Harold Wade Phillips is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas of the United Football League (UFL). He has served as head coach of the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, and Houston Roughnecks. He has also served as interim head coach for the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and the Houston Texans. Additionally, Phillips has long been considered to be among the best defensive coordinators in the NFL. In his long career, he has served as defensive coordinator in eight separate stints with seven different franchises. Multiple players under Phillips' system have won Defensive Player of the Year: Reggie White, Bryce Paup, Bruce Smith, J. J. Watt and Aaron Donald. Others under Phillips have won Defensive Rookie of the Year: Mike Croel and Shawne Merriman. In Phillips' lone Super Bowl victory, a defensive player would be named Super Bowl MVP: Von Miller.
Gregg Williams is an American football coach who is currently the defensive coordinator for the DC Defenders of the United Football League (UFL). He recently served as the defensive coordinator for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL) from 2019 to 2020. Previously, he was head coach of the Buffalo Bills from 2001 to 2003, and defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints from 2009 to 2011, and the Cleveland Browns, acting as an interim head coach in the 2018 season. Williams is known for running aggressive, attacking 4–3 schemes that put heavy pressure on opposing quarterbacks and for his key role in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, also known as "Bountygate".
James Donald Haslett is an American football coach and former linebacker who was most recently the head coach of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He played college football for the IUP Crimson Hawks before being drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the second round of the 1979 NFL draft; he went on to be named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
This article details the history of the New Orleans Saints, an American football team in the NFL, which was organized in 1967 and is based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Patrick Sean Payton is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Previously, he served as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints from 2006 to 2021, leading the franchise to its first Super Bowl victory during the 2009 season. Payton played college football for the Eastern Illinois Panthers and played professionally in 1987 with the Chicago Bears and 1988 overseas in Britain for the Leicester Panthers.
Mike Westhoff is an American football coach who is the assistant head coach for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Previously, he coached Special Teams for a number of teams, most notably for the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. Westhoff is considered to be among the greatest special teams coaches in league history.
James Richard Laurinaitis is an American football coach and former player. He currently serves as the linebackers coach at the Ohio State University. He played as a linebacker for the St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, where he was a three-time consensus All-American and won numerous awards. He was selected by the Rams in the second round of the 2009 NFL draft.
Anthony La'Ron Tony Hargrove is a former American football defensive end. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the third round of the 2004 NFL draft. He played college football at Georgia Tech.
Stephen Christopher Spagnuolo is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He rejoined Andy Reid in 2019 after being a defensive assistant with him from 1999 to 2006 with the Philadelphia Eagles. He has coached four top-ten defenses as a defensive coordinator in terms of yardage. He has won four Super Bowls as defensive coordinator, one with the New York Giants and three with the Kansas City Chiefs, making him the only coordinator in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with two different franchises. Some historic defenses that Spagnuolo has coached throughout his career include the 2007 New York Giants defense and the 2023 Kansas City Chiefs defense.
Dennis James Allen is an American professional football coach who is the head coach of the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He served as head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 2012 to 2014. Allen also previously coached for the Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, University of Tulsa, and his alma mater, Texas A&M University. In 2022, Allen was promoted to head coach of the Saints after spending the previous seven seasons as the team's defensive coordinator.
Aaron Kromer is an American football coach who is the offensive line coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). Kromer served as the interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints for the first six games of the 2012 season.
Anthony Earl Oden is an American football coach and former player who is the senior defensive assistant and cornerbacks coach for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans. Oden played college football at Baldwin–Wallace College.
Brian Francisco Flores is an American professional football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career with the New England Patriots, where he served as an assistant coach from 2008 to 2018. Flores was New England's defensive playcaller during his final season coaching for the team, which concluded with a victory in Super Bowl LIII. Following the victory, he served as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2019 to 2021.
Frank Bush is a former American football linebacker and coach who is the linebackers coach for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Houston Oilers in the fifth round of the 1985 NFL draft. He played college football at North Carolina State.
The 2012 season was the New Orleans Saints' 46th in the National Football League (NFL) and their 37th playing home games at the Superdome. The Saints head coach was Sean Payton, but he was suspended by the NFL for the entire season as part of the punishment for the team's bounty scandal. On April 12, 2012, linebackers coach Joe Vitt was named interim head coach to replace Payton while he was suspended. On August 22, 2012, it was announced that Aaron Kromer would take over while Vitt himself served a six-game suspension to start the regular season. The Saints attempted to make history as the first host team to play the Super Bowl on their own home field, but they were eliminated from post-season contention for the first time since 2008 in Week 16. The Saints set an NFL record for most yards given up by a defense, 7,042 yards, surpassing the 1981 Baltimore Colts record of 6,793 yards.
The New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, colloquially known as "Bountygate", was an illegal program in which the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL) placed bounties on opposing players. The consensus around the program was that if a targeted player was knocked out of a game, a bonus would be paid to the defensive player that made the hit. A slush fund for paying the bounties was found to have operated from the 2009 season to the 2011–12 playoffs.
Adam Joseph Gase is a former American football coach in the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos from 2013 to 2014, whose offense set the NFL record for points scored in 2013 and helped the team reach Super Bowl XLVIII. Following this success, Gase served as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2016 to 2018 and the New York Jets from 2019 to 2020.
Matt Sheldon is the game management coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He is a professional football coach, analyst and researcher with extensive NFL experience in research/analytics, in-game strategy, coaching and video editing with the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints. Additionally, he has worked with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Wisconsin Badgers of the NCAA. Sheldon also served as director of sports solutions development with Zebra Sports, the official provider of player tracking for the NFL. Sheldon has consulted with teams and leagues at the professional, olympic, collegiate and high school levels in North America and Europe. His areas of focus include strategy/tactics and decision-making, athlete tracking systems and elite athlete performance. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management and the University University of Wisconsin M.B.A. Program.
The Rams–Saints rivalry is an NFL rivalry between the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints. Both teams were originally members of the NFC West prior to the 2002 league realignment. The rivalry temporarily grew dormant for multiple years following the divisional realignment until tensions regrew between both teams during the 2010s; most notably involving the controversial 2018 NFC Championship Game. The Rams lead the regular season series 43–34, both teams are tied 1–1 in the postseason.
