# 1976 New Orleans Saints season

The 1976 New Orleans Saints season was the Saints’ tenth year in the National Football League (NFL). Hoping past success could influence the franchise, the Saints hired Hank Stram as the new head coach. However, in Stram's first season at the helm, the Saints continued to struggle finishing with a 4–10 record. The Saints made a uniform change before the year, going from a dark gold to old gold, and have retained the color albeit with minor shading changes since. It was also the team's first season wearing black pants, a move which was not unexpected, since Stram outfitted the Kansas City Chiefs in red pants beginning in 1968.
New Orleans' hopes for success was severely diminished before the season began when Stram learned star quarterback Archie Manning would not be able to play at all due to offseason elbow surgery. This forced Stram to alternate between longtime backup Bobby Scott and Chicago Bears castoff Bobby Douglass.
The high point of the season was in week three, when Stram’s Saints traveled to Kansas City and defeated the Chiefs 27–17. Stram rubbed salt in the wounds of the team he coached for 15 seasons (1960 to 1974) and led to the Super Bowl IV championship when Scott threw a touchdown pass on the game's final play to Tinker Owens. Chiefs coach Paul Wiggin refused to shake hands with Stram, who was carried off the Arrowhead Stadium turf by his players upon orders by the coach.

## Offseason
### 1976 Expansion Draft

New Orleans Saints selected during the Expansion Draft :
| Round | Overall | Name | Position | Expansion Team |
| 0 | 0 | Morris LaGrand | Running back | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| 0 | 0 | Joe Owens | Defensive end | Seattle Seahawks |
| 0 | 0 | Dave Thompson | Offensive tackle | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |

### NFL draft

1976 New Orleans Saints draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 3 | Chuck Muncie * | Running back | California |
| 2 | 32 | Tony Galbreath | Running back | Missouri |
| 3 | 77 | Bob Simmons | Guard | Texas |
| 4 | 95 | Tinker Owens | Wide receiver | Oklahoma |
| 5 | 127 | Scott Parrish | Offensive tackle | Utah State |
| 6 | 160 | Terry Stieve | Guard | Wisconsin |
| 7 | 201 | Ed Bauer | Guard | Notre Dame |
| 8 | 213 | Craig Cassady | Defensive back | Ohio State |
| 9 | 240 | Warren Peiffer | Defensive tackle | Iowa |
| 10 | 269 | Junior Hardin | Linebacker | Eastern Kentucky |
| 11 | 294 | Greg Kokal | Quarterback | Kent State |
| 12 | 323 | Milton Butts | Offensive tackle | North Carolina |
| Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career ||||||

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 12 | Minnesota Vikings | L 9–40 | 0—1 | Louisiana Superdome | 58,156 |
| 2 | September 19 | Dallas Cowboys | L 6–24 | 0—2 | Louisiana Superdome | 61,413 |
| 3 | September 26 | at Kansas City Chiefs | W 27–17 | 1—2 | Arrowhead Stadium | 53,918 |
| 4 | October 3 | Houston Oilers | L 26–31 | 1—3 | Louisiana Superdome | 51,973 |
| 5 | October 10 | Atlanta Falcons | W 30–0 | 2—3 | Louisiana Superdome | 51,521 |
| 6 | October 17 | at San Francisco 49ers | L 3–33 | 2—4 | Candlestick Park | 43,160 |
| 7 | October 24 | Los Angeles Rams | L 10–16 | 2—5 | Louisiana Superdome | 51,984 |
| 8 | October 31 | at Atlanta Falcons | L 20–23 | 2—6 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 34,127 |
| 9 | November 7 | at Green Bay Packers | L 32–27 | 2—7 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 52,936 |
| 10 | November 14 | Detroit Lions | W 17–16 | 3—7 | Louisiana Superdome | 42,048 |
| 11 | November 21 | at Seattle Seahawks | W 51–27 | 4—7 | Kingdome | 61,865 |
| 12 | November 28 | at Los Angeles Rams | L 14–33 | 4—8 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 54,906 |
| 13 | December 5 | at New England Patriots | L 6–27 | 4—9 | Schaefer Stadium | 53,592 |
| 14 | December 12 | San Francisco 49ers | L 7–27 | 4—10 | Louisiana Superdome | 42,536 |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |||||||

### Standings

NFC West :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Los Angeles Rams$^{(3)}$ | 10 | 3 | 1 | .750 | 7–0 | 9–2–1 | 351 | 190 | W4 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 8 | 6 | 0 | .571 | 5–2 | 7–5 | 270 | 190 | W1 |
| New Orleans Saints | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 2–5 | 3–8 | 253 | 346 | L3 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 2–5 | 4–8 | 172 | 312 | L3 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 2 | 12 | 0 | .143 | 1–3 | 1–12 | 229 | 429 | L5 |