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

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. 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

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 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 coaches 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	STK
(1) St. Louis Rams	13	3	0	.813	526	242	L1
Carolina Panthers	8	8	0	.500	421	381	W1
Atlanta Falcons	5	11	0	.313	285	380	W2
San Francisco 49ers	4	12	0	.250	295	453	L3
New Orleans Saints	3	13	0	.188	260	434	L1

Roster

New Orleans Saints 1999 roster
Quarterbacks 9 Jake Delhomme 12 Billy Joe Hobert 11 Billy Joe Tolliver 7 Danny Wuerffel Running Backs 32 Aaron Craver FB 28 Troy Davis 33 Wilmont Perry 37 Dino Philyaw KR 40 Marvin Powell 26 Lamar Smith 34 Ricky Williams Wide Receivers 89 Brett Bech 81 Lawrence Dawsey 80 P. J. Franklin 88 Andre Hastings 82 Eddie Kennison PR 83 Keith Poole Tight Ends 85 Cameron Cleeland 84 Scott Slutzker 47 Josh Wilcox FB		Offensive Linemen 69 Tom Ackerman G/C 62 Jerry Fontenot C 86 Kendall Gammon C 65 Chris Naeole G 77 Willie Roaf T 78 Daryl Terrell T 68 Kyle Turley T 63 Wally Williams G/C Defensive Linemen 97 La'Roi Glover DT 79 Mike Halapin DT 96 Uhuru Hamiter DE 93 Wayne Martin DT 99 Darren Mickell DE 64 Robert Newkirk DT 95 Austin Robbins DT 91 Brady Smith DE 90 Jared Tomich DE/DT 98 Willie Whitehead DE		Linebackers 54 Ink Aleaga 56 Chris Bordano 51 Phil Clarke 55 Mark Fields 59 Keith Mitchell 50 Kevin Mitchell 52 Vinson Smith 92 Troy Wilson Defensive Backs 43 Ashley Ambrose CB 30 Je'Rod Cherry S 42 Willie Clay S 22 Tyronne Drakeford CB 36 Corey Harris CB 23 Chris Hewitt S 44 Rob Kelly S 29 Sammy Knight S 21 Earl Little S 25 Alex Molden CB 24 Fred Weary CB Special Teams 10 Doug Brien K 6Tommy Barnhardt P

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

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