Saints 17 Falcons 23 Ten Atlanta sacks made the difference in a game flush with points scored after turnovers. After Doug Brien's game-opening kickoff went for a touchback, Atlanta started pounding away on the ground- Anderson 4, Hanspard 7, Anderson 9, Anderson 9. A 3 yd Hanspard catch on 3rd & 2 moved the sticks and put the Falcons at the NO 40. The D repelled the threat with sacks on 2nd and 3rd down. Stryzinski's punt went out-of-bounds at the 7, so the visitors were well prepared to take advantage of the subsequent 3 & punt series- the Falcons regained possession at the NO 45. A 12 yd Emanuel reception was followed by six consecutive runs that advanced the ball to the 8. The D stiffened, so Morten knocked in a 25 yarder. On the next play from scrimmage, Heath Shuler and Ray Zellars failed to connect on the handoff, and Atlanta recovered at the 12 (thus causing Ditka to utter a "Serenity Now!" that was audible in Westwego). One play later Emanuel caught a 9 yd TD throw. What followed was the only drive of the entire game that netted more than 40 yds. The team started by going to the backs- Zellars screen 9, Bates run 3, Zellars screen 6, Zellars run 9. On 3rd & 11 Shuler did well to escape heavy pressure and lob one down the sideline to Andre Hastings for a gain of 38. Bates picked up the 1st on 4th & 1 from the Falcon 7, but the team wound up settling for a 35 yd FG after a 3rd down sack. Atlanta went 3 & punt but got the ball back quickly via an interception at the NO 27 caused by miscommunication between Shuler and Randal Hill. Green took a 3rd & 11 throw to the 2, but again the D allowed only a FG (Andersen hit from 32 with 2:15 left in the half). The teams squeezed in three 3 & punt series before the Falcons took possession of the ball at their 44 with 7 seconds to go before halftime. It appeared as though Mathis' catch at the NO 38 would end the period, but (after the teams headed for the locker rooms) the officials ruled that the Falcons had indeed called timeout before time expired. Andersen crushed a 55 yarder to put Atlanta up 16-3. Newly-appointed first-string QB Danny Wuerffel had a rough series to start the second half- on 1st he handed to Bates for no gain, on 2nd he was sacked, on 3rd he was hit and fumbled. The Falcons recovered at the 6 and scored one play later on a 2 yd Anderson run. Wuerffel's second series went a little better- he moved the team to the Atlanta 45 with a sweet fake-screen to John Farquhar that gained 19. The possession ended a little better than the previous one- this time Wuerffel recovered the ball after fumbling during a 3rd down sack. Following an Atlanta punt, the Saints had an even more successful possession- Wuerffel was sacked on 3rd down and didn't fumble. The D turned up the pressure a notch and produced a 1st down sack, a 2nd down incompletion, and a fumble during a 3rd down screen (the Saints recovered at the Atlanta 30). Bates ran a true halfback option on 1st (he eschewed a pass and opted to run for 16). On the next play Hastings caught Wuerffel's wobbler in the endzone. On the ensuing kickoff, Wes Bender forced a fumble that was recovered by Brett Bech at the 20. On 2nd & 10 Bates took a dump pass to the 6, then on 4th & goal from the 1 he twisted in for the score. With 11:30 remaining, the Saints were down by 6. Brien's out-of-bounds kickoff gave the Falcons the ball at the 40. They squandered the field position with back-to-back false starts before regaining the yards with a 19 yd Emanuel catch and a 3 yd Anderson run. Mark Fields' 3rd down sack forced a punt. A 4 yd Bates run and a pass interference penalty moved the sticks before DW found a wide-open Hastings for 32. On 3rd & 5 from the Falcon 36, Atlanta again registered a sack. The D allowed a single 1st before getting the ball back to the O by forcing a punt. Taking over at the NO 33 with 2:01 and zero timeouts remaining, the team quickly iced the loss by going bat-at-line incompletion, sack, sack, interception. stats (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^ ..runnin'....../................throwin' & catchin'........................ 2- 9 heath Shuler 2- 6 Danny wuerffel 15-31-1 mario Bates 1- 14 4-18 ray Zellars 2-15 2-15 Troy davis 2- 1 1- 1 Wes bender 1- 0 Andre hastings 1-38 3- 58-1 Randal hill 1- 8 john Farquhar 4- 40 incomplete 3 3 intercepted 1 1 27-80-1 5-9-54-0-1 9-13-120-1-1 yardage histogram ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (players identified by capital letters as in stats above- B=Bates, etc.) DS AW ZZ <--runs BBBZBB SZ B B BBBBBB DTTB B ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** T TF Z FZA B A F A A R F <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * the D was very good; the offensive line was very bad * we've lost 12 consecutive NFC West games * now it's time to see what Danny O'Danny can do ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu