Saints 9 Buccaneers 3 The Saints won an ugly defensive struggle against an underachieving Tampa Bay squad. With Lamar Smith unable to play due to an ankle injury, Coach Ditka bypassed in-the-doghouse Ray Zellars and gave the ball to Troy Davis on the game's first three plays from scrimmage. The runs netted 8 yds, and Mark Royals' punt was returned to the NO 25. Emanuel caught a deflected ball to gain 9 and move the sticks on 3rd & 5 from the 20, but a play later Hape fumbled after making a catch inside the 10; Sammy Knight recovered the ball. On 3rd & 1 from the NO 15, Davis ran for 14 and drew a 15 yd facemask penalty. An 11 yd throw to Aaron Craver put the ball across midfield, but the team couldn't manage another 1st. Royals' punt went out-of-bounds at the 5. The Bucs moved out to the 26 before punting; the Saints went 3 & punt. On the first play of the second quarter, Knight played center field to notch an easy interception at the NO 17; he returned the ball to the 43. A roll-out to Cam Cleeland gained 14 and put the ball into Tampa territory; one play later Billy Joe Tolliver threw to Davis for 10. Doug Brien opened the scoring with a 46 yarder with 10:22 left before halftime. The remainder of the second quarter was pretty boring- neither team mounted a scoring threat. The visitors returned the second half kickoff to the TB 40. A pair of runs by Dunn gained 4 & 17; Husted tied the score with a 52 yd FG. The Saints came right back on the next two plays from scrimmage- Tolliver hit Cleeland for 19 and Keith Poole for 26. Brien restored the 3 point lead with a 50 yd field goal. The Buccaneers went 3 & punt in the ensuing series, but the Saints' next play was a botched handoff to Davis; Tampa took over at the NO 20. The Saints dodged the bullet- on 3rd & 4, "incomplete" was the call when Emanuel scooped a throw off the turf in the endzone; Husted missed from 32 yds. Back-to-back intentional grounding and a false start hamstrung the ensuing possession; Royals punted out-of-bounds to the TB 40. On the final play of the third quarter, Dilfer hit Anthony for a 24 yd gain to put the ball at the NO 25. Once again, Tampa couldn't convert- Dunn ran for no gain on 1st; Kevin Mitchell registered a sack on 2nd; Wayne Martin batted down a ball on 3rd; Husted missed from 49 on 4th. Sean Dawkins dropped what should've been a throw for 1st on 3rd & 1, but Royals came through again with a punt out-of-bounds to the TB 8. The field position, combined with a 3 & punt Tampa Bay series, allowed the Saints to take possession at the TB 46; another roll-out throw to Cleeland put the team into FG range. Brien remained perfect in '98 with a 41 yarder. With 7:15 left, it was 9-3 Saints. On 3rd & 12 from the TB 38, Green broke open downfield and had Dilfer's pass hit him in the hands; he dropped the ball. A punt allowed the Saints to take possession with 5:15 left to go, but the team only managed to run 1:37 off the clock before punting the ball back (Royals was on-the-money; the ball went OB at the 13). On the final play before the two minute warning, Emanuel took a ball 26 yds to the NO 46, but the Bucs advanced no farther- on 3rd & 15 Chad Cota camped under a Dilfer floater and picked it off. A 2nd & 8 naked bootleg throw to Poole was good for 38 and some breathing room, but the Bucs ended up getting the ball back; the outcome wasn't decided until a last-play heave was knocked down a few yds short of the goalline. stats & yardage histograms (from my "le Stat" system, not official) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ note: this stuff is meant to be read using a fixed-width font, like Courier note: the capital letters in the stats are used in the histograms and the drive chart to identify the players ..runnin'....../.......throwin' & catchin'........ 1-(7) b.J. tolliver 19-47 troy Davis 5- 35 4-12 Aaron craver 5- 30 2- 2 ray Zellars 1- 2 andre Hastings 1- 5 Sean dawkins 3- 27 Keith poole 2- 64 cameron Cleeland 4- 55 incomplete 12 intercepted 0 27-54 20-32-216-0-0 H A Z DD A A <--runs ZDD DDA D J D DDDDDDDD DD D ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** A D SSD DDA CC S C K K HDA C AA <--passes ..runnin'....../.......throwin' & catchin'........ Trent dilfer 11-46 warrick Dunn 5- 27 7-12 mike Alstott bert Emanuel 6- 85 Reidel anthony 3- 49 jacquez Green 1- 0 dave Moore 4- 19 patrick Hape 1- 5 incomplete 22 intercepted 2 18-58 20-44-185-0-2 A A D <--runs AAADDA D DDADDD D D ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** DG MMMEMDERE DER E R E DDH <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * every possession lasted less than 5 minutes and featured no more than two earned 1st downs * I'm not sure what long-term significance this game has- I doubt our future attack will be Tolliver/Davis/Craver * in the whole league, there's no better special teams trio than Gammon/Brien/Royals ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu