The 1978 New Orleans Saints Season

7 Wins 9 Loses
Coach: Dick Nolan
First Round Draft Pick: Wes Chandler Wide Receiver, Florida

Dick Nolan came onboard as head coach and gave Archie Manning some offensive weapons to work with. The result was finally a New Orleans Saint season with more than 5 games wins. 7 wins, the most in a Saint season thus far. He brought in the “Meanest Man in Football”….. offensive guard Conrad Dobler along with WR Ike Harris from St. Louis. Florida standout receiver Wes Chandler was taken in first round. Receiver Tinker Owens and tight end Henry Childs also made significant contributions.
Unfortunately, the instituting of the flex defense seemed to do more harm than good, and the defense remained overshadowed by the offense much of the year.
In the season opener against Minnesota, Tommy Myers had a 97 yard touchdown return to win the game. In week 8 we handed Los Angeles their first loss of the season. This was also the year Atlanta won both games against us in the closing moments. The first was the famous “Big Ben” play. The second was a bogus interference call that set up the winning TD for Atlanta. The Falcons went to the playoffs, the Saints stayed home.
With all the help on offense, Archie finally got the respect he deserved, made his first Pro Bowl and was named NFL Man-of-Year. He stayed healthy and had an outstanding year where he completed almost 62% of 471 passes and racked up over 3400 yards passing. Tony Galbreath led the team in both rushing and receiving. He had 635 yards rushing and set a new team record with 74 catches. Muncie had 7 scores and 557 yards rushing.

Stats for 1978
1978 Roster

Archie finally gains some respect and makes the Pro Bowl.