The Saints played their best game of the year but lost a heartbreaker to Minnesota on a last-second TD. Warren Moon had a big day throwing the ball, but for the most part the secondary kept the receivers in front of them. The offensive line protected Jim Everett well against the dangerous Viking pass rush. It was a great effort, but it was a loss, so next week's game against Atlanta is a must-win. For almost the entire first half, the Saint D successfully executed a "bend but don't break" strategy. After the O began with a 3 & punt series, Minnesota drove from their own 12 to the NO 33 before punting. Again the O couldn't get a 1st, but for the second time the Vikings backed themselves up with a penalty on the punt return. The Saints dodged a bullet when Reed couldn't control a deep pass before going out of bounds. Another Viking punt put the ball at the NO 12. The offense started moving with a 17 yard completion to Quinn Early on 3rd & 4 from the 18. One play later, Michael Haynes caught a slant-in for 12. On 2nd & 7 Early was open deep (it would've been a TD), but Everett overthrew him. On the next play Wesley Walls bobbled a pass into the hands of a Viking at the Minnesota 42. Moon hit Reed right away for 13 yards, but the Vikings penetrated no further. A slant to Early was good for 22 yards to the 35, but on 3rd & inches from the 45 a run lost a couple of yards. Once again the Vikings reached the edge of FG range, but had to punt after getting to the NO 38. The punt was covered at the 3 yard line, forcing the O to start inside their own 15 for the fourth time. A second down pass to Walls picked up 12, and a 15 yard facemask penalty on the play advanced the ball some more. The O managed to pick up one more 1st before running out of steam at midfield. Following a punt into the endzone, the Vikings moved the ball quickly with consecutive catches by Carter for 17 & Ismail for 11. On the next play, however, Jimmy Spencer stepped in front of the receiver and intercepted Moon at the Minnesota 48 with 1:14 to go before the half. The Saints wasted the turnover, however. On 3rd down, Everett again missed a open, streaking WR (the safety was there to help this time, but it should've been a big gain to Haynes). After another punt into the endzone, Moon hit Lee for 11 yards. At this point, the D gave up a big play after having played well for over 29 minutes. Reed caught a short pass and took it all the way to the NO 10 (Sean Lumpkin should've been there to make a tackle, but he was out of position). After an incomplete pass and a 7 yard scramble by Moon, Lee caught a pass out of the backfield to break the scoreless tie just before the end of the half. On the second play from scrimmage of the 2nd half, Lumpkin hit a Viking receiver, knocked the ball loose, and recovered it at the Minnesota 48. This time the Saints capitalized. Though the hard-to-fool Vikings foiled a fake reverse, Everett hit Haynes for 9 and Early for 5 on the following two plays. On the next play, good protection allowed Everett to throw a 34 yard TD to Haynes with less than two-and-a-half minutes gone in the 3rd quarter. The teams exchanged 3 & punt series, but a good roll on Tommy Barnhardt's kick put the Vikings back at their own 8. After two incompletions, Moon hit Reed for 20. Misdirection allowed Allen to run for 18 on the next play. Moon hit Cooper for ten on 2nd & 10, then Allen ran twice to pick up ten more. On 2nd & 15, a big loss following a Moon fumble was negated when Darrion Conner was flagged for lining up in the neutral zone. Two passes to the adverb moved the ball to the 14, and one play later Reed caught a TD pass. The offense responded by driving for a tying score. Walls caught an 18 yard pass on 1st & 5 from the NO 42, Torrance Small caught one for a dozen yards on 3rd & 7 from the Minnesota 37, and a defensive pass interference call put the ball at the 23. The Vikings were flagged for roughing the passer on a short catch by Walls, which put the ball at the 10. Mario Bates ran for 6 yards on 1st down, and Everett somehow evaded an untouched Viking rusher to scramble to the 2. On 3rd down, Everett hit a stationary Walls one yard deep in the endzone for a TD on the first play of the 4th quarter. An unsportsmanlike conduct on the successful PAT allowed the Saints to kick off from the 45, which facilitated an easy touchback boot. Three catches in a row by Reed, Carter, and Carter again moved Minnesota to midfield, but the drive stalled there. Once again, excellent special teams coverage by Minnesota forced the Saints to start deep in their own territory (at the 5). A reception and a run by Bates moved the ball to the 20. A catch by Haynes picked up 16 more before the tough Viking D forced another punt. The Vikes' O managed to make it to the NO 47 before it was time to punt once more. This time, the ball skipped through the downfield players and made it into the endzone. A nice catch by Haynes on a play action pass was good for 14. One play later, Derek Brown caught a short pass and made a sweet run (he evaded 4 tackles) all the way to the Minnesota 30. The Saints failed to pick up another 1st, so Morten Andersen came on to nail a 45 yard FG for the go-ahead score with 4:12 left in the game. On the second play of the next drive, the ball slipped from Moon's grasp as he attempted to throw a pass, and Frank Warren fell on it at the Viking 28. The Saints really needed a TD here to put the game away, but they didn't get it. On 3rd & 1 from the 19, Bates came up a foot short. Andersen made the 35 yarder, but late in the game I'd almost prefer to be up 3 instead of 6, as opposing QBs tend to rise to the occasion and get the winning TD (because playing for overtime is not an option). Whether or not Andersen's short kickoff was intentional, it worked, as the Vikings started from their own 16. Moon moved the team immediately with a 12 yard toss to Lee and an 18 yard pass to Carter. Conner hurt his ankle on the Carter reception, which both stopped the clock for the Vikings and forced Smeenge to come in for a few plays. On 3rd & 9, Moon hit Carter for a 14 yard gain down to the NO 39. Minnesota was the victim of a bad call on 3rd & 8, as the officials incorrectly ruled that Reed trapped a pass that would've given them a 1st. Justice was served, however, when Lee caught a 3 yard pass on 4th & 2. Good coverage by Selwyn Jones broke up a pass into the endzone on 1st down, and a sack by Renaldo Turbull brought up 3rd & 17 from the 35. Unfortunately, Moon delivered a 19 yard pass to Reed to bring up 1st & 10 from the 16. At this point there were 15 seconds remaining, and the Vikings were out of timeouts. A Viking receiver caught a pass in the endzone, but was only able to get one foot down in bounds. An offsides penalty on the play moved the ball to the 11. On the next play, Moon dumped a short pass to Ismail, who put a move on Jones and made it into the endzone. If Jones had made the tackle, the Saints would've won the game (Ismail would've been down in-bounds, and Minnesota could not have snapped the ball in the remaining five seconds). The PAT gave the Vikings the winning margin. It's a damn shame the Saints didn't pick up a W. The good performance was encouraging, but we need actual wins insetead of moral victories. If both teams play as well as they did today next week, the Saints-Falcons game will be a good one. The good news is that we can control our own destiny for 2nd place in the NFC West if we sweep the Falcons. stats ..... receiving rushing Early: 8-69 1-2 Haynes: 6-85, TD Walls: 5-43, TD Everett: 24-36-256, 2TD, INT Bates: 2-8 14-48 Brown: 1-37 3-0 Small: 1-9 Smith: 1-5 Hughes: 1-7 Minnesota: 20 runs for 84 yards, 410 passing yards (3TD) ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu