 63 Defense Sacks Ints Yards TD Barry Bennett 1.0 Ken Bordelon 1 3 0 Jerry Boyarsky 1.0 Russell Gary 1.0 1 0 0 Elois Grooms 4.0 Rickey Jackson 8.0 Jim Kovach 1.0 1 13 0 Derland Moore 1.0 Tom Myers 2 70 0 Rob Nairne 1.0 1 18 0 Johnnie Poe 1 0 0 Ricky Ray 1 33 0 Glen Redd 1.0 1 7 0 Mike Spivey 1 0 0 Frank Warren 3.5 Frank Wattelet 3 16 0 Dave Waymer 4 54 0 Jim Wilks 3.5

1981 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 1 RB George Rogers 92 South Carolina 2 29 DB Russell Gary 80 Nebraska 2 51 LB Ricky Jackson 227 Pittsburgh [pick acquired from SD] 3 57 DE Frank Warren 189 Auburn 3 71 TE Hoby Brenner 175 USC [pick acquired from MIN] 5 112 OT Louis Orbre 40 Oklahoma 5 128 DT Jerry Boyarsky 98 Pittsburgh [pick acquired from MIN] 6 139 OG Nat Hudson 18 Georgia 6 144 DB Johnnie Poe 100 Missouri [pick acquired from TB] 6 166 LB Glen Redd 76 Brigham Young [pick acquired from OAK] 7 167 WR Kevin Williams 11 USC 8 214 LB Gene Gladys Penn State [pick acquired from BUF] 8 215 DB Kevin Evans Arkansas [pick acquired from SD] 9 222 RB Toussaint Tyler 18 Washington 10 249 RB Hokie Gajan 45 LSU 11 277 WR Lester Mickens Kansas 12 305 DT Jim Wilks 183 San Diego State

Traded draft picks: #4 to MIA (Sam Greene), #8 to NE (Ken Naber)

Transactions:

04-23-1981	traded New Orleans' #8 pick in the 1981 draft to Patriots for Sam Adams
04-30-1981	traded Henry Childs to Redskins for Washington's #3 pick in the 1982 draft
07-14-1981	traded Guy Benjamin to 49ers for San Francisco's #6 pick in the 1982 draft
08-27-1981	claimed Jim Asmus on waivers from Eagles
08-31-1981	traded New Orleans' #5 pick in the 1983 draft to Broncos for Rob Nairne
08-31-1981	traded Tony Galbreath to Vikings for Minnesota's #3 pick in the 1982 draft
09-01-1981	claimed Scott Pelluer on waivers from Cowboys
09-01-1981	claimed Bill Hurley on waivers from Steelers
09-29-1981	traded Wes Chandler to Chargers for Aundra Thompson, Green Bay's #1 pick and San Diego's #3 pick in the 1982 draft

1981 Regular Season Game Log:   Click on the date to view the game summary.

Date        Opponent                   Result        Record
09/06/81    at Atlanta Falcons         L 0-27        0-1-0
09/13/81    vs Los Angeles Rams        W 23-17       1-1-0
09/20/81    at New York Giants         L 7-20        1-2-0
09/27/81    at San Francisco 49ers     L 14-21       1-3-0
10/04/81    vs Pittsburgh Steelers     L 6-20        1-4-0
10/11/81    vs Philadelphia Eagles     L 14-31       1-5-0
10/18/81    at Cleveland Browns        L 17-20       1-6-0
10/25/81    vs Cincinnati Bengals      W 17-7        2-6-0
11/01/81    vs Atlanta Falcons         L 10-41       2-7-0
11/08/81    at Los Angeles Rams        W 21-13       3-7-0
11/15/81    at Minnesota Vikings       L 10-20       3-8-0
11/22/81    at Houston Oilers          W 27-24       4-8-0
11/29/81    vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers    L 14-31       4-9-0
12/06/81    at St. Louis Cardinals     L 3-30        4-10-0
12/13/81    vs Green Bay Packers       L 7-35        4-11-0
12/20/81    vs San Francisco 49ers     L 17-21       4-12-0

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