1968 New Orleans Saints season

1968 New Orleans Saints season
1968 New Orleans Saints season
Owner	John W. Mecom, Jr.
General manager	Vic Schwenk
Head coach	Tom Fears
Home field	Tulane Stadium
Results
Record	4–9–1
Division place	3rd Century
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	None
	← 1967; Saints seasons; 1969 →;

The 1968 New Orleans Saints season was the team's second as a member of the National Football League (NFL). They improved on their previous season's output of 3–11, winning four games.^[1] The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive season, and finished third in the Century Division of the NFL Eastern Conference.

Offseason

NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1968 New Orleans Saints draft
1	7	Kevin Hardy	Defensive tackle	Notre Dame
3	59	Dave Szymakowski	Wide receiver	West Texas State
4	85	Willie Crittendon	Defensive tackle	Tulsa
4	103	Dan Sartin	Defensive tackle	Ole Miss
5	115	Ronnie Lee South	Quarterback	Arkansas
7	169	Ray Phillips	Guard	Michigan
7	175	Gene Howard	Defensive back	Langston
8	195	Dick Swatland	Guard	Notre Dame
9	223	Joe Blake	Tackle	Tulsa
10	254	Doug Robinson	Defensive back	Iowa State
11	276	Bennie Blocker	Running back	South Carolina State
12	303	John Beck	Defensive back	San Diego State
13	331	K.O. Trepanier	Defensive end	Montana State
14	359	Herb Covington	Running back	Memphis State
15	384	Wilmer Cooks	Running back	Colorado
16	411	Elie Ghattas	Guard	Ball State
17	439	James Ferguson	Center	USC
Made roster

^[2]

Personnel

Staff

**1968 New Orleans Saints staff**
	Front office President – John W. Mecom, Jr. General Manager – Vic Schwenk Head coaches Head Coach – Tom Fears Offensive coaches Chief Offensive – George Dickson Receivers – Bob Shaw Offensive Line – Brad Ecklund Offensive Line – Walt Yowarsky			Defensive coaches Chief Defensive – Jack Faulkner Defensive Line – Ed Khayat Linebackers – J. D. Roberts

^[3]

Roster

**1968 New Orleans Saints roster**
Quarterbacks (QB) 17 Billy Kilmer 14 Karl Sweetan 11 Ronnie Lee South Running backs (RB) 38 Tony Baker 32 Tom Barrington 22 Charlie Brown 34 Tony Lorick FB 36 Don McCall 33 Randy Schultz 39 Ernie Wheelwright Wide receivers (WR) 46 Danny Abramowicz 42 John Gilliam 85 Ray Poage 88 Dave Szymakowski Tight ends (TE) 84 Jim Hester 83 Dave Parks 85 Monty Stickles		Offensive linemen (OL) 77 Jim Boeke T 63 Norman Davis G 56 James Ferguson C 62 Ross Gwinn G 78 Jerry Jones T 50 Jake Kupp G 63 Roy Schmidt T 73 Jerry Sturm T 54 Joe Wendryhoski C 61 Del Williams G Defensive linemen (DL) 81 Doug Atkins DE 65 Tom Carr DT 79 Lou Cordileone DE 72 Earl Leggett DT 76 Dave Rowe DT 60 Brian Schweda DE 74 Mike Tilleman DT		Linebackers (LB) 82 Johnny Brewer 66 Bill Cody 35 Ted Davis 51 Jim Fraser 30 Les Kelley 37 Steve Stonebreaker 59 Fred Whittingham Defensive backs (DB) 16 Bo Burris 21 John Douglas CB 28 Ross Fichtner 29 Gene Howard CB 45 Elbert Kimbrough 24 Elijah Nevett CB 23 Dave Whitsell CB 20 George Youngblood S Special teams 10 Charlie Durkee K 12 Tom McNeill P		Practice squad 25 Al Dodd WR Rookies in italics

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 15	Cleveland Browns	L 10–24	0–1	Tulane Stadium	74,215
2	September 22	Washington Redskins	W 37–17	1–1	Tulane Stadium	65,941
3	September 29	St. Louis Cardinals	L 20–21	1–2	Tulane Stadium	79,021
4	October 6	at New York Giants	L 21–38	1–3	Yankee Stadium	60,967
5	October 13	Minnesota Vikings	W 20–17	2–3	Tulane Stadium	71,105
6	October 20	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 16–12	3–3	Pitt Stadium	32,303
7	October 27	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 17–31	3–4	Busch Memorial Stadium	45,476
8	November 3	Dallas Cowboys	L 3–17	3–5	Tulane Stadium	84,728
9	November 10	at Cleveland Browns	L 17–35	3–6	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	71,025
10	November 17	at Green Bay Packers	L 7–29	3–7	Milwaukee County Stadium	49,644
11	November 24	at Detroit Lions	T 20–20	3–7–1	Tiger Stadium	46,152
12	December 1	Chicago Bears	L 17–23	3–8–1	Tulane Stadium	78,285
13	December 8	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 17–29	3–9–1	Franklin Field	57,128
14	December 15	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 24–14	4–9–1	Tulane Stadium	66,131
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFL Century
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Cleveland Browns	10	4	0	.714	4–2	7–3	394	273	L1
St. Louis Cardinals	9	4	1	.692	5–0–1	8–1–1	325	289	W4
New Orleans Saints	4	9	1	.308	2–4	3–7	246	327	W1
Pittsburgh Steelers	2	11	1	.154	0–5–1	1–8–1	244	397	L5

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

^ 1968 New Orleans Saints
^ "1968 New Orleans Saints draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
^ "All-Time Roster". NewOrleansSaints.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2012.

This article relating to an American football season is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] 1968 New Orleans Saints

[2] "1968 New Orleans Saints draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 26, 2024.

[3] "All-Time Roster". NewOrleansSaints.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2012.

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