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Dining In The 80’s:
Mardi Gras Finally Arrives In New Orleans
by Chris Brophy
22/9/2008
Yes Diner faithful, it’s time to climb into your DeLorean, accelerate up to 88mph and travel back in time to the 1980’s. This week we take a look at the first taste of success in New Orleans and how they found identities on both sides of the football. If you have only known the Saints of the past few years, you’ll think of a team that current Head Coach Sean Payton is moulding into an offensive machine, but back in the 80’s, whilst the offense could certainly hold its own, the defense was just as big a part of their rise from the bottom of the barrel.
What you have to understand is that until 1987 the Saints were as bad as it gets. Entering their 20th season in 1986 under new Head Coach Jim Mora, the team had only ever managed to go .500 once in their entire existence and had managed to post nine double digit loss seasons (and six of those came in 14 game seasons!) in those other 19 seasons. The post season was a myth in New Orleans. When you watch a Giants or Colts game nowadays they usually pan the camera over the Archie Manning (Peyton and Eli’s father) and it’s fair to say that is how he is now best known as but in the 70’s and 80’s, Archie Manning was the lone star on numerous awful Saints teams. With the Mora appointment though, the first building block to better times was in place.
 Winning two USFL titles with the Philadelphia/Baltimore had earned Jim Mora a reputation and the Saints were quick to pounce when the USFL folded in 1985. He instantly got to work creating a winning attitude and although his offensive style could be considered conservative strong running game, good defense, pass efficiently the signs that it would lead to better things were there to see in his first season where the Saints posted a 7-9 record, the joint second best in team history and had the team not lost four of its last five, the post season jinx may have been ended with Mora’s first attempt.
However, it was 1987 when things finally took off. Despite a game being lost to the players strike that year and scab players playing in three other games, Mora managed to keep things together until the regulars returned. When they did return they lost a tight game to the 49ers in Week 6 with the normally reliable Morten Andersen missing a last second field goal and Mora was so incensed he went off on a rant to the media.
Think of the name Jim Mora and the word rant and most people’s thoughts go instantly to his infamous PLAY-OFFS!? rant in 2001 (ironically, also after a loss to the 49ers) but whilst that will always bring out a chuckle in us all it ultimately had no effect but his rant after the 1987 Week 6 loss to the Niners made a real difference. He said the following in his post game conference:
The Saints ain’t good enough. We’re close, and close don’t mean shit. I’m tired of coming close. I’m pissed off right now. You bet your ass I am. I’m sick of coulda, woulda, shoulda, coming close, if only.
It became known as the Coulda, woulda, shoulda speech and it got the respond any coach would hope for. The Saints reeled off nine straight wins to finish the season and finally qualify for the play-offs via a wild card with a 12-3 record which was the second best record in the NFL that year. The only slight disappointment was they had not managed to win the NFC West as the 49ers had posted the best record in the NFL (13-2) and whilst the Week 6 loss had been the turning point for the Saints, it also had cost them home field advantage in the play-offs and a bye to the divisional round. Once in the play-offs, it was over quickly as they came up against the Minnesota Vikings and were demolished 44-10. The Vikings were a team who were finding their form at the right time and would also go on to beat the 49ers in the divisional round a week later.
However, the way the team had risen so quickly under Mora and looked so good doing it meant hopes were high for the future. The following year seen another winning record, 10-6 this time, but no post season as tie breakers seen the Rams pip them for the final wildcard place (the Giants also missed out with a 10-6 record). 1989 seen a 9-7 record and no post season again but then in 1990 the post season returned even though the 8-8 record the Saints posted was their worst for four seasons. Finally, after having to take a back seat to the dominate 49ers for so long, the Saints captured their first divisional crown in 1991 with an 11-5 record but normal service was resumed in 1992 as they came in behind the 49ers to claim a wild card.
After finally breaking the losing cycle that had so dominated the franchise the Saints were finding another hurdle difficult to jump a post season victory. The regular seasons were full of winning records but when it came to the crunch in the play-offs, it was a jump that wouldn’t come until long after Jim Mora had left and it is something that will always be a monkey on Mora’s back as when he left New Orleans in 1996 and took over at Indianapolis in 1998, he again couldn’t muster a play-off victory. In a interesting twist of fate, his son would also go into coaching and as Head Coach of the Atlanta Falcons, would win the first play-off game he would ever coach, so whilst Dad could never get over the hump, the torch was passed on and the jinx ousted by the next generation of the Mora family. Maybe his Grandson will coach a Super Bowl Champion (although Jim Jr will be back as a Head Coach in 2009 in Seattle).
The story so far has focused on the coach and the franchise in an historical sense what of the stars of the team that Mora and Hall Of Fame GM Jim Finks built?
Offensively, the team was led by Quarterback Bobby Hebert (pronounced A-Bear). Nicknamed the Cajun Cannon, he was known to Mora from his time in the USFL and whilst not the most consistent of players, he was a good leader who got the best from those around him. Handing off the ball was nearly always the first option in this offense though and the Saints had a complimentary pair of backs in the powerful Rueben Mayes and the versatile Dalton Hillard. Mayes game was all about exploding into the hole and punishing the defense, Hillard could hurt you as a runner or receiver and if Reggie Bush can become anywhere close to what Hillard was, the current Saints will do just fine. As time went on, injuries took their toll on Mayes and Hillard became the featured back. As Mayes faded away, the Saints had spent a high draft choice on Craig Ironhead Heywood, a giant of a running back who looked more like a offensive guard than an offensive back. Heywood would take his first carry 73 yards to pay dirt, bowling over a defender in brutal style but it was a false dawn as he could never be consistent as the power option in the running game and he would bounce around the league for a few years.
When Hebert threw the ball, he had the underrated Eric Martin as his first choice to aim at. Martin is still the Saints all time leading receiver. In his time as a Saint he led the team in receiving for six straight years and posted three 1000 yard plus seasons. If Martin was covered, he could go to Tight End Hoby Brenner or the speedy Lonzell Hill. Brett Perriman, who tasted more success in the run n’ shoot of Detriot, was also in the armoury during this era.
 Defensively, the Dome Patrol is probably the best known and well remembered part of this team. Once again, Finks who had helped build the Purple People Eaters in Minnesota and had a heavy influence in the Bears 1986 Super Bowl Champions had brought in a set of players who the team could build an identity around and who the fans could get excited about. On the outside was veteran Ricky Jackson and young gun Pat Swilling. Inside them, dynamo Sam Mills was flanked by the steady Vaughn Johnson.
Jackson had been through the bad times, he had joined the team in 1980 in a trade. He would go on to play 195 games as a Saint and record 123 sacks. Tough is a word tossed around too often for defensive players but playing most of the 1989 season with your jaw wired shut is the kind of toughness Jackson showed!
Swilling was a 3rd round pick in 1986 and quickly became a superb edge rusher in the Saints 3-4 scheme. Whilst not quite Lawrence Taylor, Swilling was still a guy who could get to the QB often enough to disrupt even the best of passing games. 1991 would see him record 17 sacks and win the Defensive Player of the Year Award. In his later years, as the 4-3 became all the rage, he would become more of a passing rushing defensive end.
Sam Mills was the heart and soul of this unit. Vastly undersized for a linebacker, he had floated around the outskirts of the NFL and CFL before joining Mora in the USFL. He quickly followed him to the Saints when that league folded and became the tone setter for the Saints defense for many a year. A great reader of the game, he would always get into the right position and he proved that good technique and use of leverage is as important in making tackles and fighting off blocks as pure size and strength.
Lastly, there was Vaughn Johnson, another USFL star who found a home in New Orleans. A consistent player who could tackle all day long, he is probably the least well known of the Patrol but it didn’t stop him being a three time All-Pro pick.
As the team fell away from regular play-off contention following their three straight play-off appearances in the early 90’s, the likes of the Dome Patrol began to move on. Swilling left in 1992, traded to Detroit for a draft choice that would in turn become OT Willie Roaf. Jackson and Johnson would follow in 1993 with Jackson finally tasting the ultimate success as a member of the 49ers Super Bowl XXIX team. Mills was last to go in 1995, joining the Panthers where he would also remain as a coach after his playing days until his unfortunate passing in 2005.
Bobby Hebert would also move on to division rival the Atlanta Falcons and the team Mora and Finks had built to bring the first taste of success to the Saints franchise and their fans was falling apart. Mora would move on and Mike Dikta would come in, climb in the DeLorean and try and take the franchise back to 1980. The bad old days of losing and the franchise making head-shaking decisions were back. It wouldn’t be until the 2000 season that the Saints would return to post season and this time they actually broke their play-off jinx, recording their first ever post season victory over the St Louis Rams.
It must have been great for their fans to finally taste the sweet success of victory when that play-off win finally came, but I bet they didn’t party quite like the Mardi Gras they had when Jim Mora got this team to post season in 1987 with a bunch of players he trusted and had kicked in the rear with a bit of verbal inspiration.
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