1975 New Orleans Saints season

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.

1975 New Orleans Saints season
Head coach	John North Ernie Hefferle (interim)
Home field	Louisiana Superdome
Results
Record	2–12
Division place	4th NFC West
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	None

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

Main article: 1975 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	Andrew Jones	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

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 Defensive Line – Bob Cummings Linebackers – Doug Shively Defensive Backfield – Bud Whitehead Special teams coaches Special Teams – Billy Ray Barnes

Roster

1975 New Orleans Saints roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 13 Larry Cipa 8 Archie Manning 12 Bobby Scott Running backs (RB) 36 Andrew Jones 36 Morris LaGrand 28 Alvin Maxson 27 Rod McNeill 33 Mike Strachan Wide receivers (WR) 80 Larry Burton 89 Gil Chapman 83 Andy Hamilton 87 Don Herrmann 88 Joel Parker Tight ends (TE) 85 Henry Childs 84 Paul Seal

Offensive linemen (OL) 79 Emanuel Zanders G 51 Sylvester Croom C 62 John Hill C 50 Jake Kupp G 67 Phil LaPorta T 76 Don Morrison T 71 Kurt Schumacher G 65 Dave Thompson T Defensive linemen (DL) 63 Steve Baumgartner DE 69 Andy Dorris DE 78 Elois Grooms DE 74 Derland Moore DT 82 Bob Pollard DE 75 Elex Price DT

Linebackers (LB) 55 Don Coleman 58 Joe Federspiel 53 Rick Kingrea 57 Jim Merlo 54 Rick Middleton 60 Greg Westbrooks Defensive backs (DB) 44 Chuck Crist SS 24 Johnny Fuller SS 30 Ernie Jackson CB 11 Bivian Lee CB 37 Tom Myers FS 44 Terry Schmidt CB 29 Mo Spencer CB Special teams 16 Tom Blanchard P 15 Rich Szaro K

Reserve 86 Dave Davis WR (IR) 56 Lee Gross C (IR) -- John Starkebaum DB (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 21	at Washington Redskins	L 3–41	0–1	RFK Stadium	54,414
2	September 28	Cincinnati Bengals	L 0–21	0–2	Louisiana Superdome	52,531
3	October 5	at Atlanta Falcons	L 7–14	0–3	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	29,444
4	October 12	Green Bay Packers	W 20–19	1–3	Louisiana Superdome	51,371
5	October 19	at San Francisco 49ers	L 21–35	1–4	Candlestick Park	39,990
6	October 26	at Los Angeles Rams	L 14–38	1–5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	54,723
7	November 2	Atlanta Falcons	W 23–7	2–5	Louisiana Superdome	49,342
8	November 9	at Oakland Raiders	L 10–48	2–6	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	51,267
9	November 16	Minnesota Vikings	L 7–20	2–7	Louisiana Superdome	52,765
10	November 23	San Francisco 49ers	L 6–16	2–8	Louisiana Superdome	40,328
11	November 30	at Cleveland Browns	L 16–17	2–9	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	44,753
12	December 7	Los Angeles Rams	L 7–14	2–10	Louisiana Superdome	39,958
13	December 14	at New York Giants	L 14–28	2–11	Shea Stadium	40,150
14	December 21	Chicago Bears	L 17–42	2–12	Louisiana Superdome	33,371
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

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

External links

• 1975 New Orleans Saints at Pro-Football-Reference.com