What’s your must obscure, random Saints fact? (2 Viewers)

Since 83 was my first real heartbreak, let me add some more bullet points here.

- In the season finale, where we lost 26-24, our defense only gave up 3 points (the field goal at the end). The rest was a safety, a punt return TD, and 2 pick sixes.

- Much like in 2017 vs. MIN, we failed to convert 3rd and short late. Before Bum made the fateful decision to punt instead of letting Morten try a 48-49 yarder, we had a 3rd and short we failed to convert, much as we failed to convert the 3rd down that would've let Lutz kick the go-ahead field goal as time expired vs. MIN in 17.

- Yeah, Bum probably should've let Morten kick it, but the choice was not as obvious as it seems now. In 83, Morten missed a 50-or-so yard field goal that could've sent the game into OT at the buzzer vs. the Jets. People rightfully remember Stabler's safety in our one-point loss to Dallas, but Morten also had a blocked field goal returned for a TD in that game. I imagine that was flashing through Bum's brain at the time he called for the punt. Morten Andersen was not quite MORTEN ANDERSEN, HALL OF FAMER!!! at that point in his career. In retrospect, probably a mistake but at least somewhat understandable given what happened that year (a 3rd option is we could've just tried going for it, but our offense was shaky and I think George Rogers might've gotten hurt during the game).

*Side note - we also blew a 2-score lead in the 2nd half to the Jets in the game I mention above. You're right that the 83 team lost a bunch of close games. The 49ers kicked our butts twice, but we hung tough w/ everyone else.

- In the Rams' final field goal drive, people say we went "prevent" but that's not technically true. What is true is that we went into a very safe, conservative zone D when Bum should've said "The defense hasn't allowed a point yet, let's just do what we've done the whole game (I remember a NFL films clip of Shanahan during the DEN/GB Super Bowl screaming at his DC before Green Bay's final drive "Just do what you've been doing! Don't change anything!" If the QB has forever to throw, he'll find open guys like the Rams did on that 3rd and 25.

Watched it as an eight-year-old kid at my grandparents house in Marrero, whole family there. If Bum lets Morten attempt (and probably make) a 47-yard field goal on the final offensive possession, we win the game. It's that simple.

But looking back on '83 as an adult, there were two other games that season that blown in similar fashion. They blew a first-half lead in the road game vs. the Rams early in the season. And in a less-remembered gut-buster, Snake gave up a safety up by a point with about a minute to play on the road in Dallas when he couldn't get out of the way of a blitzing linebacker. Up by a point, then lost by a point -- in the blink of an eye. Six of the eight losses in '83 were by seven points or less. Only team to truly whip the Saints that year was Bill Walsh's 49ers.
 
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The Dome Patrol wasn't 83. Rickey Jackson was on the team then and we had a strong D that year (Dirt Winston! Whitney Paul! Bruce Clark!), but Mills, Johnson, and Swilling didn't come until later.

I have always maintained that was the loudest I have ever heard the Dome. 8-7. 2 minutes from our first ever winning season and a playoff game. 2 minutes left. The Dome Patrol. The players on the bench waving towels and the Dome was absolutely insane. Then Lansford breaks our heart and the Dome goes deafly quiet for maybe a minute. Then like the movies we started clapping. Not cheering. Just clapping. The best season ever to that point
 
Wade Wilson holds the Saints record for the longest rush for a QB in the history of the franchise (44yds)

The longest rush/run for a non-RB in Saints history? ... Joe Morgan (67yds)

The Saints have never had a run go for 80yds or more.
79 yards by George Rogers
 
I have always maintained that was the loudest I have ever heard the Dome. 8-7. 2 minutes from our first ever winning season and a playoff game. 2 minutes left. The Dome Patrol. The players on the bench waving towels and the Dome was absolutely insane. Then Lansford breaks our heart and the Dome goes deafly quiet for maybe a minute. Then like the movies we started clapping. Not cheering. Just clapping. The best season ever to that point
I want to say they converted a 4th and 26 or 29
 
My first season ticket in 1968 was a 10-game package (3 pre-season, 7 regular-season). Total cost: $15.00. That's $1.50 per game. You cant buy a single item in the Super Dome now for $1.50. It was part of a "youth ticket" program that carried into the first year of games in the Super Dome. The price went up slowly over time but not significantly.

And I truly was there for Dempsey's famous kick. My seats were about 20 rows up right behind the goalposts in the north endzone. I had a very good look at the ball as it inched over. Tulane Stadium went absolutely crazy.
 
The Saints have not been shut out since Week 17 of 2001. We lost to the 49ers 38-0.
 
Before New Orleans had a team the NFL played an exhibition game here to see how it would work. They wanted to gauge turn out, infrastructure, things like that.

Black NFL players were turned away from hotels because they were still whites only and several were spit on and threatened in the streets.

The NFL said no way we would get a team. It’s literally a miracle we got one two years later.

It helped that Louisiana Senator Russell Long (Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee) and Louisiana Representative Hale Boggs (House Majority Whip) were on the job in D.C.

At that time the bill to merge the NFL and AFL was in congress. On its own, it would have to go through the Senate Judiciary Committee where it was unlikely to get out because it would have required an antitrust exemption which would have been opposed.

Hale Boggs came up with a plan and attached the merger bill to a tax bill heavily supported by LBJ. It included the antitrust exemption. Since it was primarily a tax bill, it would get routed to Long's Finance Committee, where he could steer it towards a vote.

Before the vote occurred, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle told Boggs that he didn't know how to thank him for helping out the NFL-AFL merger. Boggs essentially told him New Orleans gets a franchise immediately. That's the deal. The bill passed and New Orleans got its franchise.

After that game, Rickey Jackson was in a car accident. The rumor was he “partied” a little too hard after the win. Doctors said he would miss 8 weeks of the season after surgery to his face. He was back in 2 weeks and played with his jaw wired and a special helmet and face mask.
And what a helmet it was. It accompanied him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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We are the only NFL team to win & lose a game by the score of 62-7 (L-Falcons 1973; W-Colts 2011)
The Falcons were led that day by a journeyman QB named Dick Shiner.
 
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