Saints 15 Falcons 31 summary ^^^^^^^ The Saints "won" the so-called Peyton Manning Bowl by losing to the Falcons. play-by-play ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Wayne Martin put the Falcons in a 3rd & 16 hole by knocking the ball loose from Hebert's grasp on the second play from scrimmage (Atlanta recovered). The visitors picked up the 1st anyway with an 18 yd run by Anderson that featured many missed tackles. Two plays later, Metcalf bobbled a throw into the hands of Greg Jackson, so the Saints took over at the Atlanta 45. Doug Nussmeier hit Tony Johnson for 12 on the O's first play. A holding call negated a 13 yd Mario Bates run, but the RB picked up 17 on his next attempt. A 5 yd catch by Lorenzo Neal moved the sticks, but the team failed to get another 1st. Doug Brien opened the scoring by kicking a 34 yarder. The Falcs quickly moved into Saint territory with a 14 yd catch by Birden and a 25 yd gain on a shovel pass to Heyward. One play later Birden caught a ball for 16, and Lyons soon caught a 3 yd TD. Nuss nearly duplicated his Rams game deep heave, but Lee DeRamus was ruled to have been bobbling the floater on his way out of bounds. Bates rambled for a 13 yd gain, but the team couldn't move the chains again. Hebert put his team at midfield with a 24 yd completion to Birden on 3rd & 2, but on the next play Darren Mickell beat his man and stripped the QB. Martin recovered at the Falcon 41. The O couldn't capitalize, though. The line of scrimmage moved back to the 50 before Klaus Wilmsmeyer's punt was fair-caught at the 19. Atlanta soon booted the ball back to the Saints. Tyrone Hughes had a good bit of room to run with the punt, but he inexplicably called for a fair catch at the NO 36. Bates continued his strong performance with an 11 yd run, but on the next play a pass that hit Terry Guess in the hands was caught by a Falcon. The ball came back to the Saints three plays later when Mickell deflected a pass into the arms of Winfred Tubbs. Three Bates runs were good for a 1st before the drive stalled. Brien's 41 yd FG attempt was blocked. The Falcons regained possession with 2:16 to go before halftime and quickly reached the edge of FG range when Hughes lost track of Mathis (the play gained 28 yds). Hebert hit Emanuel for 5 on 3rd & 3, then one play later Anderson ran to the 10. One play after that Metcalf caught a 4 yd TD. The ensuing kickoff was a squib, so the O took over at the NO 42 with 25 seconds left before halftime. DeRamus dropped a 3rd down throw, and the half ended with a punt. The team's hopes for a comeback were dealt a serious blow when Mario Bates fumbled at the NO 24 on the second half's second play from scrimmage. Heyward powered it in from the inch line three plays later. A defensive holding call bailed the team out on 3rd & 12 from the 13 before Torrance Small made a fine catch for 13 on 3rd & 10 a couple of plays later. A roughing-the-passer call on that play put the ball at the NO 46, but the team couldn't get the ball past midfield. Three 3 & punt series followed, with the only excitement being a punt muff by Metcalf that was recovered by Atlanta. The O took the field at the NO 43 with 2:33 left in the third quarter and went back to basics- Guess ran downfield a fast as he could, and Nuss threw the ball to him. The play was good for a 57 yd TD. A sack ended the team's try for two. The Falcons had to punt after being flagged for a pick play and committing a false start. Guess returned the kick from the 30 to the 36 (he didn't have much to work with). Being down 12 with 14:43 left to go, the team still had a chance. It soon vaporized, thanks to a 3 & punt series and a 34 yd run by Heyward on the Falcs' next play. A shovel pass to Ironhead put the ball at the 4, and Emanuel caught a 3 yd TD one play later. A holding call on the ensuing kickoff put the Saints at the 10, and the team went backwards from there due to penalties and a Nussmeier fumble. The line of scrimmage was inside the 1 when Wilmsmeyer punted. Metcalf returned the kick from the 50 to the 12, and Morten eventually came on to kick a 33 yd FG. Nuss managed to lead a drive that ended with a 4 yd Bates TD with 2:05 left. The two-point try failed when the intended receiver failed to run a fade route. Atlanta recovered the second onside kick (the first one went out of bounds; the Saints had a shot at it) and ran out the clock. stats (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^ ....runnin'....../......throwin' & catchin'.... Doug nussmeier 14-74-1 mario Bates 2- 4 lorenzo Neal 6- 19 4- 7 ricky Whittle 4- 24 2- 6 Ernest hunter 1- 9 lee deRamus 3- 27 1-(1) terry Guess 1- 57-1 torrance Small 1- 13 Tony johnson 1- 12 hendrick Lusk 1- 4 incompletions 13 interceptions 1 21-86-1 20-34-169-1-1 yardage histogram (player marks are as in stats above- B=Bates, etc.) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ W G WE B <--runs WW BEB B BBBBBB B B B B ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** NN NNN RNE TS R G BW WR W LW <--passes B comments ^^^^^^^^ * there's still not enough info to judge Nussmeier one way or the other * for the record, Earnest Hunter also threw a pass (an incompletion that should've been intercepted) * Mario Bates rushing this season vs. the Falcons- 18-107-1 (6 yds per carry) Mario Bates rushing this season vs. everyone else- 93-281-1 (3 yds per carry) * if Peyton Manning is drafted by Atlanta, I'll be very upset ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu