# 1973 New Orleans Saints season

The 1973 New Orleans Saints season was the team's seventh as a member of the National Football League (NFL). They improved on their previous season's output of 2–11–1, winning five games. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.
New Orleans made a disastrous trade in January, dealing the No. 2 overall selection in the 1973 NFL draft to the Baltimore Colts for defensive end Billy Newsome. The Colts used the traded pick to select LSU quarterback Bert Jones, who guided the team to three consecutive AFC East division championships from 1975 to 1977.
J.D. Roberts, who became the Saints' second head coach midway through the 1970 season, was fired August 27, two days after a 31–6 loss to the New England Patriots in the fourth exhibition game. Roberts was replaced by offensive backfield coach John North. Roberts ended his Saints tenure with a 7–25–3 mark.
The Saints opened the year with a 62–7 debacle in the loss to the Atlanta Falcons at home. The first quarter of that game was scoreless. Eight days later, they were drubbed on Monday Night Football by the Dallas Cowboys, 40–3.
They did however hold O. J. Simpson to 74 yard on 20 carries in the team's first ever shutout, with a 13–0 win over the Buffalo Bills. Simpson went on to break the single season rushing record in yardage that year with 2,003.

## Offseason
### NFL draft

1973 New Orleans Saints draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 2 | 29 | Derland Moore | Defensive tackle | Oklahoma |
| 2 | 51 | Steve Baumgartner | Defensive end | Purdue |
| 3 | 66 | Pete Van Valkenburg | Running back | Brigham Young |
| 4 | 86 | Jim Merlo | Linebacker | Stanford |
| 6 | 134 | Marty Shuford | Running back | Arizona |
| 7 | 158 | Bill Cahill | Defensive back | Washington |
| 8 | 185 | Bob Peterson | Guard | Utah |
| 8 | 207 | Doug Winslow | Wide receiver | Drake |
| 9 | 210 | Mike Fink | Defensive back | Missouri |
| 10 | 237 | Jeff Horsley | Running back | North Carolina Central |
| 11 | 262 | James Owens | Running back | Auburn |
| 12 | 289 | Paul Orndorff | Tight end | Tampa |
| 13 | 314 | Richard Watkins | Defensive tackle | Weber State |
| 14 | 341 | Paul Fersen | Offensive tackle | Georgia |
| 15 | 366 | Mike Evenson | Center | North Dakota State |
| 16 | 393 | Howard Stevens | Running back | Louisville |
| 17 | 418 | Bobby Garner | Tight end | Winston-Salem State |
| Made roster ||||||

## Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 16 | Atlanta Falcons | L 7–62 | 0–1 | Tulane Stadium | 66,428 |
| 2 | September 24 | at Dallas Cowboys | L 3–40 | 0–2 | Texas Stadium | 52,715 |
| 3 | September 30 | at Baltimore Colts | L 10–14 | 0–3 | Memorial Stadium | 52,293 |
| 4 | October 7 | Chicago Bears | W 21–16 | 1–3 | Tulane Stadium | 56,561 |
| 5 | October 14 | Detroit Lions | W 20–13 | 2–3 | Tulane Stadium | 57,810 |
| 6 | October 21 | at San Francisco 49ers | L 0–40 | 2–4 | Candlestick Park | 52,881 |
| 7 | October 28 | Washington Redskins | W 19–3 | 3–4 | Tulane Stadium | 66,315 |
| 8 | November 4 | Buffalo Bills | W 13–0 | 4–4 | Tulane Stadium | 74,770 |
| 9 | November 11 | at Los Angeles Rams | L 7–29 | 4–5 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 70,358 |
| 10 | November 18 | at San Diego Chargers | L 14–17 | 4–6 | San Diego Stadium | 34,848 |
| 11 | November 25 | Los Angeles Rams | L 13–24 | 4–7 | Tulane Stadium | 67,192 |
| 12 | December 2 | at Green Bay Packers | L 10–30 | 4–8 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 46,092 |
| 13 | December 9 | San Francisco 49ers | W 16–10 | 5–8 | Tulane Stadium | 62,490 |
| 14 | December 16 | at Atlanta Falcons | L 10–14 | 5–9 | Atlanta Stadium | 34,147 |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |||||||

### Standings

NFC West :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Los Angeles Rams | 12 | 2 | 0 | .857 | 5–1 | 9–2 | 388 | 178 | W6 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 4–2 | 7–4 | 318 | 224 | W1 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 5 | 9 | 0 | .357 | 2–4 | 4–7 | 262 | 319 | L2 |
| New Orleans Saints | 5 | 9 | 0 | .357 | 1–5 | 4–7 | 163 | 312 | L1 |