Saints 17 49ers 24 summary ^^^^^^^ The Saints put up a good fight but couldn't quite handle San Francisco. play-by-play ^^^^^^^^^^^^ The Saints received the opening kickoff and moved the chains with a pair of Ray Zellars runs and an 11 yd catch by Michael Haynes on 3rd & 3. Two plays later on 3rd & 6 Jim Everett was hit and fumbled the ball, which Ed King recovered. The special teams tackled the punt returner at the SF 13. Anthony Newman forced an incompletion on San Fran's first play by hitting Steve Young as he threw, and a 3rd & 10 scramble by the QB came up just short of the marker. The Saints regained possession at their 32. A 3rd & 4 deep ball intended for Torrance Small was thrown a bit too far inside and glanced off the WR's hands. Another good job of punt coverage put SF at their 16. The Niner offense reeled off three successful plays in a row to start a drive (Kirby 7 run, Kirby 17 run, Popson 10 catch) before Rice ran through the secondary on an end-around (it nearly went for a TD, but a clip brought the ball back to the NO 22). The visitors kicked a 35 yd FG when the drive stalled. A shovel pass to Ricky Whittle on 3rd & 7 gained 12, then on the following play Lorenzo Neal caught an 11 yd pass. Two unsuccessful runs and an incompletion followed, though, so the Saints punted for the third time. A 5 yd facemask tacked onto a Floyd run put SF at their 47, then on 3rd & 8 Young hit Popson down the middle for 22. A pair of Kirby runs gave the Niners a 1st at the NO 15, but the drive stalled when Eric Allen made a fine defense of a pass intended for Rice at the goal line. Another 35 yarder put San Francisco up 6. Tyrone Hughes returned the ensuing kickoff to the SF 45, and on the next play Haynes took a pass to the 14. The team reached the 1 with handoffs to Zellars, Neal, and Zellars again before Ray pounded it in for the TD. The PAT put the Saints a point ahead with 10:20 left in the half. Young converted a 3rd & 15 situation with a 17 yd throw to Owens, then a Kirby swing pass and a Floyd run moved the chains a second time and put SF into Saint territory. After a Kirby run put the ball at the 36, a secondary screwup allowed Rice to run wide open and catch an easy TD. Young ran in the two-point conversion to make the deficit 7 points. At this point Renaldo Turnbull started to take off his jersey while leaving the field. Wayne Martin ran after him, and eventually they returned to the sideline. Turnbull later claimed he was making a bathroom run (perhaps he likes to be "unencumbered" a la George Costanza) but it seems more likely that he was upset about the heat he received for missing an assignment on Young's conversion. On the field, the O gained one 1st via a pair of Zellars 5 yd runs then got another when SF committed pass interference. The next play saw Everett miss an open Haynes on a deep throw, and on 3rd & 10 Lee DeRamus' catch was a yard short of the marker. On the following series, sacks by Willie Broughton and Brady Smith pushed San Fran back to their 14 and allowed the Saints to take over at the NO 44 with 1:45 left before halftime. A 7 yd catch by DeRamus on 3rd & 5 pushed the ball into Niner territory, but one play later the WR dropped an easy one that would've put the team into FG range. A 3rd down sack ended the scoring threat. A personal foul by Don Davis on the second half kickoff pushed SF from their 14 to the 29. From there, the visitors started to march- Floyd 11 run, incompletion, Kirby 7 run, Loville 5 run, Kirby 4 run, Kirby 9 catch. A 6 yd run by Lynn on the following play put Frisco inside the NO 30, but a fired-up Turnbull induced a pair of false starts and a holding penalty. The Niner special teams were also penalized twice- on the first punt attempt they held and on the second one they ran into Hughes while he tried to fair catch the ball. The O couldn't do anything with the ball (a pair of Zellars 2 yd runs and an incompletion) and booted it back to SF. Joe Johnson tackled Kirby behind the line on both 1st and 2nd down, then on 3rd he recoverd a QB fumble forced by Turnbull at the SF 19. However, the refs (very incorrectly) ruled that Young was "in the grasp" and thus disallowed the turnover. The Saints rook over at their 45 after the punt. A Zellars run put the team near midfield, but on the next play Bryant Young blew through the line and sacked Everett for an 11 yd loss. On the following play Everett threw an INT, which was returned to the NO 30. The Forty Niners eventually kicked a 27 yd FG to go up 17-7. On 3rd & 7 from the NO 26, Small took a quick slant for 21 yds. One play later Whittle fumbled while making a second effort for yards, but luckily the ball somehow found the sideline before a Niner gained possession of it. On the following play, a pretty well-covered Haynes made a nice adjustment to the ball, caught it one-handed, and got into the endzone for a 51 yd TD. The PAT made it a 3 point ballgame with 13:48 left. The momentum died when Carter returned the ensuing kickoff to the NO 21 (the players seemed to slow down when it appeared that he would be tackled; Hughes eventually caught him from behind). A Kirby catch put the ball at the 10, then on 3rd down Rice's 1000th career catch ended up a half-yard short of the goal line. Young snuck it in on 4th for the TD. A 6 yd Zellars screen and a 5 yd run by the back gave the Saints a 1st at their 40, but on the next play Hanks sped to the sideline and grabbed a deep throw at the SF 27. The D responded by stuffing Kirby on 2nd & 1 and 3rd & 1. The O regained possession at the 16 with 7:31 remaining. A 9 yd catch by Paul Green and a 3 yd Zellars run moved the sticks before Everett and Small failed to connect on what would've been a 15-20 yd gain. On the following play (a 9 yd catch by Hendrick Lusk), Andy McCollum bowled into William's Roaf right knee, causing it to buckle inwards (the LT stayed down for a while before being helped off the field). A 1 yd Neal run moved the chains, then on the next play Haynes caught a ball for 13. On 4th & 5 from the SF 44, a heavily-pressured Everett threw a jump ball that Small nabbed and took just past the marker. One play later Lusk caught a 12 yd ball. Following a hold, Haynes caught a ball at the 21 and stepped out of bounds, but his forward progress was ruled to have been stopped (iffy), so the clock continued to run. After Everett survivied a dropped INT, Doug Brien kicked a 37 yarder with 2:16 left. Rice recovered the onside kick at the NO 43, but on 3rd & 2 Smith stuffed Young on a bootleg attempt. San Fran eschewed a 52 yd FG attempt and punted into the endzone. The team attempted to travel 80 yds in 60 seconds (with no timeouts), but couldn't do it (on 4th & 10 from the NO 36 Everett was hit and fumbled, and SF recovered). stats (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^ ....runnin'....../......throwin' & catchin'.... jim Everett 20-50-1 ray Zellars 1- 6 2- 3 ricky Whittle 2- 16 3- 6 Derek brown 1- 4 3- 4 lorenzo Neal 1- 11 michael Haynes 5-122-1 torrance Small 4- 44 lee deRamus 2- 18 paul Green 1- 9 hendrick Lusk 3- 30 incompletions 18 interceptions 2 28-63-1 20-40-260-1-2 yardage histogram (player marks are as in stats above- Z=Zellars, etc.) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ D N ND Z WW ZZ ZZDZZ <--runs ZN ZZZZZ ZZ ZZZZZ ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** WSSR L HSH H S H H D Z L RL G NW <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * the Niners really bottled up our ground game * not getting that fumble was a big blow * let's hope that Roaf is OK- his health is much more important than the outcome of the game ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu