The 1970
New Orleans Saints
NFL Season Schedule
| Regular Season | ||
| Sept 20 | Falcons | L 3-14 |
| Sep 27 | Vikings | L 0-26 |
| Oct 4 | Giants | W 14-10 |
| Oct 11 | Cardinals | L 17-24 |
| Oct 18 | 49ers | T 20-20 |
| Oct 25 | Falcons | L 14-32 |
| Nov 1 | Rams | L 17-30 |
| Nov 8 | Lions | W 19-17 |
| Nov 15 | Dolphins | L 10-21 |
| Nov 22 | Broncos | L 6-31 |
| Nov 29 | Bengals | L 6-26 |
| Dec 6 | Rams | L 16-34 |
| Dec 13 | 49ers | L 27-38 |
| Dec 20 | Bears | L 3-24 |
2 Wins 11 Loses 1 Tie
Coach:Tom Fears
First Round Draft Pick: Ken Burroughs WR Texas Southern:
After 3 years of improvement, the Saints seemed to take a big step backwards. Going into the 1970 season, the Saints actually had been the NFL’s most successful expansion team to date. 1970 would prove be the first of many forgettable seasons. It would be 8 years before they would post more than 5 wins and 17 seasons before the Saints would enjoy a winning season. 1st round draft pick Ken Burroughs would become a star……. for the Houston Oilers, Jim Otis, from Ohio State, was a 9th round pick and would go on to have a successful career with the St. Louis Cardinals. And finally, Doug Sutherland was a 14th round pick from Superior, Wisconsin and would go on to to be a starter with the Minnesota Vikings and star in Super Bowls VIII, IX and XI.
The 1970 season could produce only 2 wins. One was a 14-10 win over Fran Tarkenton’s New York Giants and the other was Tom Dempsey’s famous record-breaking 63-yard last second field goal to beat Detroit in Tulane Stadium. After game 7, a 17-30 loss to the Rams, Tom Fears, the original New Orleans Saints Coach, was replaced by JD Roberts. Roberts only victory was the game against Detroit. The formerly productive running game was next to non-existent as Tom Baker led the team with only 337 yards. Only 4 TDs were produced running the ball all season. The passing game looked a little better as Kilmer and Hargett both got playing time but neither was all that impressive. Abramowicz again led the team in receiving (4th year in a row) with 55 grabs and 906 yards. Danny had a big game against Cincinnati with 6 catches and 165 yards. The Saints still lost 26-6.
About the only other note of interest involving the New Orleans Saints during the 1970 season was rookie punter Julian Fagan, originally a 17th round pick of the Houston Oilers, was named to the All-NFC team after averaging 42.5 yards a punt.
Stats From 1970 Saints Season
1970 New Orleans Saints Roster
Tom Dempsey sets a new NFL record by kicking a 63-yard field goal to beat the Detroit Lions (picture compliments of former Saint “Wild” Bill Cody)