Saints Wrap-Up

The New Orleans Saints are a unique team that is no like any other team in the history of the NFL. Overall i think the New Orleans Saints have been a solid football team since their beginning in 1966. The have been through some very rough times, fought through them, and persevered to become the team they are today. The Saints started out as a small expansion team with few fans and rookie players but they have come a long way. There have been many coaches that have have carried the New Orleans Saints to victory. Proof of their fantastic growth was seen last year when they won the Super Bowl. A few years ago no one would have ever thought that the Saints could conquer this honorable achievement, but they proved thousands of people wrong. Many Saints players have gone down in the Hall of Fame and coaches and players alike have received numerous awards such as Coach of the Year, various MVP Awards, Pro Bowl players, and many NFL records. The New Orleans Saints have persevered and grown since their start in 1966 and i will forever be proud to be a New Orleans Saints fan. WHO DAT!

Key Moments in Saints History

On November 1st 1966 the NFL awarded the 16th franchise to New Orleans. On January 9, 1967 the New Orleans' NFL franchise was nicknamed the Saints and they signed their 1st player, Paige Cothren, on January 27th. The Saints first season ticket drive was launched on March 8th and they sold over 33,400 tickets before their first game. The Saints scored their first preseason victory by beating the St. Louis Cardinals and their first regular season win by beating the Philadelphia Eagles. the Saints record at the end of their 1968 season was the was best ever for an expansion club. In 1969, rookie Tom Dempsey kicked a 55-yard field goal, the Saints longest field goal to date, and the kick was the NFL's longest that season and 1 yard shy of tying the NFL mark. In 2000, the Saints owner, Tom Benson, decided to take action and do whatever it took to make his team better. He fired 22 employees and hired an entire new staff for the upcoming season.  With this new direction, the Saints set the NFL record for best road record turnaround after an 0-8 record in 1999 and the team started to turn around. They were the first team since 1990 to go from last place to a division title in just one season. Then the New Orleans Saints lost in the NFC Divisional Playoff against the Minnesota Vikings an this ended the club's storybook 2000 season .

Head Coach Sean Payton

        Sean Payton is the current head coach of the New Orleans Saints. Payton was a quarterback at Naperville Central High School and Eastern Illinois University and played quarterback for the Chicago Bruisers and Pittsburgh Gladiators during the inaugural season of the Arena Football League. He began his coaching career as offensive assistant for San Diego State University football and has also had several assistant coaching positions in collegiate and NFL teams. He was the quarterbacks coach for the Philadelphia Eagles before being hired as the quarterback coach for the New York Giants. Eventually he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2000. He also worked as quarterback coach and assistant head coach/passing game coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. Payton received his first head coaching job in 2006 with the New Orleans Saints. The Saints made the NFL playoffs for the first time in six years since Hurricane Katrina under Payton.  During the same year, he won the AP NFL Coach of the Year Award because of the teams success. Following the 2009 season, the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl championship. In June 2010 Payton published a book named Home Team: Coaching the Saints and New Orleans Back to Life. The book was ranked #8 on the non-fiction bestseller list of The New York Times. Payton' said that his motive for this book was "not to write another winning-on-the-field book or about modern-day leadership, but a book about the stories, ones that you sit around and tell your friends." this story is a perfect reflection of Sean Payton's journey and what he has done for the world of football.

Drew Brees

        Drew Brees is a quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. He played college football for Purdue before getting drafted in the NFL. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers. Drew Brees has been selected to the Pro Bowl five times in his career, once with the chargers and four times with the Saints.  He was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year in 2004, the Offensive Player of the Year in 2008, and the MVP of Super Bowl XLIV. Brees was selected as Texas High School 5A Most Valuable Offensive Player in 1996 and he also led the Westlake High School football team to 16-0 record and state championship. Brees graduated from Purdue University with a degree in industrial management. Brees also attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business for NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurship in 2008. After the Chargers refused to increase his salary, Brees started to meet with other teams. The New Orleans Saints and the Miami Dolphins were interested. New Orleans made an offer of $10 million in his first year and a $12 million in the second year. Miami didn't know if Brees' shoulder was completely healed and doctors said that the team should not sign him because of the injury. Brees started with the Saints their first year back after their disastrous season due to Hurricane Katrina and continued a successful career.

History of the New Orleans Saints

        The Saints have had several different coaches over the years that have lead the team to success. Jim Mora was the first head coach for the Saints.Mora helped the Saints with their first-ever winning record, playoff appearance and the club's first division title. During Mora's career the Saints made the playoffs four times, but they were never able to win a playoff game. Mora coached the Saints until the middle of the 1996 season but he resigned halfway through the season. Former coach for the Chicago Bears, Mike Ditka, was hired to replace Mora but was soon fired after their horrible season. Jim Haslett was hired for the upcoming season and he took the team to the playoffs in his first year, but lost to the Vikings after beating the Rams for the team's first ever playoff win.The next season did not go well and Haslett's job was in jeopardy. He managed to win enough games to get the team to the playoffs again. The Saints have their own Hall of Fame that is a non-profit organization created by fans to protect, preserve, promote and present the history of the franchise. The Hall of Fame has many exhibits and memorabilia covering the entire history of the Saints from their formation through the current season.

Saints Inroduction

The New Orleans Saints are an NFL football team founded in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints were admitted into the NFL at a league meeting held on November 1, 1966. That day was also known as All Saints Day, and the New Orleans ownership gave them their nickname, the Saints, because of the day they were born. Their home stadium used to be Tulane Stadium. They had their most successful season in 2009. They won the championship to send them to their first Super Bowl appearance. The Saints won their first league championship during this year by defeating the Indianapolis Colts. Their home stadium was changed in 1975to the Louisiana Superdome. The name was changed to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in 2011 but was disrupted by Hurricane Katrina.  

        The team's logo is a Fleur-de-lis which is a symbol of the City of New Orleans and the Royal Family of France.  Their uniform consists of gold helmets, gold pants, and black or white jerseys. The Saints most important rival is the Atlanta Falcons. The two clubs joined the NFL as expansion teams and have been put up against each other in the NFC West and South.They also have a rivalry with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have been part of the NFC South with the Saints since 2002.