Saints 35 Lions 17 Both Mario Bates and Heath Shuler ran and threw for touchdowns in a relief-inducing turnover-free stomping of the Lions. The game began with somebody doing something stupid, but (for once) the somebody wasn't a Saint- Glyn Milburn tried to catch the opening kickoff as it flew out-of-bounds at the 4. A 15 yd Herman Moore catch got the Lions out of the hole, but the D didn't yield a second 1st. Eric Guliford returned the punt to the NO 49. Mario Bates gave a taste of things to come by running the ball on the first four plays for a total of 18 yds. After a Heath Shuler scramble set up 3rd & 2, Bates moved the sticks with a 6 yd carry. Unfortunately, a Troy Davis run for -2 and a delay-of-game penalty backed the team into a 50 yd FG attempt, which Doug Brien pushed wide. After good Alex Molden coverage created an incompletion on 1st down, Detroit decided to give the ball to Barry Sanders (a good decision- he ran three times in a row for 21 yds). The Lions went back to the air on the next play and paid the price- Eric Allen intercepted a Scott Mitchell overthrow and ran to the NO 45. The resulting possession was doomed from the start by a 1st down holding call on Mike Verstegen during a screen play. The visitors regained possession at their 19 and moved downfield quickly- two Sanders runs gained 16 yds and set the stage for completions to Metzelaars, Moore, and Chryplewicz that put the ball into Saints territory. The pass-happy Lions pressed their luck again, and again Allen made them pay- his deflection went to Anthony Newman for an INT at the 34. At this point the O seemed to grasp the "convert turnovers into points" concept (after having witnessed numerous demonstrations in previous weeks). Shuler's first completion went down the seam to recent roster addition John Farquhar for a 23 yd pickup. Two plays later Shuler hit Guliford for 17 on 3rd & 6. The next play was a halfback option, during which Bates threw a shaky ball that Andre Hastings managed to snag while crossing the goal line. The 22 yd TD catch put the Saints on the board with 13:38 left in the half. Sanders moved the sticks once before the Lions punted the ball back to the Saints. On the first play of the ensuing possession, good blocking allowed Bates to burst cleanly through the line, and (in a pleasant surprise) he outran the pursuit to complete a 74 yd TD. Rob Kelly was called for unnecessary roughness during the kickoff, so the Lions took over at their 41. A Vardell run and a Moore catch moved them into Saints territory, but one play later a personal foul moved them back to the other side of the 50. On 3rd down, Wayne Martin snagged Mitchell with one hand before popping the ball free. The Saints recovered at the NO 49. Shuler hit Hastings for 18 on 1st down, then went back to him for 10 on 3rd & 4. The Saints experienced some deserved luck on the next play when Shuler recovered his own fumble while being sacked. One play later, good protection allowed the QB to casually loft a 20 yd TD throw to Daryl Hobbs. The Saints were up 21-0 with 4:27 to go before halftime. The Lions moved from the 34 to the NO 31 via Sanders runs and Moore catches. A Morton reception put the ball at the 17, and one play later Barry made one of his trademark runs after catching a screen pass- he wove his way from one sideline to the other en route to a score. The PAT reduced the lead to 14 with :59 left. Satisfied with the two-TD margin, the O executed a pair of half-hearted runs before heading into the locker room. A Ray Zellars screen gained 13 on the second half's first play from scrimmage. The O then moved from the NO 49 to the Detroit 9 in six plays via Bates runs and Randal Hill catches- Bates 3, Hill 11, Bates 8, Hill 5, Hill 9, Bates 6. Penetration into the backfield caused a 9 yd loss on the next play, but Guliford's fingertip grab of a slant-in on 2nd down brought up 3rd & goal at the 5. Danny Abramowicz made a good call by clearing the backfield to allow Shuler to score on a QB draw. The extra point restored the 21-point lead. Detroit returned the kickoff to the 47 but couldn't take advantage of the field position- on 3rd & 11 from the NO 38 Mitchell was sacked. A foolish holding penalty during a fair catch put the Saints at the 7. Though the O couldn't move the ball, Mark Royals bailed 'em out by booming a punt to the Lion 35. Detroit dodged a couple of bullets (Richard Harvey's strip of Sanders was recovered by Vardell; Newman dropped an INT in the endzone) before connecting on a 47 yd FG on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Saints iced the game with an 80-yd TD drive that lasted over nine minutes. Highlights included a catch by Guliford for just enough yardage on 3rd & 7, a twisting catch by Hastings at midfield, a pair of 3rd down conversions by Bates, and an 11 yd catch by Hill on 3rd & 10. Bates administered the back-breaker with a 2 yd plunge. In the final 5:47, Detroit scored a garbage-time TD, Brien pushed a 48 yarder wide, and Newman intercepted Mitchell in the endzone. stats (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^ ..runnin'......./.....throwin' & catchin'........................ 2- 7-1 heath Shuler 29-161-2 mario Bates 4- 4 Troy davis ray Zellars 2- 27 Andre hastings 4- 52 1-22-1 Randal hill 4- 36 Eric guliford 3- 42 darYl hobbs 1- 20-1 john Farquhar 1- 23 incomplete 6 0 intercepted 0 0 35-172-3 15-21-200-1-0 1-1-22-1-0 yardage histogram ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (players identified by capital letters as in stats above- B=Bates, etc.) T B B B B B B B B B SB SB <--runs TTB BB BB (74) B BBBBBBTBB BB B ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** A R E RAR ZZ EA YAAF R E <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * bravo to Bates, Shuler, Roaf, Molden, and pretty much everybody else * the next three games are all quite winnable; let's see if we can exhibit some consistency ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu