1997 New Orleans Saints Statistics

National Football League (NFL)
Team Record: 6-10
Finishing 4th in the NFL's West Division of the National Football Conference
Coach: Mike Ditka (6-10)
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana

1997 New Orleans Saints Roster
1997 New Orleans Saints Results

The New Orleans Saints of the National Football League ended the 1997 season with a record of 6 wins and 10 losses, finishing fourth in the NFL's West Division of the National Football Conference.

The Saints struggled to score 237 points, worst in the circuit, and the defensive squad conceded 327. Heath Shuler threw for 1,288 yards. Randal Hill grabbed 55 passes for 761 yards. Andre Hastings contributed to the receiving game as well.

Ray Zellars carried the ball for a team-leading 552 yards for New Orleans, while Mario Bates also buoyed the ground attack.

Sammy Knight picked off 5 opponent throws. Wayne Martin topped the defensive unit with 10.5 quarterback sacks, helping propel the defense to an overall total of 59 sacks.

Mike Ditka coached the team.

Click on column headings to sort.

Passing:

Player	Att	Comp	Comp %	Yds	Yds/Att	TDs	TD %	Ints	Int %	Long	Sacked	Yds Lost	Rating
Heath Shuler	203	106	52.2	1288	6.3	2	1.0	14	6.9	89	21	132	46.6
Billy Hobert	131	61	46.6	891	6.8	6	4.6	8	6.1	49	4	29	59.0
Danny Wuerffel	91	42	46.2	518	5.7	4	4.4	8	8.8	47	18	116	42.3
Doug Nussmeier	32	18	56.2	183	5.7	0	0.0	3	9.4	24	6	32	33.7
Mario Bates	1	1	100.0	21	21.0	1	100.0	0	0.0	21	0	0	158.3
Randal Hill	0	0		0		0		0		0	1	8	0.0
Totals	458	228	49.8	2901	6.3	13	2.8	33	7.2	89	50	317

Rushing:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long	TDs
Ray Zellars	156	552	3.5	27	4
Mario Bates	119	440	3.7	74	4
Troy Davis	75	271	3.6	20	0
Heath Shuler	22	38	1.7	8	1
Billy Hobert	12	36	3.0	15	0
Andre Hastings	4	35	8.8	27	0
Doug Nussmeier	8	30	3.8	15	0
Danny Wuerffel	6	26	4.3	10	0
Fred McCrary	8	15	1.9	8	0
Randal Hill	1	11	11.0	11	0
Wes Bender	5	9	1.8	6	0
Eric Guliford	1	-2	-2.0	-2	0
Totals	417	1461	3.5	74	9

Receiving:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long	TDs
Randal Hill	55	761	13.8	89	2
Andre Hastings	48	722	15.0	39	5
Ray Zellars	31	263	8.5	38	0
Eric Guliford	27	362	13.4	47	1
John Farquhar	17	253	14.9	42	1
Irv Smith	17	180	10.6	25	1
Troy Davis	13	85	6.5	18	0
Mario Bates	5	42	8.4	15	0
Keith Poole	4	98	24.5	49	2
Fred McCrary	4	17	4.2	11	0
Brett Bech	3	50	16.7	22	0
Daryl Hobbs	2	41	20.5	21	1
Nick Savoie	1	14	14.0	14	0
Tony Johnson	1	13	13.0	13	0
Totals	228	2901	12.7	89	13

Kicking:

Player	X/CA	X/CM	X/CP %	FGA	FGM	FG %	Pts.
Doug Brien	22	22	100.0	27	23	85.2	91
Totals	22	22	100.0	27	23	85.2	91

Punting:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long
Mark Royals	88	4038	45.9	66
Totals	88	4038	45.9	66

Punt Returns:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long
Eric Guliford	47	498	10.6	32
Andre Hastings	1	-2	-2.0	-2
Totals	48	496	10.3	32

