1999 New Orleans Saints season

1999 New Orleans Saints season
Head coach Mike Ditka
Home field Louisiana Superdome
Results
Record 3–13
Division place 5th NFC West
Playoff finish did not qualify
Timeline
Previous season Next season
< 1998 2000 >

The 1999 New Orleans Saints season was the Saints’ thirty-third NFL season. The team was looking to improve on back-to-back 6–10 seasons, but regressed and only won three games to finish last in the NFC West. This was Mike Ditka's third and final season as the Saints' head coach, as he was fired, along with his entire coaching staff and general manager Bill Kuharich, three days after the conclusion of the season.

During 1999, the Saints became the first team to lose to the expansion Cleveland Browns and in the process became the only team since the NFL/AFL merger in 1970 to lose to the last winless team in successive seasons.[1] Coincidentally, the only other time the Saints have been the last winless team's victim was another expansion team's first win, that of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1977.

Offseason

NFL Draft

With the only pick in the draft the New Orleans Saints selected RB Ricky Williams out of the University of Texas with the fifth pick in the first round. The Saints traded all of their draft picks in the 1999 draft in order to move up so they could draft Williams, as well as a first round pick in the 2000 NFL Draft that eventually was used by the Washington Redskins to draft LaVar Arrington.

Personnel

Staff

colspan="7" style="background: black; color:white; border: 2px solid #9F8958" text-align: center;" | 1999 New Orleans Saints staff
Front office
  • Owner – Tom Benson
  • President/General Manager/Chief Operating Officer – Bill Kuharich
  • Vice President of Football Operations/Assistant General Manager – Charles Bailey
  • Director of College Scouting – Bruce Lemmerman

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

 Defensive coaches
  • Defensive Coordinator – Zaven Yaralian
  • Defensive Line – Walt Corey
  • Defensive Backs – Carlos Mainord
  • Defensive Assistant/Pass Rush – Rickey Jackson
  • Defensive Assistant/Linebackers – Ned James

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 12, 1999 Carolina Panthers W 19–10
58,166
2 September 19, 1999 at San Francisco 49ers L 21–28
67,685
3 Bye
4 October 3, 1999 at Chicago Bears L 10–14
66,944
5 October 10, 1999 Atlanta Falcons L 17–20
57,289
6 October 17, 1999 Tennessee Titans L 21–24
51,875
7 October 24, 1999 at New York Giants L 3–31
77,982
8 October 31, 1999 Cleveland Browns L 16–21
48,817
9 November 7, 1999 Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 16–31
47,129
10 November 14, 1999 San Francisco 49ers W 24–6
52,198
11 November 21, 1999 at Jacksonville Jaguars L 23–41
69,772
12 November 28, 1999 at St. Louis Rams L 12–43
65,864
13 December 5, 1999 at Atlanta Falcons L 12–35
62,568
14 December 12, 1999 St. Louis Rams L 14–30
46,838
15 December 19, 1999 at Baltimore Ravens L 8–31
67,597
16 December 24, 1999 Dallas Cowboys W 31–24
47,835
17 January 2, 2000 at Carolina Panthers L 13–45
56,929

Standings

NFC West
W L T PCT PF PA STK
(1) St. Louis Rams 1330.813526242L1
Carolina Panthers 880.500421381W1
Atlanta Falcons 5110.313285380W2
San Francisco 49ers 4120.250295453L3
New Orleans Saints 3130.188260434L1

Roster

New Orleans Saints 1999 roster
Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

 Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

 Linebackers


Defensive Backs

Special Teams

Statistics

Passing

Player G QB Rat. Comp. Att. Pct. Yards Yards/Att. TD INT
Billy Joe Hobert 9 68.9 85 159 53.5 970 6.1 6 6
Billy Joe Tolliver 10 58.9 139 268 51.9 1916 7.1 7 16
Jake Delhomme 2 62.4 42 76 55.3 521 6.9 3 5
Danny Wuerffel 4 30.8 22 48 45.8 191 4.0 0 3

Rushing

Player G Att. Yards Yards/Att. TD
Ricky Williams 12 253 884 3.5 2
Lamar Smith 13 60 205 3.4 0
Wilmont Perry 7 48 180 3.8 0
Troy Davis 16 20 32 1.6 0
Aaron Craver 13 17 40 2.4 0

Receiving

Player G Rec Yards Yards/Rec TD
Eddie Kennison 16 61 835 13.7 4
Keith Poole 15 42 796 19.0 6
Andre Hastings 15 40 564 14.1 1
Ricky Williams 12 28 172 6.1 0
Cameron Cleeland 11 26 325 12.5 1
Lamar Smith 13 20 151 7.6 1
Aaron Craver 13 19 154 8.1 0
Lawrence Dawsey 10 16 196 12.3 1
Scott Slutzker 11 11 164 14.9 1
Troy Davis 16 7 53 7.6 0
Josh Wilcox 8 6 61 10.2 0
Brett Bech 8 4 65 16.3 1
Wilmont Perry 7 4 26 6.5 0
Dino Philyaw 13 2 23 11.5 0
P. J. Franklin 3 2 13 6.5 0

Kick Returns

Player G Returns Yards Yards/Return TD
Dino Philyaw 13 53 1165 22.0 0
Troy Davis 16 20 424 21.2 0
Wilmont Perry 7 2 6 3.0 0
Lawrence Dawsey 10 1 20 20.0 0
Brett Bech 8 1 12 12.0 0
Kendall Gammon 16 1 9 9.0 0
Aaron Craver 13 1 3 3.0 0

Punt Returns

Player G Returns Yards Yards/Return TD
Eddie Kennison 16 35 258 7.4 0

Punting

Player G Punts Yards Yards/Punt Punts Blocked
Tommy Barnhardt 16 82 3262 39.8 0

Kicking

Player G Extra Points Att. Extra Points Made Extra Point Pct. Field Goals Att. Field Goals Made Field Goal Pct. Total Points Scored
Doug Brien 16 20 21 95 24 29 82.8 92

Interceptions

Player G Int Yards TD
Ashley Ambrose 16 6 27 0
Willie Clay 16 3 32 0
Keith Mitchell 16 3 22 0
Fred Weary 16 2 49 0
Mark Fields 14 2 0 0
Rob Kelly 16 1 6 0
Alex Molden 13 1 2 0
Sammy Knight 16 1 0 0

Sacks

Player G Sacks
La'Roi Glover 16 8.5
Willie Whitehead 16 7.0
Brady Smith 16 6.0
Troy Wilson 16 5.5
Wayne Martin 16 4.5
Mark Fields 14 4.0
Keith Mitchell 16 3.5
Jared Tomich 8 3.0
Austin Robbins 14 2.0
Chris Hewitt 12 1.0

References

  1. ↑ Last Winless NFL Team(s) in Each Season