Saints 17 Giants 3 summary ^^^^^^^ The D held the Giants to six earned first downs and removed from Rick Venturi the title "only Saints head coach never to have won a game." play-by-play ^^^^^^^^^^^^ "New York" returned the opening kickoff to the 35 and picked up a 1st on the second play from scrimmage via a 10 yd Hampton run. When a Renaldo Turnbull offside penalty turned 3rd & 7 into 3rd & 2, I know what y'all were thinking- "Oh man, for the second season in a row we'll get blown out by the Giants on the road." Heh, heh, well isn't that cute... BUT IT'S *WRONG*! Hampton was stuffed for only a 1 yd gain, so NY punted. On the O's second play from scrimmage, Jim Everett tried once again to throw a reverse-springing block (which either indicates that he's fully recovered from his concussion, or that he's not). His effort didn't match that of the Falcons game, though, and Terry Guess lost 3 yds on the play. The Saints soon punted the ball back to the home team. Two 3 & punt series followed, with the Giants winning the field position battle by returning the Saints' kick to the NO 33. Three Hampton runs put the ball at the 20, but on the next play Anthony Newman picked off a throw at the goal line and returned the ball to the 22. Another pair of 3 & punt series were followed by an Everett interception at the NY 44. The Giants went for it on 4th & 1 from the NO 47, but Joe Johnson tackled Wheatley from behind for a 1 yd loss (and accidentally hurt the RB's ankle in the process). The O earned its first 1st of the day via a 23 yd catch by infrequent target Paul Green on 3rd & 9. Two plays later Earnest Hunter took a throw to the 4, and one play after that Lo Neal went low for a 1 yd TD. NY picked up one 1st before 3rd down pressure by Joey Jo-Jo forced an incompletion and thus a punt. The O went 3 & punt yet again, but got the ball back when a 3rd down Brown scramble came up a yard short. They responded with... another 3 & punt series. The pigskin went back to the visitors when Darren Mickell's influence caused a throw to be gathered in by Alex Molden at the NO 41. The O managed to set up a 53 yd FG attempt for Doug Brien with a few ticks left before halftime, but the try was far short. That left just enough time for Brown to get injured during a sack and be replaced with Danny, Danny, Danny Kanell. The opening possession of the second half saw the Saints get a little past midfield before sending Klaus Wilmsmeyer onto the field for the sixth time. One play later, a Greg Jackson interception (and subsequent return to the NY 1) was ruled to gave been caused by Mark McMillan pass interference (in other words, it didn't count). On the next play, Downs reeled off a 27 yd run to the NO 40. The D toughened up and produced two incompletes and a sack. NY got another chance one play later when the ball was poked free from Mario Bates' grasp and recovered at the NO 10 by Big Chad Bratzke (the guy's a sonofabitch, but ya gotta love im- what is he, 8'2", 750# ?). The D was again up to the task- 1st down was a 2 yd run, 2nd down was a forced fumble (recovered by NY), 3rd down was a incompletion caused by blitz pressure, 4th down was a 30 yd FG. Five inconsequential series passed. McMillan ended the monotony by making an interception at the NO 33. Three Bates runs later, the O had a 1st at the NY 37. Brien eventually came on and whacked one through from 51 yds out. Downs was on his way to giving the Giants a 1st down in Saint territory, but his 3rd down catch turned into a fumble that rolled to Je'Rod Cherry at the NO 37. Bates ripped off a 28 yd run on the next play, then ran into the endzone from 22 yds out four plays later. That PAT put the Saints up 17-3 with less than four minutes left on the clock. The D took care of business by producing incomplete-incomplete-sack, but Tyrone Hughes made things interesting by muffing the punt at the NO 33. No matter- the next four plays featured a 2 yd catch mixed in with three incompletes. Before long, the Saints had their first road win of the year. stats (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^ ....runnin'....../......throwin' & catchin'.... Jim everett 32-134-1 mario Bates 1- 4 4- 7-1 lorenzo Neal 2- 9 3- 24 ricky Whittle 2- 7 Earnest hunter 3- 35 michael Haynes 1- 12 torrance Small 1- 16 1- (3) terry Guess Paul green 1- 23 incompletions 9 interceptions 1 40-162-2 11-21-106-0-1 yardage histogram (player marks are as in stats above- B=Bates, etc.) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ N B B B NBW B BBN BNBBB B <--runs G BBBBBB B BBBBBBBBWBB B BW 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 <------ ***************************************************************************** W N E NWE H S EP B <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * I'm happy for Venturi- he deserved a win * it's true the Giants aren't a playoff team, but take your hats off to the defense for a job well done * we'll finish last in the NFC West (and draft ahead of Atlanta) unless we beat the Rams and the Falcons lose to the Jaguars (a far-from-impossible scenario) ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu