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 following the year.

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. Ironically, 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

1999 New Orleans Saints staff
Head Coaches Head Coach – Mike Ditka Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers – Rick Venturi Offensive Coaches Offensive Coordinator – Danny Abramowicz Quarterbacks – Tom Clements Running Backs – Lary Kuharich Wide Receivers – Harold Jackson Tight Ends/Offensive Line Assistant – Dan Neal Offensive Line – Bill Meyers Offensive Assistant – Judd Garrett Offensive Assistant/Tight Ends – Rodney Holman			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 Special Teams – Bobby April Strength and Conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Mike Woicik Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Markus Paul

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
St. Louis Rams	13	3	0	.813	526	242
Carolina Panthers	8	8	0	.500	421	381
Atlanta Falcons	5	11	0	.313	285	380
San Francisco 49ers	4	12	0	.250	295	453
New Orleans Saints	3	13	0	.188	260	434

Roster

C Tom Ackerman LB Ink Aleaga CB Ashley Ambrose P Tommy Barnhardt WR Brett Bech LB Chris Bordano K Doug Brien S Je'Rod Cherry LB Phil Clarke S Willie Clay TE Cameron Cleeland RB Aaron Craver RB Troy Davis WR Lawrence Dawsey QB Jake Delhomme CB Tyronne Drakeford LB Mark Fields C Jerry Fontenot WR P. J. Franklin C Kendall Gammon DT La'Roi Glover DT Mike Halapin DE Uhuru Hamiter CB Corey Harris WR Andre Hastings S Chris Hewitt QB Billy Joe Hobert T Clarence Jones S Rob Kelly WR Eddie Kennison S Sammy Knight S Earl Little DT Wayne Martin DE Darren Mickell LB Keith Mitchell LB Kevin Mitchell CB Alex Molden G Chris Naeole DT Robert Newkirk RB Wilmont Perry RB Dino Philyaw WR Keith Poole RB Marvin Powell T Willie Roaf DT Austin Robbins TE Scott Slutzker DE Brady Smith RB Lamar Smith LB Vinson Smith T Daryl Terrell QB Billy Joe Tolliver DE/DT Jared Tomich T Kyle Turley CB Fred Weary DE Willie Whitehead TE/FB Josh Wilcox RB Ricky Williams C Wally Williams LB/DE Troy Wilson QB Danny Wuerffel

Statistics

Passing

Billy Joe Hobert 85 159 53.5 970 6.10 6 6 68.9

Billy Joe Tolliver 139 268 51.9 1916 7.15 7 16 58.9

Jake Delhomme 42 76 55.3 521 6.86 3 5 62.4

Danny Wuerffel 22 48 45.8 191 3.98 0 3 30.8

Rushing

Ricky Williams 253 884 3.5 2

Lamar Smith 60 205 3.4 0

Wilmont Perry 48 180 3.8 0

Aaron Craver 17 40 2.4 0

Troy Davis 20 32 1.6 0

Receiving

Eddie Kennison 61 835 13.7 4

Keith Poole 42 796 19.0 6

Andre Hastings 40 564 14.1 1

Ricky Williams 28 172 6.1 0

Cameron Cleeland 26 325 12.5 1

Lamar Smith 20 151 7.6 1

Aaron Craver 19 154 8.1 0

Lawrence Dawsey 16 196 12.3 1

Scott Slutzker 11 164 14.9 1

Troy Davis 7 53 7.6 0

Josh Wilcox 6 61 10.2 0

Brett Bech 4 65 16.3 1

Wilmont Perry 4 26 6.5 0

Dino Philyaw 2 23 11.5 0

P. J. Franklin 2 13 6.5 0

Kick Returns

Dino Philyaw 53 1165 22.0 0

Troy Davis 20 424 21.2 0

Lawrence Dawsey 1 20 20.0 0

Brett Bech 1 12 12.0 0

Kendall Gammon 1 9 9.0 0

Wilmont Perry 2 6 3.0 0

Aaron Craver 1 3 3.0 0

Punt Returns

Eddie Kennison 35 258 7.4 0

Punting

Tommy Barnhardt 82 3262 39.8 0

Kicking

Doug Brien 20 21 95 24 29 82.8 92

Interceptions

Ashley Ambrose 6 27 4.5 0

Willie Clay 3 32 10.7 0

Keith Mitchell 3 22 7.3 0

Fred Weary 2 49 24.5 0

Mark Fields 2 0 0.0 0

Rob Kelly 1 6 6.0 0

Alex Molden 1 2 2.0 0

Sammy Knight 1 0 0.0 0

Sacks

La'Roi Glover 8.5

Willie Whitehead 7.0

Brady Smith 6.0

Troy Wilson 5.5

Wayne Martin 4.5

Mark Fields 4.0

Keith Mitchell 3.5

Jared Tomich 3.0

Austin Robbins 2.0

Chris Hewitt 1.0

References

• Saints on Pro Football Reference
• Saints on jt-sw.com