1973 New Orleans Saints season

Template:Short description Template:Infobox NFL team season The 1973 New Orleans Saints season was the team's seventh as a member of the National Football League (NFL). They improved on their previous season's output of 2–11–1, winning five games. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.

New Orleans made a disastrous trade in January, dealing the No. 2 overall selection in the 1973 NFL draft to the Baltimore Colts for defensive end Billy Newsome. The Colts used the traded pick to select LSU quarterback Bert Jones, who guided the team to three consecutive AFC East division championships from 1975 to 1977.

J.D. Roberts, who became the Saints' second head coach midway through the 1970 season, was fired August 27, two days after a 31–6 loss to the New England Patriots in the fourth exhibition game. Roberts was replaced by offensive backfield coach John North. Roberts ended his Saints tenure with a 7–25–3 mark.

The Saints opened the year with a 62–7 debacle in the loss to the Atlanta Falcons at home. The first quarter of that game was scoreless. Eight days later, they were drubbed on Monday Night Football by the Dallas Cowboys, 40–3.

They did however hold O. J. Simpson to 74 yard on 20 carries in the team's first ever shutout, with a 13–0 win over the Buffalo Bills. Simpson went on to break the single season rushing record in yardage that year with 2,003.

Schedule

style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Week	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Date	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Opponent	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Result	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Record	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Venue	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Attendance
1	September 16	Atlanta Falcons	L 7–62	0–1	Tulane Stadium	66,428
2	Template:Dow tooltip	at Dallas Cowboys	L 3–40	0–2	Texas Stadium	52,715
3	September 30	at Baltimore Colts	L 10–14	0–3	Memorial Stadium	52,293
4	October 7	Chicago Bears	W 21–16	1–3	Tulane Stadium	56,561
5	October 14	Detroit Lions	W 20–13	2–3	Tulane Stadium	57,810
6	October 21	at San Francisco 49ers	L 0–40	2–4	Candlestick Park	52,881
7	October 28	Washington Redskins	W 19–3	3–4	Tulane Stadium	66,315
8	November 4	Buffalo Bills	W 13–0	4–4	Tulane Stadium	74,770
9	November 11	at Los Angeles Rams	L 7–29	4–5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	70,358
10	November 18	at San Diego Chargers	L 14–17	4–6	San Diego Stadium	34,848
11	November 25	Los Angeles Rams	L 13–24	4–7	Tulane Stadium	67,192
12	December 2	at Green Bay Packers	L 10–30	4–8	Milwaukee County Stadium	46,092
13	December 9	San Francisco 49ers	W 16–10	5–8	Tulane Stadium	62,490
14	December 16	at Atlanta Falcons	L 10–14	5–9	Atlanta Stadium	34,147
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.