The 1978 New Orleans Saints season was the Saints’ twelfth season. Quarterback Archie Manning put together one of his finest seasons, earning the NFC Player of the Year award and becoming the Saints’ first Pro Bowl representative since the NFL–AFL merger as the Saints finished with a franchise-best 7–9 mark under new head coach Dick Nolan. Seven of the Saints’ losses came against teams that qualified for the playoffs (including both Super Bowl XIII teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys), whilst all nine losses came against teams who finished at or above .500.
Offseason On August 5, the NFL played its first game in Mexico City. The Saints beat the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 14–7.NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, , p.284
NFL draft
Undrafted free agents
+ 1978 undrafted free agents of notePlayerPositionCollegeEd BurnsQuarterbackNebraskaJimmy Dan ElznerQuarterbackTCUJack HendersonQuarterbackOregonChris MatthiesenGuardWisconsin–Stevens PointRusty ReboweLinebackerNicholls StateBobby SmithartDefensive EndSouthern Miss
Personnel
Staff
Roster
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 3 Minnesota Vikings W 31–24 1–0 Louisiana Superdome 54,187 2 September 10 at Green Bay Packers L 17–28 1–1 Milwaukee County Stadium 54,336 3 September 17 Philadelphia Eagles L 17–24 1–2 Louisiana Superdome 49,242 4 September 24 at Cincinnati Bengals W 20–18 2–2 Riverfront Stadium 40,455 5 October 1 Los Angeles Rams L 20–26 2–3 Louisiana Superdome 61,659 6 October 8 Cleveland Browns L 16–24 2–4 Louisiana Superdome 50,158 7 October 15 at San Francisco 49ers W 14–7 3–4 Candlestick Park 37,671 8 October 22 at Los Angeles Rams W 10–3 4–4 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 47,574 9 October 29 New York Giants W 28–17 5–4 Louisiana Superdome 59,807 10 November 5 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 14–20 5–5 Three Rivers Stadium 48,526 11 November 12 Atlanta Falcons L 17–20 5–6 Louisiana Superdome 70,323 12 November 19 at Dallas Cowboys L 7–27 5–7 Texas Stadium 57,920 13 November 26 at Atlanta Falcons L 17–20 5–8 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 55,121 14 December 3 San Francisco 49ers W 24–13 6–8 Louisiana Superdome 50,068 15 December 10 Houston Oilers L 12–17 6–9 Louisiana Superdome 63,169 16 December 17 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 17–10 7–9 Tampa Stadium 51,207 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Standings
References
External links 1978 New Orleans Saints at Pro-Football-Reference.com