Saints 13 Rams 17 summary ....... The Saints failed to dig out of the hole they dug for themselves in the first half. play-by-play ............ The Rams started their first possession at the 26 and started pounding away at the Saint D. The first four plays were all runs- Bettis for 4, Russell for 18, Bettis for 12, Bettis for 4. Two penalties on the St. Louis offensive line stopped the momentum, though, and produced a punt for a touchback. The O actually got off to a quick start for once. On the first play Jim Everett hit Wesley Walls for 20 on a play action pass down the middle. It worked so well, Carl Smith decided to run it again, and the result was exactly the same- another 20 yd pickup. Ray Zellars dropped a swing pass on the next play, so it was time to go back to old faithful- Walls down the middle for 15 more yds. After two incompletes and a neutral zone violation by the Ram D, a crossing pattern to Michael Haynes left the team facing 4th & inches from the 15. Mora elected to go for the FG, which Chip Lohmiller made. Chris Miller completed his first pass of the day to Bruce to pick up the required yardage on 3rd & 8 from the 34. After an illegal procedure penalty, the Rams went back to the ground- Bettis for 7, Russell for 7, Bettis for 3, Bettis for 3. Facing 3rd & 7 from the NO 43, Miller found Bruce again, this time for 10 yds. One play later the QB hit Bruce *again*, this time for a TD (the safety was out of position on a quick slant-in). On the third play of the ensuing drive, Quinn Early made a leaping grab to gain 22 on 3rd & 5 from the NO 31. Mario Bates then supplied a 7 yd pickup on a swing pass and a 15 yd run. After yet another neutral zone violation by the Rams, Bates took the ball to the 9. The drive stalled thanks to a holding penalty on Jeff Uhlenhake. Lohmiller's 35 yd FG attempt hugged the right hashmark and went barely wide. Two drives inside the Ram 20 had netted only 3 points for the Saints. Though Russell bounced a run outside for 18 yds on the first play of the next drive, the Rams were unable to get another first. The Saints shot themselves in the foot in the ensuing drive, however, with an inexplicable delay of game penalty on 1st down. Klaus Wilmsmeyer came on to punt after Torrance Small let a 3rd down throw slip through his hands. The punt was a poor one, but a Ram holding penalty pushed the home team back to their own 44. After Bettis runs of 11 & 1 yd, Miller had all day to find Drayton at the NO 13. The Rams were unable to advance the ball and settled for a 31 yd FG. The offense had its second straight 3 & punt series when Everett underthrew an open Early on 3rd & 2 from the NO 37. A better punt and good coverage put St. Louis at their own 16. Miller rolled out back away from his moving pocket twice for gains through the air of 9 & 10. One play later the QB found Drayton for a 12 yd gain. After Kinchen helped us out by dropping a pass that would've been good for about 20, a Tyrone Legette blitz led to a 3rd down sack. One play later, Everett telegraphed a throw that Lyght returned 29 yds for a TD. The QB had been flushed out of the pocket and tried to connect with Irv Smith along the sideline, but the throw was weak and obvious. With 2:39 to go before the half, it was 17-3 Rams. The offense again failed to pick up a 1st, thanks in part to an illegal formation penalty (Richard Cooper was called for lining up too far from the line). Each team had an uneventful possession before the second quarter ended. The Saint ground game finally got going in the second half. Following an incomplete pass, Lorenzo Neal opened holes that created a 14 yd gain for Bates and a 9 yd opportunity for Derek Brown. The FB then picked up a yard on 2nd & 1 to move the sticks. Facing 3rd & 8 from midfield, Small grabbed an Everett throw and made a good move to gain the yardage needed for the 1st. The play was wasted, however, because on the next play Everett was sacked when Bates missed a block. The Saints eventually punted. A sack by Rufus Porter and a false start penalty forced the Rams to punt from their own 4. The promise of good field position was dashed when Tyrone Hughes muffed the kick at the Ram 41. Fortunately, that mishap only delayed when the offense was to get the ball, because St. Louis was unable to get a first down. The punt went for a touchback. Everett hit Haynes for 24 on the first play of the drive. One play later, he