St.Dan
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As we hope for a spark of competitive fire this week under interim coach Darren Rizzi, it’s good to look back to another year that ended with an interim coach at the helm and a new era in Saints football history in the offing.
The Saints were 4-8 after 12 games in 1985. Bum Phillips had just resigned after a semi-surprise win in Minnesota that was his last as a head coach on any level. A little bit like this year, those Saints actually showed a flash of promise early in the year. They were 3-2 after five games, a stretch that featured an upset win on the road over the defending champions and eventual team of the ‘80s, the 49ers. Injuries on the o-line and general decay of the offense (hmmm…
) greased the skids to a losing streak that had Bum turning in his hat.
Enter the interim coach, his son Wade, the DC. It wasn’t known at the time that he’d go on to be a fairly successful DC in the NFL and hold head coaching gigs in Denver, Dallas and Buffalo. I was just 10 years old then, but reports give the sense the team’s then-new owner, Tom Benson, would eventually look outside the organization for the next head coach for 1986.
Wade’s debut was against the 9-3 Los Angeles Rams, led mainly by RB Eric Dickerson and a defense that was pretty solid. Matter of fact, the Rams actually bested the 49ers for the old NFC West crown that year, one of only three times in the ‘80s that the Niners didn’t win the division.
But on this day, it was the young Dome Patrol who dominated in the Dome for the written-off Saints. Dickerson was held to just 80 yards on the ground. Ram QBs Dieter Brock and Jeff Kemp were sacked an eye-popping nine times. They gained just 164 total yards on the day.
New starter Bobby Hebert, whose journey to the Saints was in itself quite the story, sparked the offense to three field goal drives in the first half and a TD pass in the second half, to rookie Eric Martin. Overall, the Great Dane kicked five field goals on the day. Even an aging Earl Campbell flashed his last bits of highlight material, going for 113 total yards on the day.
The icing on a surprise party cake for the fans that day was supplied by rookie LB Jack Del Rio, who took a fumble 22 yards for a score to cap off a 29-3 upset win. There would be no more wins the rest of the ‘85 season, and the team took a 5-11 mark into the offseason. Jim Mora was named head coach about two months later, followed by a 1986 draft class that still has to rate as a top-5 class in franchise history.
And so, in two separate YT videos, let’s look back at this game in the hopes Rizz can fire ‘em up on Sunday the way Wade did in on Dec. 1, 1985. As always, just click the “play on YouTube” link if at first it comes up zapped. And man, the old, vintage, just-the-facts style of the old NFL Today crew brings me back to my childhood….(all stats verified on Pro Football Reference)….
The Saints were 4-8 after 12 games in 1985. Bum Phillips had just resigned after a semi-surprise win in Minnesota that was his last as a head coach on any level. A little bit like this year, those Saints actually showed a flash of promise early in the year. They were 3-2 after five games, a stretch that featured an upset win on the road over the defending champions and eventual team of the ‘80s, the 49ers. Injuries on the o-line and general decay of the offense (hmmm…
) greased the skids to a losing streak that had Bum turning in his hat. Enter the interim coach, his son Wade, the DC. It wasn’t known at the time that he’d go on to be a fairly successful DC in the NFL and hold head coaching gigs in Denver, Dallas and Buffalo. I was just 10 years old then, but reports give the sense the team’s then-new owner, Tom Benson, would eventually look outside the organization for the next head coach for 1986.
Wade’s debut was against the 9-3 Los Angeles Rams, led mainly by RB Eric Dickerson and a defense that was pretty solid. Matter of fact, the Rams actually bested the 49ers for the old NFC West crown that year, one of only three times in the ‘80s that the Niners didn’t win the division.
But on this day, it was the young Dome Patrol who dominated in the Dome for the written-off Saints. Dickerson was held to just 80 yards on the ground. Ram QBs Dieter Brock and Jeff Kemp were sacked an eye-popping nine times. They gained just 164 total yards on the day.
New starter Bobby Hebert, whose journey to the Saints was in itself quite the story, sparked the offense to three field goal drives in the first half and a TD pass in the second half, to rookie Eric Martin. Overall, the Great Dane kicked five field goals on the day. Even an aging Earl Campbell flashed his last bits of highlight material, going for 113 total yards on the day.
The icing on a surprise party cake for the fans that day was supplied by rookie LB Jack Del Rio, who took a fumble 22 yards for a score to cap off a 29-3 upset win. There would be no more wins the rest of the ‘85 season, and the team took a 5-11 mark into the offseason. Jim Mora was named head coach about two months later, followed by a 1986 draft class that still has to rate as a top-5 class in franchise history.
And so, in two separate YT videos, let’s look back at this game in the hopes Rizz can fire ‘em up on Sunday the way Wade did in on Dec. 1, 1985. As always, just click the “play on YouTube” link if at first it comes up zapped. And man, the old, vintage, just-the-facts style of the old NFL Today crew brings me back to my childhood….(all stats verified on Pro Football Reference)….
