Saints 16 Panthers 13 The Saints played well for the second time this season and won on the strength of another clutch Doug Brien performance. After the D held Carolina without a 1st during the game's opening series, the O moved past midfield, with the key plays being a 12 yd Troy Davis run and an 11 yd catch by Irv Smith. The drive stalled when a barely-in-the-pocket Billy Joe Hobert was flagged for intentional grounding after throwing away a ball while being pressured. Mark Royals' punt was fair caught at the 5. The Panthers got out of the hole by converting back-to-back 3rd & 1 situations via a 12 yd Greene catch and an 18 yd Ismail end-around. The drive continued with a 29 yd Ismail catch on 3rd & 17 to give Carolina a 1st at the NO 25. A holding penalty pushed them back before a Collins overthrow was picked by Anthony Newman and returned 17 yds to the NO 34. Ray Zellars moved the sticks by running for 14 on 3rd & 2, then one play later Andre Hastings caught a ball for 11 to give the team a 1st at the Carolina 33. On 2nd & 9, Hobert was lucky that an off-target throw wasn't intercepted. On the next play, Eric Guliford was walloped while attempting to make a catch. He suffered a concussion and did not return. Doug Brien came on and whacked a 50 yarder through the uprights. On the third play of the ensuing series, Lane coughed up the ball, and Winfred Tubbs was there to fall on it at the Panther 41. The visitors converted the turnover into points in only three plays- Randal Hill 11 yd catch, Smith 20 yd catch, Zellars 10 yd run for TD. The PAT made it 10-0 Saints with 11:28 left in the half. On the next play from scrimmage, Lane atoned for his fumble by ripping off a 50 yd run. Carolina couldn't move the chains from there, though, so Kasay booted a 44 yarder. Penalties stuck the O deep in their end and caused a 3 & punt series, but a flag on the return forced the Panthers to take possession at their 26. Lane ran for 14 on 2nd & 5, then two plays later Greene ran for 3 on 3rd & 1. A 16 yd catch by Walls gave Carolina a 1st at the NO 27, but on the next play Sammy Knight easily grabbed a way-off-target screen pass. On 3rd & 1 from the NO 37, a clever play had Hobert fake a sneak before pulling back and throwing to Hastings. Carolina saw through the ruse, but a great throw and catch produced a 28 yd gain anyway. When the drive stalled, Doug Brien knocked through a 51 yarder to make it 13-3 with 1:06 to go before halftime. Beuerlein came in to replace a concussed Collins and moved his squad near midfield before having a Hail Mary intercepted in the endzone by Knight on the half's final play. In the second half's opening possession, the O managed a single 1st before punting. Beuerlein connected with Muhammad for 14 and Walls for 10 to start the ensuing drive. Two plays later, the QB scrambled for 20 on 3rd & 5. On 3rd & inches from the NO 13, Greene ran for 4. The D refused to break, so Kasay came on to try a 26 yarder. Darren Mickell got a piece of the kick, which fell short of the crossbar. On 3rd & 10, a screen to Zellars gained 38 to the Carolina 42. After Fred McCrary came up short on 3rd & 1, Hobert attempted to sneak for the 1st. A stingy spot gave the ball back to the home team. Back-to-back catches by Muhammad and Ismail started the drive with gains of 19 & 10, respectively. On 4th & 9 from the NO 37, Beuerlein found a wide-open Ismail for a gain of 35. Lane bounced it in for the score on the next play. With 14:56 left, the lead was 3. The visitors set out to extend the margin by starting the ensuing drive with a 13 yd Hill catch and an 11 yd Zellars run. Hobert's 4th & inches sneak from the Carolina 39 was successful, and on the next play Nicky Savoie's first career catch gave the team a 1st at the 24. Unfortunately, an underthrown TD attempt was picked at the goal line on the play that followed. Beuerlein's 3rd & 4 throw fell incomplete after being tipped at the line, but Hastings (in for the injured Guliford) muffed the punt. Carolina recovered at the NO 24. The Panthers hurt themselves with a couple of false starts and ended up making a 31 yarder to tie the game with 6:18 left. Zellars was unable to gain the needed yard on 3rd down from the NO 39, so Royals kicked away. Carolina picked up a pair of 1sts before a 3rd & 3 throw from the Panther 48 was batted incomplete by Wayne Martin. The stellar special teams came through once again when Chris Hewitt penetrated and caused the punt to travel only 15 yds before going out of bounds. The O took over at their 37 with 70 seconds remaining and executed an impressive late-game drive- Zellars 8 run, incomplete screen, Zellars 12 run, time out, Hill 12 catch, Zellars 8 run, spike to stop clock with 15 ticks left. After a Hobert keeper to position the ball, Brien came on and was money from 45 yards out. Carolina's last-gasp Hail Mary fell incomplete, thus ending the Saints' 2-year-long NFC West losing streak. stats & yardage histograms (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ..runnin'....../.......throwin' & catchin'.... 4- 4 b.j. Hobert 18- 97-1 r. Zellars 3- 57 9- 38 T. davis 1- 0 f. Mccrary R. hill 4- 40 A. hastings 2- 39 I. smith 4- 39 N. savoie 1- 14 incomplete 15 intercepted 1 32-139-1 14-30-189-0-1 MT HTH Z HTHZ Z <--runs ZZTZ T Z T Z ZZTZZZTTZ ZZZ Z ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** I ZR RZRN I A Z IR I A <--passes ..runnin'....../.......throwin' & catchin'.... K. collins 2- 20 s. Beuerlein 13-113-1 F. lane 1- 8 1- 6 A. johnson E. mills 1- 3 1- 18 r. Ismail 1-29 5- 72 M. muhammad 3- 41 7- 28 S. greene 2-14 3- 20 W. walls 3-32 5- 32 incomplete 6 9 intercepted 2 1 24-185-1 7-15-83-0-2 17-27-168-0-1 S S FSF <--runs FFSF F FBSFFSFASF F I B F ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** WSE WMWW SIM W M I I I WFSI I S W S <--passes W comments ^^^^^^^^ * we'll be in good shape if Zellars can match today's performance consistently * Hobert played an Hebert-like game (I can live with that) * I don't want to think about where we'd be without Bobby April and his guys ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu