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NFL team 1st season
The 1967 New Orleans Saints season was the inaugural season for the franchise. The team went 3–11, finishing in last place in the four-team NFL Eastern Conference Capitol Division .
The Saints made a splash in the expansion draft by selecting Green Bay Packers running back Paul Hornung . Lombardi was distraught when the Saints selected Hornung in the draft.[ 1] Tom Fears prior to the draft. Fears was a former assistant in Green Bay and Fears felt that Hornung would help sell tickets in New Orleans.[ 1] Baton Rouge and an All-American at LSU . Taylor had felt underpaid and under-appreciated under Lombardi.[ 2] [ 2]
The Saints committed a colossal blunder by trading the first overall selection to the Baltimore Colts for Gary Cuozzo , the backup quarterback to Johnny Unitas . Cuozzo began the season as the Saints' starter, but lost the job to expansion draftee Billy Kilmer . Cuozzo was traded to the Minnesota Vikings early in 1968.
Baltimore selected Michigan State All-America defensive end Bubba Smith with the first pick. Smith became a star for the Colts, starting at left end for their Super Bowl III and Super Bowl V teams.
1967 New Orleans Saints staff
Front office
President – John Mecom Jr.
Executive Vice-President / general manager – Bert Rose
Director of Player Personnel – Vic Schwenk
Director of Player Relations – George Owen
Director of Promotions and Special Events – Bill Smythe
Director of Public Relations – Donald Smith
Public Relations Assistant – Patricia Cross
Public Relations Consultant – Jim Hall
Business Manager – Carroll Martin
College Scouting –
North Central Area Scout – Dave Smith
Northeastern Area Scout – Ray Masters
South Central Area Scout – Al Tabor
Southeastern Area Scout – Henry Lee Parker
Western Area Scout – Ray Newman
Comptroller – Cyril Nelson
Entertainment Director – Tommy Walker
Ticket Manager – Henry Simoneaux Head coaches
Offensive coaches
Defensive coaches
Strength and conditioning
Trainer – Fred Peterson
Assistant trainer – Bill Cuthbertson
Equipment manager – Charlie Shepherd
Assistant Equipment Manager – Wallace Brown
The Saints played six pre-season games, finishing with a record of 5–1.
Things couldn't have looked better for the Saints and their inaugural season. A 5–1 preseason record was followed by a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by rookie John Gilliam to begin the 1967 season against the Los Angeles Rams. (There is a rumor in the annals of New Orleans Saints legends that following this play many fans allegedly heard another fan in Tulane Stadium shout out aloud "This is going to be the greatest football team in history!" – thus jinxing the Saints for their first 20 years of existence). Apparently the Rams were not informed of this declaration as they quickly recovered from the opening blow to win 27–13.
The first-ever win for the Saints came in week 8 when[ 3]
Week
Date
Opponent
Result
Record
Venue
Attendance
1
September 17
Los Angeles Rams
L 13–27
0–1
Tulane Stadium
80,879
2
September 24
Washington Redskins L 10–30
0–2
Tulane Stadium
74,937
3
October 1
Cleveland Browns
L 7–42
0–3
Tulane Stadium
77,045
4
October 8
at New York Giants
L 21–27
0–4
Yankee Stadium
62,670
5
October 15
at Dallas Cowboys
L 10–14
0–5
Cotton Bowl
64,128
6
October 22
at San Francisco 49ers
L 13–27
0–6
Kezar Stadium
34,285
7
October 29
Pittsburgh Steelers
L 10–14
0–7
Tulane Stadium
68,911
8
November 5
Philadelphia Eagles W 31–24
1–7
Tulane Stadium
59,596
9
November 12
Dallas Cowboys
L 10–27
1–8
Tulane Stadium
83,437
10
November 19
at Philadelphia Eagles
L 21–48
1–9
Franklin Field
60,751
11
November 26
Atlanta Falcons
W 27–24
2–9
Tulane Stadium
83,437
12
