page_title: 1984 New Orleans Saints season
hierarchical_section_title: 1984 New Orleans Saints season
caption_attribution_description: English: A football card from the 1986 Jeno's Pizza NFL football card stickers set of Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton rushing the ball against the New Orleans Saints on October 7, 1984, breaking the NFL's all-time rushing record. The card is numbered #12 in the set. The back of the card reads: THE NUMBER ONE RUSHER IN NFL HISTORY Elusive Walter Payton runs out of the arms of a New Orleans defender on his way to a 154-yard day in 1984 that sent him past Jim Brown to become the NFL's all-time leading rusher. Payton entered the 1986 season with 14,860 yards, more than a mile ahead of Brown's 12,312.
context_page_description: The 1984 New Orleans Saints season was the team's 18th as a member of the National Football League. They were unable to improve on their previous season's output of 8–8, winning only seven games. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the eighteenth consecutive season. The Saints started out winning three of their first five games. However, the Saints would struggle as newly acquired quarterback Richard Todd threw 19 interceptions to just 11 touchdowns as the Saints again finished the season with a losing record at 7-9.
  Todd was acquired from the New York Jets for a first-round draft choice, and he beat out the aging Ken Stabler for the starting job at training camp, the Saints' last at Vero Beach, Florida. Stabler, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016, retired midway through the season.
  Late in the season, owner John Mecom Jr., who purchased the Saints as an expansion franchise for $8.5 million in late 1966, announced he would sell the team, with an asking price of $70 million. Fears abounded across Louisiana the team would be moved to Jacksonville if Mecom could not find a local buyer.
context_section_description: The 1984 New Orleans Saints season was the team's 18th as a member of the National Football League. They were unable to improve on their previous season's output of 8–8, winning only seven games. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the eighteenth consecutive season. The Saints started out winning three of their first five games. However, the Saints would struggle as newly acquired quarterback Richard Todd threw 19 interceptions to just 11 touchdowns as the Saints again finished the season with a losing record at 7-9.
  Todd was acquired from the New York Jets for a first-round draft choice, and he beat out the aging Ken Stabler for the starting job at training camp, the Saints' last at Vero Beach, Florida. Stabler, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016, retired midway through the season.
  Late in the season, owner John Mecom Jr., who purchased the Saints as an expansion franchise for $8.5 million in late 1966, announced he would sell the team, with an asking price of $70 million. Fears abounded across Louisiana the team would be moved to Jacksonville if Mecom could not find a local buyer. Eventually, the team was sold in early 1985 to New Orleans native and car magnate Tom Benson, with Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards brokering the deal.
caption: The Saints playing against the Chicago Bears during a 1984 away game at Soldier Field.
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