In his third year as an NFL quarterback Ole Miss graduate Archie Manning continued as the starter for the New Orleans Saints offense and had a decent year. The running game was upgraded with the addition of running back Jess Phillips as he led the Saints in rushing with 663 yards. Tight end John Beasley was the team’s top receiver with 32 catches.
1973 New Orleans Saints Individual Offensive Player Statistics
Passing Stats
| Attempts | Completions | % | Yards | Yds./Att | Longest | Tds | Int | Rating | Sacked/Yards Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archie Manning | 267 | 140 | 52.4% | 1642 | 6.2 | 65 | 10 | 12 | 65.2 | 28/-177 |
| Bobby Scott | 54 | 18 | 33.3% | 245 | 4.5 | 42 | 1 | 3 | 31.8 | 4/-29 |
| Bob Davis | 17 | 5 | 29.4% | 14 | 0.8 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 | 5/-36 |
| Totals | 338 | 163 | 48.2% | 1901 | 5.6 | 65 | 11 | 17 | 55.6 | 37/-242 |
Rushing Statistics
| Attempts | Yards | Average | Longest | TDs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jess Phillips | 198 | 663 | 3.3 | 20 | 0 |
| Jim Butler | 87 | 348 | 4.0 | 19 | 1 |
| Joe Profit | 90 | 329 | 3.7 | 22 | 2 |
| Archie Manning | 63 | 293 | 4.7 | 23 | 2 |
| Howard Stevens | 45 | 183 | 4.1 | 15 | 2 |
| Odell Lawson | 6 | 23 | 3.8 | 11 | 0 |
| Bobby Scott | 9 | 18 | 2.0 | 4 | 0 |
| Bob Davis | 3 | 10 | 3.3 | 7 | 0 |
| Lincoln Minor | 3 | 10 | 3.3 | 8 | 0 |
| Tom Myers | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 8 | 0 |
| Bob Newland | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 6 | 0 |
| Henry Matthews | 4 | 4 | 1.0 | 3 | 0 |
| Jubilee Dunbar | 3 | 3 | 3.0 | 13 | 0 |
| Steve O’Neal | 2 | -1 | -0.5 | 6 | 0 |
| Totals | 497 | 1842 | 3.7 | 23 | 5 |
Receiving Statistics
| Catches | Yards | Average | Longest | TDs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Beasley | 32 | 283 | 8.8 | 15 | 2 |
| Bob Newland | 29 | 489 | 16.8 | 42 | 4 |
| Jubilee Dunbar | 23 | 447 | 19.4 | 65 | 4 |
| Jess Phillips | 22 | 169 | 7.6 | 34 | 0 |
| Jim Butler | 19 | 125 | 6.5 | 16 | 2 |
| Bob Brown | 11 | 132 | 12.0 | 26 | 0 |
| Joe Profit | 11 | 108 | 9.8 | 26 | 0 |
| Doug Winslow | 4 | 45 | 11.2 | 14 | 0 |
| Howard Stevens | 4 | 39 | 9.7 | 14 | 0 |
| Len Garrett | 2 | 38 | 18.5 | 22 | 0 |
| Henry Matthews | 2 | 19 | 9.5 | 12 | 0 |
| Danny Abramowicz | 2 | 18 | 9.0 | 11 | 0 |
| Odell Lawson | 2 | -5 | -2.5 | 4 | 0 |
| Lincoln Minor | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | 0 |
Punting Stats
| Number | Average | Longest | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steve O’Neal | 81 | 41.7 | 71 |
Kicking Stats
| XP | XPA | % | FG | Attempts | % | Longest | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill McClard | 9 | 9 | 100% | 13 | 24 | 54% | 43 | 48 |
| Happy Feller | 7 | 7 | 100% | 4 | 12 | 33% | 18 | 19 |
| Totals | 16 | 16 | 100% | 17 | 36 | 43.5% | 43 | 67 |
1973 Total Offense Statistics
| Points | Yards | Plays | Avg | 1st Downs | Turnovers | NFL Rank | NFC Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 163 | 3501 | 872 | 4.0 | 207 | 37 | 26† | 11 |
| †Offensive Rankings based on Total Yards gained. | ||||||||
Individual Defensive Statistics
Interceptions
| NO | Yards | Average | Longest | TDs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ernie Jackson | 3 | 40 | 13.3 | 23 | 0 |
| Tom Myers | 3 | 33 | 11.0 | 20 | 0 |
| Jim Merlo | 3 | 25 | 8.3 | 16 | 0 |
| Bivian Lee | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 12 | 0 |
| Joe Owens | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 3 | 0 |
| Joe Federspiel | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Billy Newsome | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Derland Moore | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 116 | 126 | 7.9 | 23 | 0 |
1973 New Orleans Saints Total Defense
| Points | Avg PPG | Yards | Avg YPG | Plays | Avg | 1st Downs | Turnovers | NFL Rank | NFC Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 312 | 22.2 | 4580 | 327.1 | 917 | 5.0 | 271 | 30 | 23† | 11† |
Defensive Notes for the Saints 1973 NFL Season
- The Saints Defense of 1973 was credited with 24 Sacks. (Sacks were not kept as an individual statistic until 1982)
November 4 – Shut out the Buffalo Bills 13-0. Oj Simpson has his second least productive game of the season.
