Saints 7 Buccaneers 13 summary ^^^^^^^ The Saints got as close as FG range only once in a low-scoring loss to the Buccaneers. play-by-play ^^^^^^^^^^^^ The O looked good initially by picking up a quick 1st with a 9 yd catch by Torrance Small and a 3 yd run by Lorenzo Neal. On the next play, a fine effort by Neal turned a swing pass into a 23 yd pickup to the TB 40. However, on the subsequent play Jim Everett's quick slant-in throw was picked off at the 36. Facing 4th & 1 at the NO 43, the Buccaneers fooled the D with a play action pass to Harris for a 13 yd gain. They wound up settling for a 43 yd FG. The Saints went 3 & punt, but only because a Buc dropped a potential INT on 3rd down. A 13 yd scramble by Dilfer on 3rd & 9 put Tampa into Saint territory. They soon faced 4th & 2 at the 32, and again the home team tried to pick up the 1st. The run came up short, though (the satellite went out and I didn't get to see the play- more on this later). The Saints gained a single 1st before booting a punt, which was downed by Mercury Hayes at the 3. A good 2nd down Alstott catch for 16 yds got TB out of the hole, and the chains moved a second time via a 10 yd catch by Hawkins on 3rd & 3. Blitz pressure on 3rd down forced an incompletion and thus a punt. Holding on the return stuck the Saints at their 9. Mario Bates entered the game and immediately fumbled, but after a free-for-all the refs awarded the ball to the Saints (Neal and a Buc both had their hands on it). A 3rd down sack at the 12 produced a punt, but the special teams salvaged field position with good coverage that provoked a personal foul (Tampa Bay ended up at their 23). The second play of the ensuing possession saw Winfred Tubbs strip Alstott from behind while the FB was waiting for blockers during a screen pass. The O failed to take advantage, though, and went 3 & punt. A 35 yd run by Rhett put the home team into FG range, and Husted soon made one from 38 yds out. On the next play from scrimmage, Lusk fumbled after catching a pass, and TB recovered at the NO 24. The ball went right back to the Saints on the next play when Anthony Newman forced and recovered a fumble with 2:00 left before the half. It turns out neither team scored before intermission, but I didn't get to see exactly what happened... Being stuck in Houston (away from the friendly confines of Austin), I was powerless to stop the sports bar guy from switching the game over to Bills-Jets when the picture went out again. A bunch of Buffalo fans invaded the area, thus making a return to the oh-so-attractive Saints-Bucs matchup an unlikely event. I packed up and headed for another location that supposedly always shows all games. I made it there a little after the second half kickoff, but surprise-surprise, the game wasn't being shown. Thus, the rest of this summary comes mostly from my looking at the "gamebook" posted at the NFL's website. On the opening possession of the second half, Tampa Bay marched downfield and scored via a 17 yd TD catch by Alstott. The Saints responded with a drive that ended with a 1 yd TD catch by Tony Johnson to make the score 13-7 Bucs. After three 3 & punt series elapsed, the Saints moved to the TB 45, but back-to-back false starts killed the drive. Following another Buc 3 & punt series, Everett snuck for 2 on 4th & 1 from the TB 41. The play was wasted, though, 'cause on the next play he threw a deep ball that was easily intercepted a the NO 4 with 4:45 left to play. The team had two good chances to regain possession, but the Buccaneers converted 3rd & 8 from the 6 and 3rd & 13 from the 13. The Saints eventually got the ball back, but it was at their own 7 with only 6 seconds left on the clock. The game ended with a 41 yd stat-padding catch by Small. stats (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^ ....runnin'....../......throwin' & catchin'.... 2- 2 Jim everett 12-42 ray Zellars 4- 10 2- 5 mario Bates 3- 8 lorenzo Neal 3- 29 michael Haynes 1- 16 torrance Small 6- 85 1- 1 Mercury hayes 1- 24 hendrick Lusk 4- 30 Tony johnson 1- 1-1 incompletions 8 interceptions 3 20-58 20-31-195-1-3 yardage histogram (player marks are as in stats above- Z=Zellars, etc.) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ M B ZJN ZNN <--runs ZZZ Z ZJZZZB Z Z ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** Z T LLSZS SL L H S NM S Z S Z <--passes N N comments ^^^^^^^^ * it's time to see what Doug Nussmeier can do * this is the first game since the '94 season opener that I've missed a significant chunk of (maybe I was lucky) ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu