Saints 9 Giants 14 The headlines read "Saints Might Beat Giants" but everything right was wrong again in a disappointing loss. Things began slowly, with each team going 3 & punt to start the game. The Giants then took possession at the NO 35 following an interception of a pass Andre Hastings should've caught, but all that resulted was a barely-wide 46 yd FG attempt. Again the O failed to move the sticks, and again NY got good field position (the punt was returned to the NO 32). This time the home team took advantage right away- on 1st down Alexander flew down the sideline and caught a well-thrown ball for a TD. The offense got going when Hastings made a nice run-after-catch for a 25 yd gain on 2nd & 8. On the next play John Farquhar caught one for 13, and one play later Heath Shuler scrambled to find Randal Hill for 16. The drive stalled, so with :39 left in the first quarter Doug Brien made a 36 yarder. NY made it to midfield during the next possession, but good 3rd down coverage by Sammy Knight (starting in place of Vashone Adams) forced a punt. Likewise, the Saints neared midfield before booting the ball away. The Giants started their push downfield with a pair of 3rd down catches by Barber, then made it into the red zone with back-to-back receptions by Alexander and Way. On 3rd & 6 from the 14, Brown took advantage of a corner blitz to hit Calloway for an easy TD. A good kick return by Guliford put the ball at the NO 42, and from there the O gained big chunks on consecutive plays- Mario Bates 10 run, Farquhar 20 catch, Hastings 11 catch. Again the drive stalled, so Brien made one from 32 yds out at the 2-minute warning. The second half crawled into existence with a total of 7 earned 1st downs in the first seven series. Both teams missed opportunities during that span- Shuler fumbled away a snap after Bates converted a 4th & 1 at the NY 47; on 3rd & 10 from the NO 36 a well-setup screen to Barber failed when the RB fell down before the ball arrived; following a Knight interception, Shuler threw incomplete on 4th & 5 from the NY 27. A 3rd & 2 incompletion from midfield allowed the Saints to take over at their 29 with 12:48 remaining. The O made it inside the NY 30 in 3 plays- Farquhar 26 catch, Bates 9 run, Bates 7 run. A holding call slowed the drive, so Brien was called upon to kick from 39 yds out. The successful try reduced the deficit to 5. The Giants penetrated Saints territory with an 8 yd dump pass to Way on 3rd & 4 and a pass interference call on Eric Allen. On 3rd & 6 from the NO 40, the Saints' game-long corner blitz strategy finally paid off, with Alex Molden jarring the ball free from Brown's grasp. Darren Mickell's recovery put the ball at the NY 35. The team reached the 24 before a 2 yd Bates loss, a sack, and an incompletion brought up 4th & 21 with a little under 4 minutes remaining. Ditka elected to punt, and things turned out pretty well- the ball was downed at the 3. Unfortunately, the D couldn't come up with the needed stop- Wheatley got NY out of the hole on 1st down with an 18 yd run, and the Giants picked up two more 1sts on the ground to run out the clock. stats (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^ ..runnin'....../.....throwin' & catchin'........................ 2- 3 heath Shuler 18-64 mario Bates 2- 6 1- 0 Troy davis 3- 6 ray Zellars 2- 12 Andre hastings 2- 36 Randal hill 3- 25 Eric guliford 2- 26 brett beCh 1- 14 john Farquhar 4- 82 incomplete 14 intercepted 1 24-73 16-31-201-0-1 yardage histogram ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (players identified by capital letters as in stats above- B=Bates, etc.) S Z BZ S BB Z <--runs B T BB B BB ZBBB BBB BBB ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** RB B Z R A FC RE F F AF E <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * Hobbs was suspended for the game due to an incident at practice; Bech was elevated from the practice squad to become the fourth WR (Hayes was released to make room for him) * Naeole had his left leg rolled-up upon in a manner that would tend to aggravate the medial ligament he injured in training camp; that he was able to walk off the field is a good sign * I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that guys like Knight and Farquhar figure to be major contributors this season ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu