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Orleans Saints History
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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. |
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