December 3
at St. Louis Cardinals
L 20–31
2–10
Busch Memorial Stadium
41,171
13
December 10
at Baltimore Colts
L 10–30
2–11
Memorial Stadium
60,238
14
December 17
at Washington Redskins
W 30–14
3–11
District of Columbia Stadium
50,486
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Week 1: vs. Los Angeles Rams [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
• Rams
3
10 7 7
27
Saints
7
3 3 0
13
Date: Sunday, September 17Location: Tulane Stadium , New Orleans, Louisiana Game start: 1:30 p.m. CT Game attendance: 80,879Game weather: 75 °F (24 °C), relative humidity 66%, wind 7 mph (11 km/h) Scoring summary 1 NO John Gilliam 94-yard kickoff return (Charlie Durkee kick)NO 7–0 1 LA Bruce Gossett 10-yard field goalNO 7–3 2 LA Bruce Gossett 21-yard field goal NO 7–6 2 NO Charlie Durkee 44-yard field goal NO 10–6 2 LA Roman Gabriel 2-yard rush (Bruce Gossett kick)LA 13–10 3 NO Charlie Durkee 25-yard field goal Tied 13–13 3 LA Dick Bass 13-yard rush (Bruce Gossett kick)LA 20–13 4 LA Les Josephson 15-yard pass from Roman Gabriel (Bruce Gossett kick)LA 27–13
Week 2: vs. Washington Redskins [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
• Redskins
6
14 0 10
30
Saints
3
7 0 0
10
Date: Sunday, September 24Location: Tulane Stadium , New Orleans, Louisiana Game start: 1:30 p.m. CT Game attendance: 74,937Game weather: 72 °F (22 °C), relative humidity 63%, wind 6 mph (9.7 km/h)
Week 3: vs. Cleveland Browns [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
• Browns
7
7 14 14
42
Saints
0
7 0 0
7
Date: Sunday, October 1Location: Tulane Stadium , New Orleans, Louisiana Game start: 1:30 p.m. CT Game attendance: 77,045Game weather: 61 °F (16 °C), relative humidity 68%, wind 8 mph (13 km/h) Scoring summary 1 CLE Paul Warfield 18-yard pass from Frank Ryan (Lou Groza kick)CLE 7–0 2 NO Jim Taylor 2-yard rush (Charlie Durkee kick)Tied 7–7 2 CLE Ernie Green 41-yard pass from Frank Ryan (Lou Groza kick)CLE 14–7 3 CLE Leroy Kelly 1-yard rush (Lou Groza kick)CLE 21–7 3 CLE Ernie Green 2-yard rush (Lou Groza kick) CLE 28–0 4 CLE Paul Warfield 49-yard pass from Frank Ryan (Lou Groza kick) CLE 35–7 4 CLE Ralph Smith offensive fumble recovery in end zone (Lou Groza kick)CLE 42–7
Week 4: at New York Giants [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Saints
7
7 7 0
21
• Giants
7
7 6 7
27
Week 5: at Dallas Cowboys [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Saints
0
7 3 0
10
• Cowboys
7
7 0 0
14
Date: Sunday, October 15Location: Cotton Bowl , Dallas, Texas Game start: 1:35 p.m. CT Game attendance: 64,128Game weather: 72 °F (22 °C), relative humidity 83%, wind 13 mph (21 km/h)
Week 6: at San Francisco 49ers [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Saints
0
6 7 0
13
• 49ers
3
7 7 10
27
Week 7: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
• Steelers
0
0 0 14
14
Saints
3
7 0 0
10
Date: Sunday, October 29Location: Tulane Stadium , New Orleans, Louisiana Game start: 1:30 p.m. CT Game attendance: 68,911Game weather: 67 °F (19 °C), relative humidity 75%, wind 12 mph (19 km/h)
Week 8: vs. Philadelphia Eagles [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Eagles
0
10 0 14
24
• Saints
7
7 10 7
31
Date: Sunday, November 5Location: Tulane Stadium , New Orleans, Louisiana Game start: 1:30 p.m. CT Game attendance: 59,596Game weather: 50 °F (10 °C), relative humidity 61%, wind 12 mph (19 km/h) Scoring summary 1 NO Walter Roberts 91-yard kickoff return (Charlie Durkee kick)NO 7–0 2 NO Walter Roberts 27-yard offensive fumble return (Charlie Durkee kick) NO 14–0 2 PHI Sam Baker 41-yard field goalNO 14–3 2 PHI Jim Kelly 22-yard pass from Norm Snead (Sam Baker kick)NO 14–10 3 NO Charlie Durkee 12-yard field goal NO 17–10 3 NO Dave Whitsell 41-yard interception return (Charlie Durkee kick)NO 24–10 4 PHI Gary Ballman 14-yard pass from Norm Snead (Sam Baker kick)NO 24–17 4 NO Walter Roberts 49-yard pass from Gary Cuozzo (Charlie Durkee kick) NO 31–17 4 PHI Timmy Brown 33-yard pass from Norm Snead (Sam Baker kick)NO 31–24
Week 9: vs. Dallas Cowboys [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
• Cowboys
7
7 10 3
27
Saints
7
0 3 0
10
Date: Sunday, November 12Location: Tulane Stadium , New Orleans, Louisiana Game start: 1:00 p.m. CT Game attendance: 83,437Game weather: 65 °F (18 °C), relative humidity 88%, wind 6 mph (9.7 km/h)
Week 10: at Philadelphia Eagles [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Saints
0
7 0 14
21
• Eagles
3
28 10 7
48
Scoring summary 1 PHI Sam Baker 21-yard field goalPHI 3–0 2 PHI Ben Hawkins 10-yard pass from Norm Snead (Sam Baker kick)PHI 10–0 2 NO Danny Abramowicz 22-yard pass from Gary Cuozzo (Charlie Durkee kick)PHI 10–7 2 PHI Tom Woodeshick 5-yard rush (Sam Baker kick)PHI 17–7 2 PHI Jim Kelly 35-yard pass from Norm Snead (Sam Baker kick)PHI 24–7 2 PHI Tom Woodeshick 13-yard pass from Norm Snead (Sam Baker kick) PHI 31–7 3 PHI Ben Hawkins 19-yard pass from Norm Snead (Sam Baker kick) PHI 38–7 3 PHI Sam Baker 37-yard field goal PHI 41–7 4 PHI Izzy Lang 15-yard pass from King Hill (Sam Baker kick)PHI 48–7 4 NO Don McCall 11-yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Charlie Durkee kick)PHI 48–14 4 NO Danny Abramowicz 1-yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Ted Davis kick) PHI 48–21
Week 11: vs. Atlanta Falcons [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Falcons
0
21 0 3
24
• Saints
3
7 7 10
27
Date: Sunday, November 26Location: Tulane Stadium , New Orleans, Louisiana Game start: 1:00 p.m. CT Game attendance: 83,437Game weather: 72 °F (22 °C), relative humidity 84%, wind 10 mph (16 km/h)
Week 12: at St. Louis Cardinals [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Saints
3
3 7 7
20
• Cardinals
7
0 10 14
31
Scoring summary 1 NO Charlie Durkee 41-yard field goalNO 3–0 1 STL Johnny Roland 54-yard rush (Jim Bakken kick)STL 7–3 2 NO Charlie Durkee 16-yard field goal STL 7–6 3 STL Jackie Smith 20-yard pass from Jim Hart (Jim Bakken kick)STL 14–6 3 NO Billy Kilmer 1-yard rush (Charlie Durkee kick)STL 14–13 3 STL Jim Bakken 27-yard field goal STL 17–13 4 STL Prentice Gautt 19-yard rush (Jim Bakken kick)STL 24–13 4 STL Jackie Smith 76-yard pass from Jim Hart (Jim Bakken) STL 31–13 4 NO Charlie Brown 4-yard rush (Charlie Durkee kick)STL 31–20
Week 13: at Baltimore Colts [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Saints
0
0 10 0
10
• Colts
7
10 3 10
30
Date: Sunday, December 10Location: Memorial Stadium , Baltimore, Maryland Game start: 2:05 p.m. ET Game attendance: 60,238Game weather: 40 °F (4 °C), relative humidity 78%, wind 14 mph (23 km/h) Scoring summary 1 BAL Tony Lorick 1-yard rush (Lou Michaels kick)BAL 7–0 2 BAL Lou Michaels 35-yard field goal BAL 10–0 2 BAL Tom Matte 2-yard rush (Lou Michaels kick)BAL 17–0 3 NO Charlie Durkee 35-yard field goalBAL 17–3 3 BAL Lou Michaels 21-yard field goal BAL 20–3 3 NO Charlie Brown 5-yard rush (Charlie Durkee kick)BAL 20–10 4 BAL Lou Michaels 17-yard field goal BAL 23–10 4 BAL Jerry Hill 1-yard rush (Lou Michaels kick)BAL 30–10
Week 14: at Washington Redskins [ edit ]
1
2 3 4 Total
• Saints
0
7 9 14
30
Redskins
0
0 7 7
14
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
^ a b When Pride Still Mattered, David Maraniss, p. 407, Simon & Schuster, 1999, ISBN 978-0-684-84418-3
^ a b When Pride Still Mattered, David Maraniss, p. 408, Simon & Schuster, 1999, ISBN 978-0-684-84418-3
^ "NFL Players | Past & Current NFL Players" .
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