Kick Returns:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long	TDs
Eric Guliford	43	1128	26.2	102	1
Troy Davis	9	173	19.2	29	0
Brett Bech	3	47	15.7	30	0
Fred McCrary	2	26	13.0	15	0
Jared Tomich	1	0	0.0	0	0
Totals	58	1374	23.7	102	1

Interceptions:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long
Sammy Knight	5	75	15.0	39
Anthony Newman	3	19	6.3	17
Mickey Washington	2	30	15.0	30
Eric Allen	2	27	13.5	27
Winfred Tubbs	2	21	10.5	15
Rob Kelly	1	15	15.0	15
Richard Harvey	1	7	7.0	7
Totals	16	194	12.1	39

Sacks:

Player	No.	Yds
Wayne Martin	10.5
Joe Johnson	8.5
Mark Fields	8.0
La'Roi Glover	6.5
Brady Smith	5.0
Alex Molden	4.0
Keith Mitchell	4.0
Darren Mickell	3.5
Richard Harvey	3.0
Winfred Tubbs	2.5
Pio Sagapolutele	2.0
Jared Tomich	1.0
Ernest Dixon	0.5
Totals	59.0	0

Defense and Fumbles:

Player	Tackle	Solo	Ast	Brup	Fum	FRec	FYds	FTD	FF
Winfred Tubbs	138	116	44	0	0	2	0	0	2
Mark Fields	98	88	20		0	2	28	1	4
Sammy Knight	75.5	67	17	0	0	1	0	0	0
Alex Molden	62.5	57	11		0	2	0	0	3
Wayne Martin	58.5	54	9		0	1	0	0	1
Anthony Newman	58	53	10	0	0	1	0	0	0
Eric Allen	47.5	45	5	0				0
Richard Harvey	46.5	43	7	0	0	1	0	0	1
Mickey Washington	42.5	40	5	0	0	0	0	0	1
Joe Johnson	42.5	39	7		0	1	0	0	1
Pio Sagapolutele	29.5	24	11					0
La'Roi Glover	28.5	24	9		0	1	0	0	1
Brady Smith	26	22	8					0
Darren Mickell	26.5	20	13		0	1	11	0	0
Keith Mitchell	22	20	4					0
Vashone Adams	19	17	4		0	0	0	0	1
Rob Kelly	16.5	14	5	0	0	0	0	0	1
Chris Hewitt	14	12	4		0	1	0	0	1
Jared Tomich	11.5	11	1		1	1	0	0	0
Austin Robbins	6	6	0					0
Je'Rod Cherry	6	6	0					0
Ernest Dixon	3	2	2					0
Donovan Greer	1	1	0					0
Heath Shuler					8	3	-20	0	0
Ray Zellars					6	2	0	0	0
Danny Wuerffel					2	2	0	0	0
Clarence Jones					0	2	0	0	0
Randal Hill					0	1	0	0	0
Brett Bech					0	1	0	0	0
Eric Guliford					2	1	0	0	0
Wes Bender					1	0	0	0	0
Tony Johnson					1	0	0	0	0
Jerry Fontenot					3	0	0	0	0
Andre Hastings					1	0	0	0	0
Doug Nussmeier					1	0	-4	0	0
Troy Davis					3	0	0	0	0
Irv Smith					1	0	0	0	0
Mario Bates					2	0	0	0	0
Billy Hobert					2	0	0	0	0
Totals	879	781	196	0	34	27	15	1	17

Total Scoring:

	Touchdowns								Other					Total
Player	Rush	Rec	Punt	Kick	MFG	Int	Fum	Other	FG	X/C	Single	2Pt	Saf	Points
Doug Brien	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	23	22	0			91
Andre Hastings	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		32
Ray Zellars	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			24
Mario Bates	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			24
Keith Poole	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			12
Eric Guliford	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			12
Randal Hill	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			12
Heath Shuler	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			6
Irv Smith	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			6
John Farquhar	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			6
Daryl Hobbs	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			6
Mark Fields	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0			6
Totals	9	13	0	1	0	0	1	0	23	22	0	1	0	237