1975 New Orleans Saints season

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1975 New Orleans Saints season
Head coachJohn North
Ernie Hefferle (interim)
Home fieldLouisiana Superdome
Results
Record2–12
Division place4th NFC West
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersNone

The 1975 New Orleans Saints season was the Saints ninth season and their first in the newly opened Louisiana Superdome. Despite the new stadium, they failed to match their 1974 output of 5–9, winning only two games and tying the San Diego Chargers for the league’s worst record.

Coach John North, who was hired four games into the 1973 exhibition season, was fired following a 38–14 road loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the sixth game. Director of Player Personnel Ernie Hefferle took over for the final eight games. His only win was his first game in charge, a 23–7 victory at home over the hated Atlanta Falcons.

The Saints were winless on the road for the fourth time in six seasons, leaving them 3–36–3 away from New Orleans since 1970.

The Saints wore white pants for the first time after wearing old gold pants for their first eight seasons. After 1975, New Orleans did not wear white jerseys and white pants again until introducing their Color Rush set in 2016.

Offseason[]

NFL draft[]

1975 New Orleans Saints draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 7 Larry Burton  Wide receiver Purdue
1 12 Kurt Schumacher  Guard Ohio State
2 32 Lee Gross  Center Auburn
3 60   Running back Washington State
3 63 Elois Grooms  Defensive end Tennessee Tech
4 92 John Starkebaum  Defensive back Nebraska
4 99 Charlie Hall  Defensive end Tulane
6 149 Mike Lemon  Linebacker Kansas
7 163 Steve Rogers  Running back Louisiana State
9 216 Mike Strachan  Running back Iowa State
10 243 Chuck Heater  Running back Michigan
11 266 Danny Lee  Punter N.E. Louisiana
12 294 Ron Gustafson  Wide receiver North Dakota
13 319 Jim Upchurch  Punter Arizona
14 344 Randy Rhino  Defensive back Georgia Tech
15 372 Grant Burget  Running back Oklahoma
16 397 Mike McDonald  Linebacker Catawba
17 422 Greg Westbrooks  Linebacker Colorado
      Made roster  

[1]

Personnel[]

Staff[]

1975 New Orleans Saints staff
Front office
  • President – John W. Mecom, Jr.
  • Executive Vice President – Richard F. Gordon, Jr.
  • Vice President of Administration – Harry Hulmes
  • Business Manager and Treasurer – Eddie Jones

Head coaches

  • Head Coach – John North (games 1-6; fired October 27)
  • Head Coach - Ernie Hefferle (games 7-14)

Offensive coaches

  • Quarterbacks – Lamar McHan
  • Offensive Backs – Bob Ledbetter
  • Receivers – Jim Phillips
  • Offensive Line – Wimp Hewgley
Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches


[2]

Roster[]

1975 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[]

Schedule[]

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 21, 1975 at Washington Redskins L 3–41
54,414
2 September 28, 1975 Cincinnati Bengals L 0–21
52,531
3 October 5, 1975 at Atlanta Falcons L 7–14
29,444
4 October 12, 1975 Green Bay Packers W 20–19
51,371
5 October 19, 1975 at San Francisco 49ers L 21–35
39,990
6 October 26, 1975 at Los Angeles Rams L 14–38
54,723
7 November 2, 1975 Atlanta Falcons W 23–7
49,342
8 November 9, 1975 at Oakland Raiders L 10–48
51,267
9 November 16, 1975 Minnesota Vikings L 7–20
52,765
10 November 23, 1975 San Francisco 49ers L 6–16
40,328
11 November 30, 1975 at Cleveland Browns L 16–17
44,753
12 December 7, 1975 Los Angeles Rams L 7–14
39,958
13 December 14, 1975 at New York Giants L 14–28
40,150
14 December 21, 1975 Chicago Bears L 17–42
33,371

Standings[]

NFC West
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Los Angeles Rams(2) 12 2 0 .857 5–1 9–2 312 135 W6
San Francisco 49ers 5 9 0 .357 3–3 4–7 255 286 L4
Atlanta Falcons 4 10 0 .286 3–3 3–8 240 289 L1
New Orleans Saints 2 12 0 .143 1–5 2–9 165 360 L7

References[]

  1. ^ "1975 New Orleans Saints draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  2. ^ "All-Time Roster". NewOrleansSaints.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-18. Retrieved November 4, 2014.

External links[]

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