went back to the WR on a crossing pattern to gain 15 more. Neal's blocks opened big holes for Bates, who gained 14 & 12 on consecutive plays. It looked like another Ram sack would stymie the visitors again (it was for an 11 yd loss), but a scrambling Everett found Early at the 1 yd line on 3rd & 14 from the 19. On the next play the QB hit Small in the back of the endzone. With sixteen seconds left in the third quarter, the Saints were within a touchdown. A penalty against the Rams on the PAT let the Saints kickoff from the 35 yardline, and Lohmiller took advantage by booming one to the goal line. Kinchen only managed to return it to the 10. On 3rd & 1, Miller found a wide open Drayton for a 28 yd gain. Consecutive runs by Russell and Bettis then moved the ball to the NO 30. The next play saw an end-around pass by Kinchen into the endzone that was broken up at the last second by Jimmy Spencer. McLaughlin attempted a 47 yd FG but hooked it wide. The offense headed for another score when Early lept at midfield to pick up 10 on 3rd & 3 from the NO 40. On 3rd & 10, Everett fought through heavy blitz pressure to again find Early for the first down yardage. A personal foul on the Rams on that play moved the ball to the 18. Chris Port averted a near disaster on the next play when he beat a Ram to an Everett fumble. Unfortunately, the yardage lost on that play eventually forced the team to settle for a 34 yd FG. A deep kickoff and great coverage gave the Rams 1st & 10 at their own 12 with just over 6 minutes remaining. Their first play was good for 13, but they were soon facing 3rd & 7 from the 28. Legette came on a blitz and forced an incompletion, but a *terrible* roughing the passer call gave St. Louis new life (I assume they said he lowered his head, because the hit wasn't late). The Saints seemed to have the Rams stopped again after three Bettis runs yielded just under 10 yds. However, a Ram special teamer moved under center and got the 1st down off of a fake punt. A 14 yd completion one play later gave St. Louis the last 1st they needed to run out the clock. drive chart & stats (from my notes, not official) ................... (P)unt, (M)issed FG, (E)nd of period, (F)umble, (I)nterception, out of (D)owns 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 G 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 G S >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>3 2:52 Lohmiller A >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>M 4:29 I P<< :23 N >>>>P 1:25 T >I :48 S >>>>P :57 | >>>>>E :39 | ....................................................halftime | >>>>>>P 5:40 | F :01 | >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>7 5:26 Small | >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>3 5:01 Lohmiller | ....................................................gameover | 27:41 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 G 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 G R >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P 3:28 A >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>7 5:42 Bruce M >>>>>>>>>>P 1:29 S >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>3 2:37 McLaughlin | >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P 4:03 | 7 :05 Lyght | >>>>>>>>>>P 1:03 | ....................................................halftime | P<<<< 2:28 | >>P 1:09 | >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>M 4:02 | >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>E 6:13 | ....................................................gameover | 32:19 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 G 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 G .......throwin' & catchin'...../...runnin'.... Everett 1- 1 Bates 3- 19 10- 75 Brown 2- 12 2- 17 Zellars 1- 1 Neal 1- 1 Ned 1- 6 Walls 3- 55 Haynes 4- 51 Early 5- 73 Small 5- 29-1 incomplete 15 intercepted 1 24-40-246-1-1 14- 94 Rams: Bettis 20-83 notes ..... * Saint defenders are repeatedly getting sucked into plays and not maintaining outside containment * Everett's feet were happier than they've been in his previous games as a Saint * our weapons at WR, TE, and HB mean that the FB is the last choice on offense anyway, so why not use Neal instead of Zellars? (Neal's blocking is vastly superior) * we're pretty much screwed if we lose next week to the Falcons & go 0-3 in the NFC West ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu