On This Date in Saints History

Every once in a while I like to look back at the history of sports and see what happened on this date in the past. Today, I took a look back and to much of my pleasant surprise I saw that the New Orleans Saints had a franchise first!

On this date, November 4th, 1973, the seventh season in Saints history of the National Football League. The Saints recorded their very first shutout in franchise history with a 13-0 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

This game featured players like, O.J. Simpson, Joe Ferguson, and Archie Manning. There really weren't a lot of other memorable offensive players that played in this game.

As the score indicated it was a defensive struggle with limited offense. The Bills quarterback, Joe Ferguson was a mere 9 for 19 passing for 87 yards, and completing passes to only three different wide receivers. The clear plan in this game was to hand the ball off to Hall of Fame running back O.J. Simpson. Simpson received 20 carries in this contest but the Saints defense was able to contain him to a manageable 79 yards.

As for the Saints offense, Archie Manning was under center and New Orleans had a much more balanced attack. Manning completed 16 of 33 passes for 188 yards which included a touchdown strike to Bob Newland. On the ground Jess Phillips handled a majority of the workload, he rushed the ball 18 times but wasn't able to get much done against the Buffalo defense, only accounting for 52 yards.

That lone Manning touchdown strike, along with two Bob McClard field goals were the difference in this one as the defense shined its way through in the victory.

The 2017 Saints will be looking for a shutout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday as the defense has played well of late this season.

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