1975 New Orleans Saints season

1975 New Orleans Saints season
Head Coach	John North Ernie Hefferle (interim)
Home Field	Louisiana Superdome
Results
Record	2–12
Place	4th NFC West
Playoff Finish	did not qualify
Timeline
Previous season	Next season
1974	1976

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.

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 13 Larry Cipa 8 Archie Manning 12 Bobby Scott Running backs 36 Andrew Jones 28 Alvin Maxson 27 Rod McNeill 33 Mike Strachan Wide receivers 80 Larry Burton 89 Gil Chapman 85 Don Herrmann 88 Joel Parker Tight ends 84 Paul Seal		Offensive linemen 79 Emanuel Zanders G 51 Sylvester Croom C 62 John Hill C 67 Phil LaPorta T 76 Don Morrison T 71 Kurt Schumacher G 65 Dave Thompson T Defensive linemen 63 Steve Baumgartner DE 69 Andy Dorris DE 78 Elois Grooms 74 Derland Moore DT 82 Bob Pollard DE 75 Elex Price DT		Linebackers 58 Joe Federspiel 57 Jim Merlo 54 Rick Middleton 60 Greg Westbrooks Defensive backs 32 Jimmy DeRatt 30 Ernie Jackson 11 Bivian Lee 37 Tom Myers 29 Maurice Spencer Special teams 16 Tom Blanchard P 15 Rich Szaro K		Reserve lists {{{reserve_lists}}} Practice squad {{{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

Template:1975 NFC West standings

External links

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