Saints 11 49ers 27 summary ^^^^^^^ The Forty Niners thoroughly outplayed the Saints in the season opener. play-by-play ^^^^^^^^^^^^ The D held San Fran without a 1st on the opening series, but a personal foul on the punt return put the ball back at the 15. After the O failed to gain a yard, a bad bounce of a weak Klaus Wilmsmeyer punt gave the Niners possession at the NO 38. A 10 yd Rice catch, a 9 yd Young run, and a 4 yd Loville run quickly put the home team at the NO 15. A Renaldo Turnbull sack was good for a five yard loss, but on the next play Young hit Rice at the 3. An incompletion, a false start, and two Loville runs set up a 4th down inches short of the goal line. Vardell plunged in for the TD. A pair of Mario Bates runs moved the sticks, but the team couldn't manage another first. The special teamers downed the punt at the 5, but Hendrick Lusk had run downfield early. The rekick gave SF the ball at the 30. Young ran for 21 on 3rd & 6, then handed to Loville for 11 one play later. A crackback block moved Frisco back 15, but on 3rd & 16 Young connected with Rice to put the ball all the way to the NO 2. Rice scored on an end-around on the next play. Mark Fields was flagged for a late hit on the TD play, but the 49ers didn't take advantage of the advanced kickoff site (the ball went for a touchback). Jim Everett hit Paul Green for a 16 yd gain, but the O failed the move the chains a second time. San Fran went back to work, with Young hitting Stokes for 16 on the first play of the drive. One play later he went to Singleton for 8 and a 1st. On 3rd & 9 he threw to Rice for a 12 yd gain. Another out-of-bounds hit by Fields moved SF inside the Saint 20. When the drive stalled, Wilkins hit a 29 yarder to make the score 17-0 with 9:06 left before halftime. Once again the O failed to gain a 1st, and once again an ineligible man downfield wiped out a good job of punt coverage. The second punt was returned to the NO 47. The Forty Niners scored in six plays- Vardell 15 catch, Stokes 13 catch, Loville 4 run, Vardell 4 run, Vardell 7 catch, Loville 4 run for TD. A pass interference call and a 15 yd catch by Irv Smith led the Saints near to Niner territory, but the O never got there- on 3rd & 6 from midfield Everett was picked off. The interception was returned to the NO 44, but a subsequent offensive interference penalty and a sack kept the homeys out of FG range. The halftime score was 24-0 San Francisco. Tyrone Hughes provided a spark by returning the second half kickoff to the SF 46, but once again the O didn't get a 1st. Wilmsmeyer's punt went through J.J. McCleskey's hands and into the endzone. After the D held SF without a 1st, Everett converted three 3rd & longs in a row- to Michael Haynes for 9, to Haywood Jeffires for 12, and to Torrance Small for 18. He couldn't convert a fourth, however, so Doug Brien put the Saints on the scoreboard with a 35 yarder. The 49ers returned the ensuing kickoff to their 43, then Stokes caught a ball for 12 on the first play from scrimmage. After failing to get another 1st, they put the visitors in a hole by downing a punt at the 3. Three series passed without a 1st being earned. San Fran then penetrated to the NO 6 before settling for a 30 yd FG. A Small end-around and a Lusk catch were good for 22 & 23 yds, then one play later a pass interference call gave the O a 1st at the SF 25. On 3rd & 9 Everett hit Jeffires for 12, then one play later went back to the WR for a 3 yd TD. Wilmsmeyer ran in the conversion for two points (it appeared to be a designed play). With 8:39 left, it was 27-11 Niners. San Francisco ran about 5 minutes off the clock before sticking the visitors at their own 4. The O picked up one 1st before booting the ball back. SF went 3 & punt, then on a 3rd & 7 play Jeffires fumbled after making a catch. Frisco kneeled away the final 1:47. stats (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^ ....runnin'....../......throwin' & catchin'.... jim Everett 14- 31 mario Bates 2- 6 Derek brown 1- 5 michael Haynes 3- 24 1- 22 torrance Small 4- 42 haywood Jeffires 4- 34-1 Irv smith 1- 15 paul Green 1- 16 hendrick Lusk 2- 27 incompletions 24 interceptions 1 17- 59 16-41-163-1-1 yardage histogram (player marks are as in stats above- B=Bates, etc.) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ D B D B B <--runs BB B BBBBBB BB S ********************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ********************************************************************** SJLD HHH J IG S L S J S J <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * It's not really worthwhile trying to squeeze some positives out of this one. Fortunately, close losses and blowouts count the same in the "L" column. Let's just put it behind us and start fresh next week. ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu