Saints 19 Colts 13 Three Peyton Manning interceptions put the Saints in position to steal one from the Colts in overtime. The Saints began with three Danny Wuerffel throws; the result was 3 & punt. Manning hit Harrison for 21 on the Colts' first offensive play, but the drive's forward progress ended there. The Saints went 3 & punt a second time. For the Colts' second possession, Manning again started things with a big pass (a fly to Pathon for 45). As with the first possession, the Colts marched no farther- Faulk was tackled behind the line twice and Manning was sacked. Vanderjagt's 52 yd FG attempt was a line-drive success. The Saints abandoned the passing game and started running the ball at Indianapolis' ailing defensive line- Lamar Smith rushed for 6, 13, 3, and 31 to put the ball at the Indy 27 (the visitors got a break when a quick whistle negated what should've been a fumble; the Colts recovered). A holding penalty, a pass-for-loss, and a sack helped bring up 4th & 20 from the 37. The team lined up in FG formation, but Doug Brien quick-kicked the ball toward the goal. The well-executed pooch punt was spoiled when Cam Cleeland accidentally knocked the ball into the endzone from the 1. A holding penalty started the Colts 1st & 20 from the 10. Manning converted three 3rd down situations in a row- needing 6 yds, he ran for 7; needing 13 yds, he threw to Harrison for 14; needing 13 yds, he threw to Green for 17. The drive ended when Indy receivers couldn't handle throws on 2nd & 3rd downs. The punt was downed at the 6. Wuerffel began the next possession by going back to the air; his first-play down-the-sideline throw was picked off at the NO 39 when Sean Dawkins' stumble denied the WR an opportunity to try swatting it away from the Colt defender. Manning moved the chains twice, first with a 17 yd strike to Harrison, then with a 13 yd swing pass to Faulk on 3rd & 7. On 3rd & goal from the 2, a quick throw to Harrison fell incomplete. A short FG made it 6-0 Colts with 5:21 left before halftime. Qadry Ismail returned the ensuing kickoff to the NO39; five runs in a row brought up 3rd & 6 from the Indy 46. A punting situation arose when DW misfired on a throw to Ray Zellars; the kick went for a touchback. On the first play after the 2-minute warning, Manning's attempt to connect on a quick slant resulted in a deflected ball that was intercepted by Rob Kelly and returned to the 7. Three Smith runs failed to punch it in, so Brien kicked a 22 yarder to make the score 6-3 at the break. The D forced a 3 & punt series to start the half, with Andre Hastings returning the punt to the Indy 43. The O couldn't move the sticks, however- Zellars was stopped short of the marker on 3rd & 1 and 4th & 1 from the 34. Manning hit Harrison for 11 on 3rd & 10, but one play later a quick slant was his undoing once again- the pass was deflected into the air and caught by Chad Cota. The Saints took possession at their 47. After a 1st down sack, Smith broke loose for a 34 yd run. One play later, he ran for 18 more. On 3rd & goal from the 5, the Saints followed my from-the-couch advice and threw a fade to Dawkins; he couldn't hold onto it, though. Brien knotted the count at 2 FGs apiece with 5:37 left in the third quarter. The D contributed a 3 & punt series by tackling Faulk behind the line twice and then sacking Manning. Hastings put the ball into Indianapolis territory with an end-around, but gave the yardage back on the next play by executing an illegal crackback block. Mark Royals was called upon to punt; his effort went 56 yds into the endzone. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Manning dumped a throw to Faulk on 3rd & 8. That Crescent City connection went all the way for a TD, thanks to Faulk's speed. The PAT put the Colts up by 7. On 3rd & 8 from the NO 26, Wuerffel's pass went through the hands of a Colt to Cleeland for a 12 yd gain. What should've been an INT-returned-for-TD was instead a 1st down. A 15 yd Smith run on the next play put the visitors into Indy territory. One play later, Aaron Craver unwisely exercised his option to throw (his arm was hit as he released the ball); luckily for the Saints the pigskin fluttered harmlessly to the ground 35 yds downfield. On the next play Wuerffel fumbled while being sacked; the ball bounced back into his hands. Royals' punt went for a touchback. Indianapolis took possession with 11:27 remaining in regulation and embarked on a time-consuming drive- Manning hit Harrison for 12 on 3rd & 10, then Pathon for 14 on 2nd & 6, then Faulk for 18 on 3rd & 14. Facing 4th & 12 from the NO 38, Coach Mora elected to punt. The Indianapolis special teamers downed the ball at the 4 with 2:49 showing on the clock. To this point, Wuerffel's passing day broke down this way- 8 incomplete passes, one interception, a 12 yd throw to Cleeland that should've been intercepted, five other completions netting 20 yds. Those stats, combined with the Saints' historical inability to drive for meaningful late TDs, made for a grim situation. Incredibly, the team began to move- DW hit Hastings for 13 on 1st down, then drew 17 yds via pass interference one play later. On 3rd & 10 he moved the sticks with a 12 yd throw to Brett Bech. On 4th & 17 from the NO 41, Dawkins' defender somehow gave the WR enough space to take in a 44 yd floater. On the next play, Wuerffel threw across the field and into the endzone for Hastings, who made an incredible grab while keeping his feet just barely inbounds. The extra point tied the game with :41 left before overtime. The Saints won the toss and elected to receive. Neither team managed a 1st during the first three possessions of overtime. The Colts broke that string by moving 35 yds in one play via a Faulk reception augmented by roughing-the-passer. On the next play, however, Tyronne Drakeford stepped in front of a sideline throw, intercepted the ball, and returned it to the Indy 36. One play later, Wuerffel used play action to throw to Cleeland, who rumbled all the way in for the 33 yd game-ending score. 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'........ danny Wuerffel 1- 2 Aaron craver 24-159 Lamar smith 7- 12 ray Zellars 2- (2) 1- 13 andre Hastings 3- 35-1 Sean dawkins 2- 55 brett Bech 1- 12 cameron Cleeland 3- 49-1 incomplete 14 1 intercepted 1 0 32-184 12-27-151-2-1 0-1-0-0-0 Z Z Z L L Z LZ LZ L <--runs LLLLL L H ZLLLLLLLL L L L L L ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** Z Z C H SCH H C S A B <--passes ..runnin'....../.......throwin' & catchin'............... 1- 7 peyton Manning 27-62 marshall Faulk 6-128-1 1- 6 keith Elias 1- 0 zack Crockett 1- 1 marvin Harrison 7- 96 1-(9) Jerome pathon 3- 65 e.g. Green 1- 17 marcus Pollard 1- 2 incomplete 10 intercepted 3 31-66-1 19-32-309-1-3 F F F CF FF E <--runs FF FFFFF F F J FF FFFFFFFFMF F ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** FFCP J H HHFH HF FH J F H J G (78) <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * with Sammy Knight & Clarence Jones still dinged (shoulder & ankle, respectively), the game 2 substitutions were still in effect (Rob Kelly for Knight; Kyle Turley shifted to RT, Andy McCollum at LG) * it's been a quarter of a century since we last lost to the Colts * that script looked really familiar; for once we were in the victor's role * despite the 3-0 start, I still harbor severe doubts about the direction of the franchise under Ditka/Wuerffel ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu