1971 New Orleans Saints season

1971 New Orleans Saints season
Head Coach	J. D. Roberts
General Manager	Vic Schwenk
Home Field	Tulane Stadium
Results
Record	4–8–2
Place	4th NFC West
Playoff Finish	did not qualify
Timeline
Previous season	Next season
1970	1972

The 1971 New Orleans Saints season was the Saints' fifth season. The Saints drafted Archie Manning with their first round pick, the second overall.

Manning led the Saints to their first opening day victory in franchise history, scoring a touchdown run on a rollout on the final play of a 24–20 victory over the Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans' first over Los Angeles following four consecutive losses, including the Saints' inaugural game in 1967. Four weeks later, Manning engineered a 24–14 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, who would return to Tulane Stadium in January and win Super Bowl VI over the Miami Dolphins.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1971 NFL draft

1971 New Orleans Saints draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	2	Archie Manning *	Quarterback	Mississippi
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

1971 New Orleans Saints staff
	Front office President – John W. Mecom, Jr. General Manager – Vic Schwenk Head coaches Head Coach – J. D. Roberts Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Ken Shipp Offensive Backfield – Charlie Tate Offensive Line – Jim Royer			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line – Jim Champion Linebackers – Marv Matuszak Defensive Backfield – Bud Whitehead

Roster

1971 New Orleans Saints roster
	Quarterbacks 14 Ed Hargett 8 Archie Manning Running backs 38 Tony Baker 40 Hoyle Granger 35 Bob Gresham 43 David Kopay 42 Jim Strong Wide receivers 46 Danny Abramowicz 25 Al Dodd 41 Bob Newland Tight ends 34 Carlos Bell 36 Don Burchfield 83 Dave Parks		Offensive linemen 51 John Didion C 78 Glen Ray Hines T 50 Jake Kupp G 76 Don Morrison T 65 Remi Prudhomme C 67 John Shinners G 61 Del Williams G Defensive linemen 84 Larry Estes DE 77 Dan Goich DT 89 Dave Long DT 87 Richard Neal DE 72 Joe Owens DE 82 Bob Pollard DT 80 Mike Walker DE		Linebackers 59 Wayne Colman 60 Carl Cunningham 55 Jim Flanigan Sr. 54 Tom Roussel Defensive backs 18 Hugo Hollas SS 20 Delles Howell CB 11 Bivian Lee 22 Dee Martin CB 23 Doug Wyatt FS Special teams  3 Skip Butler K 15 Charlie Durkee K 10 Julian Fagan P		Reserve lists Practice squad Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 19, 1971	Los Angeles Rams	W 24–20	70,915
2	September 26, 1971	San Francisco 49ers	L 38–20	81,595
3	October 3, 1971	at Houston Oilers	T 13–13	47,966
4	October 10, 1971	at Chicago Bears	L 35–14	55,049
5	October 17, 1971	Dallas Cowboys	W 24–14	83,088
6	October 24, 1971	at Atlanta Falcons	L 28–6	58,850
7	October 31, 1971	at Washington Redskins	L 24–14	53,041
8	November 7, 1971	Oakland Raiders	T 21–21	83,102
9	November 14, 1971	at San Francisco 49ers	W 26–20	45,138
10	November 21, 1971	Minnesota Vikings	L 23–10	83,130
11	November 28, 1971	at Green Bay Packers	W 29–21	48,035
12	December 5, 1971	at Los Angeles Rams	L 45–28	73,610
13	December 12, 1971	Cleveland Browns	L 21–17	72,794
14	December 19, 1971	Atlanta Falcons	L 24–20	75,954

Game summaries

Week 1

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total Rams 0 3 3 14 20 • Saints 0 3 14 7 24 Date: September 19 Location: Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, Louisiana Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 86°F • Wind 6 S Referee: Bob Frederic Scoring summary 2 NO Skip Butler 32 yard field goal Saints 3–0 2 LA David Ray 31 yard field goal Tie 3–3 3 NO Dave Parks 6 yard pass from Archie Manning (Skip Butler kick) Saints 10–3 3 NO Bob Gresham 2 yard run (Skip Butler kick) Saints 17–3 3 LA David Ray 27 yard field goal Saints 17–6 4 LA Les Josephson 29 yard pass from Roman Gabriel (David Ray kick) Saints 17–13 4 LA Les Josephson 1 yard run (David Ray kick) Rams 20–17 4 NO Archie Manning 1 yard run (Skip Butler kick) Saints 24–20

Standings

Template:1971 NFC West standings

External links

• Saints on Pro Football Reference