Saints 15 Falcons 17 summary ^^^^^^^ The Falcons went scoreless in the second half but still beat the Saints by 2. play-by-play ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Tyrone Hughes gave the team good field position by returning the opening kickoff to the NO 39, but on the third play from scrimmage Jim Everett threw off his back foot and was intercepted at the NO 41. The Falcons failed to gain a 1st, though, and Morten's 55 yd attempt hooked wide. The ball went right back to Atlanta on the next play when Zellars fumbled while taking a handoff. A run by Anderson gained 5 and a rare non-goal line tackle-eligible pass picked up 13 before a holding call pushed the home team back. Metcalf caught a 10 yd ball to move the sticks on 3rd & 7, then took in an 8 yd TD throw on 3rd & 7. Everett hit Torrance Small for 6 on 3rd & 2, but a few plays later on 3rd & 14 the QB threw another back-foot INT. The Falcons picked up a couple of 1sts before Andersen made a 38 yarder. A holding call on the ensuing kickoff forced the O to start at the 9, and a fourth turnover in as many possessions was narrowly averted when a 3rd & 1 Zellars fumble was waved off- his forward progress (zero yds) was ruled to have been stopped. It appeared that Atlanta would have a short distance to go for another score, but a penalty on the punt return, a Darren Mickell sack, and a holding call brought up 2nd & 30 from the 18. The Falcons picked up the 1st anyway, via a 15 yd Heyward run and an 18 yd Metcalf catch. A pair of runs by Ironhead gained 6 & 9 to put the ball at the NO 34, but on the following play a pass was deflected to Alex Molden, and the rookie made the interception. The O finally got untracked with a 6 yd catch by Michael Haynes on 3rd & 4 followed by a 14 yd catch by Small. Mercury Hayes caught a 17 yd ball on 3rd & 11 (his first NFL reception), but not before Jim Dombrowski left the game with a fractured right ankle. Doug Brien made a 42 yd FG when the drive stalled. The Falcons took possession of the ball at their 22 with a little more than 3 minutes left in the half and moved it through the air- incompletion, Heyward 22 shovel pass, Anderson 4 screen, Emanuel 17 screen, Mathis 5 catch, Emanuel 12 catch, Emanuel -1 screen, Emanuel 9 catch. On 3rd & 1 from the NO 9, Anderson ran for 4. On the following play, Hebert evaded Joe Johnson and hit Mathis for the score with :16 remaining before halftime. On the second half's first play from scrimmage, Emanuel caught an 18 yd throw. On 3rd & 2 from the NO 46, Metcalf picked up 11 on a catch. The drive soon stalled, though, and Andersen's 52 yd attempt was barely wide. The Saints moved into the red zone in two plays with a 17 yd catch by Tony Johnson and a 24 yd catch by Small. When the drive stalled, Brien made a 37 yarder to make the score 17-6. The ensuing kickoff was returned to the Atlanta 40. A hands-to-the-face call on Mickell moved the sticks on 3rd & 8, then Mathis caught a 6 yd ball on 3rd & 4. Morten was called upon to try a 52 yarder, but the Great Dane amazingly missed for the third time. The next play saw Haynes drop a throw that would've gained about 40 yds. A Johnson catch moved the sticks, but a sack and a delay-of-game call put the team into a 2nd & 24 hole from which they couldn't escape. The Falcons then went 3 & punt, and the O took over at the NO 40. Following an incompletion, forgotten man Mario Bates ran twice in a row for 9 & 8. The next play saw Neal take a swing pass 15 yds, and the play after that was a 9 yd catch by Haynes. On the following play, Everett beat the blitz by tossing a short one to Neal, and the FB ran 19 yds into the endzone. A reverse to Small failed to make the team's 2-point conversion attempt a successful one, so it remained a 5-point game. Atlanta managed only one 1st on the next drive, so (despite having played rather poorly) the Saints had possession of the ball and were less than a TD down with 8:49 left. Neal gained the needed yardage on 3rd & 2, then Bates ran for 18 on 2nd & 8. On the next play Haynes made a great catch to set up 1st & 10 at the 17. Rather than go for it on 4th & 6 from the 13, coach Venturi let Brien make a 30 yarder with less than 3 minutes remaining. After the visitors used their final two timeouts, Atlanta faced 3rd & 4 from their 17 with 2:11 remaining. A stop would've given the O possession of the ball and decent field position with just under 2 minutes left, but Emanuel caught a 5 yd throw. The game should've been over at this point, but the Falcs caused the clock to stop after 2nd down by lining up in an illegal formation while trying to kneel out the clock. Atlanta's punt was very close to being blocked, but instead it went to the NO 41. Haynes caught a ball at the Falcon 39, but the WR couldn't get out of bounds and time expired. stats (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^ ....runnin'....../......throwin' & catchin'.... jim everett 9-(3) ray Zellars 4-37 mario Bates Earnest hunter 1- 5 1- 0 lorenzo Neal 7- 44-1 michael Haynes 6- 79 torrance Small 4- 51 Mercury hayes 1- 17 Tony johnson 4- 48 incompletions 8 interceptions 2 14-34 23-33-244-1-2 yardage histogram (player marks are as in stats above- Z=Zellars, etc.) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Z <--runs ZNZ ZZZZZBZ BB B ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** N N NNHHHH T SN M NH S H NSS T T ET <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * for the first time this season, Lusk didn't catch a pass- even though Irv Smith and Paul Green are hurt, it looks like Tony Johnson is ahead of Hendrick on the depth chart * normally I'd be a nervous wreck in the fourth quarter of a close game vs. the Falcons, but this one barely held my interest ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu