New
Orleans Saints NFL Customized Locker Room 12 x 18 Matted Photograph
New
Orleans Saints - Team History
New Orleans Saints, professional football team and one of five teams
in the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC)
of the National Football League (NFL). Under the league’s realignment
plan, which will take affect in 2002, the Saints will play in the
South Division of the NFC. The Saints play at the Louisiana Superdome
in New Orleans, Louisiana, and wear uniforms of gold, black, and white.
The team is named after the Dixieland classic and team fight song,
“When the Saints Go Marchin’ In.”
The Saints joined
the NFL as an expansion team in 1967. The new club struggled for
many years, employing six head coaches, posting 12 consecutive losing
records, and averaging only four wins per season from 1967 to 1978.
The team’s leader during much of this time was quarterback
Archie Manning, who won the NFL player of the year award in 1978.
The greatest moment in Saints history came on November 8, 1970,
when New Orleans kicker Tom Dempsey sealed a 19-17 upset of the
Detroit Lions with a 63-yard field goal—the longest in NFL
history.
The Saints began
playing in the Superdome in 1975, and four years later they recorded
their first non-losing mark, finishing with an 8-8 win-loss record
under head coach Dick Nolan. The team’s woes continued during
the 1980s, however, and New Orleans was never able to compile more
than 8 wins in a season.
Under head coach
Jim Mora, the Saints achieved their first winning record and their
first playoff appearance in 1987. A former defensive coodinator
for the New England Patriots, Mora was named NFL coach of the year.
Running back Rueben Mayes, the 1986 rookie of the year, and wide
receiver Eric Martin, a three-time 1,000-yard gainer, anchored the
NFC’s second-best offense.
Mora steered
the Saints to three consecutive trips to the postseason from 1990
to 1992. New Orleans assembled the NFC’s toughest defense
in 1990 and 1991, led by one of the best linebacker units in the
league. In 1992 linebackers Rickey Jackson, Vaughn Johnson, Sam
Mills, and Pat Swilling all played in the Pro Bowl, and the Saints
led the league in quarterback sacks. Despite its tenacious defense,
the team lost in the first round each time it made the playoffs.
At the end of the 1996 season, former Chicago Bears head coach Mike
Ditka replaced Mora. Ditka was fired after the 1999 season.
The New Orleans
Saints have never played in the Super Bowl.
Update: According to interim head coach Joe Vitt, Toon displayed good hands and speed in separating himself from other players at Saints minicamp, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) Drew Brees is frustrated by what he views as a lack of communication with the New Orleans Saints in his contract negotiations, adding the club should have shown more urgency to get a long-term deal done.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) Drew Brees said in a radio interview Wednesday night that he is frustrated by what he views as a lack of communication with the New Orleans Saints in his ongoing contract negotiations, adding the club should have shown more urgency to get a long-term deal done.
Drew Brees expressed frustration over the “lack of communication” between the Saints and his agent in the ongoing contract stalemate, according to a report by PFW correspondent Mike Triplett of The Times-Picayune.
NEW YORK (AP) Arbitrator Shyam Das heard arguments Wednesday from NFL and players union lawyers on whether Commissioner Roger Goodell can discipline players for actions that occurred before the league's current labor agreement was signed last August.
The New Orleans Saints will honor Sean Payton this season by leaving an empty seat for the suspended head coach in their locker room and on team buses and planes.
Payton, who is in exile in a downtown New Orleans skyscraper after his season-long ban, won't rejoin the team until after next year's Super Bowl. The Saints will compensate for his absence by acting like he died, rather than looked the other way during a pay-for-play bounty system. This is sort of like leaving an empty chair for grandma at Thanksgiving because it's her year to eat at your uncle's house.
[ Related: Saints rookie CB Corey White gets reality check from Drew Brees ]
This information comes from Jeff Duncan of The Times-Picayune. We've pulled some of the quotes from his article to highlight the Saints' deep love of their banned coach.
"How would Pittsburgh react if Chuck Noll was gone? Or how would Dallas react if Tom Landry wasn't there? Or San Francisco without Bill Walsh? Sean's put those kinds of numbers up. He has that kind of recognition in the league." -- Joe Vitt, interim head coach
Super Bowl victories
4 -- Chuck Noll
3 -- Bill Walsh
2 -- Tom Landry
1 -- Sean Payton
The Seattle Seahawks agreed to a deal with veteran offensive lineman Alex Barron after they were impressed enough by his tryout to offer him a shot with the team. He joined the Seahawks' offseason program May 15.
Sometimes, the best way to deal with a problem is to pretend that it doesn't exist. At least, that's the impression put across by former NFL running back Ricky Williams when he discussed the recent concern about concussions in football with ESPN's Dan Le Batard. Williams, who played for the New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens during an 11-year career in which he gained over 10,000 rushing yards, retired in February. And when it comes to the possible effects of the game as he enters a new phase of his life ... well, Williams can't really be bothered.
"I have no idea, and I'm not a really big fan of the way the NFL is handling concussions," Williams said on Tuesday. "Maybe I'm stupid or whatever, but if I got a concussion, and I could see straight and I could carry a football, I'm not telling anybody ... From what I've seen, [the NFL is] all about prevention -- but can you prevent a concussion? I mean, you can definitely have safer helmets, and I had what I think was the safest helmet when I played, and I think you can definitely pay more attention. But ultimately, it's about the players. And I think all this attention given to prevention -- it seems like they haven't done anything, because they don't believe they can actually treat a concussion."
[Related: Concussion worries lead Andrew Sweat to choose law school over NFL ]
When Le Batard said that he didn't understand Williams' statement (put us in that camp as well), Williams elaborated.
"Most of the research around concussions is to find that 100 percent of football players have brain trauma. Well -- I don't want someone to tell me that, right? I don't want someone to tell me that, because if it's a 'doctor' [Williams used air quotes when he said the word 'doctor'], I don't buy it."
The now incredulous Le Batard asked Williams to clarify his stance -- did he believe that there is not a link between football and concussions?
"I don't buy it. I'm only speaking from my personal experience, because I haven't allowed myself to buy it, and I haven't been affected. Yes, I'm aware that football is a rough sport, but instead of saying, 'Oh -- I'm doomed to brain trauma,' I said, 'What can I do about it?' And I just started taking care of my body. I found people, places and things that really helped me -- again, I don't know what's going to happen to me in 10 years, but I look at the other things I've learned about, and the way I see the world.
"And to me, it's like -- OK, yes. If we're going to spend six months brutalizing our bodies, I said, 'That makes sense. I'm going to spend six months taking care of my body.' I started to equip myself with tools. I started practicing yoga, and I started learning some hands-on healing stuff. I found really good chiropractors and massage therapists, and I found that I was able to peel off layers of trauma on my body. I actually move better now than I did [when I played]."
When asked about the science of brain trauma, Williams passed it off. "Science is the deity, but should it be?"
RENTON, Wash. (AP) The Seattle Seahawks have agreed to terms with veteran offensive lineman Alex Barron following Barron's tryout during Seattle's rookie minicamp last weekend.
The Louisiana State Senate voted to formally request the NFL reconsider penalties against the team as a result of the bounty program the Saints allegedly employed under defensive coordinator Gregg Wiliams.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) The Louisiana Legislature is asking the NFL to reconsider the penalties imposed on the New Orleans Saints because of its bounty program.
METAIRIE, La. (AP) The Saints' revamped coaching staff said Monday that they are going to have to get use to the huge void left by Sean Payton's suspension for his role in the team's bounty system. They also might have to get use to life without Drew Brees.
With the possibility that Drew Brees won't attend the Saints' offseason program next week, interim head coach Joe Vitt said the team might bring in another quarterback.
The players union is scheduled to have its grievance against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell heard Wednesday, with the NFLPA questioning the league's authority to punish players for participating in an alleged bounty program with the Saints.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) Wayne Nunnely, one of the premiere defensive line coaches in the NFL, is retiring after 17 seasons, the last three with the Denver Broncos.
The players union is scheduled to have its grievance against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell heard Wednesday, with the NFLPA questioning the league's authority to punish players for participating in an alleged bounty program with the Saints.
