Saints 22 Cowboys 3 The Saints shut down Emmitt Smith en route to a victory over a surprisingly flat Cowboys team. Things went bad for Dallas right from the opening kickoff- a holding call pushed the Cowboys back to the 14. On 1st down, Emmitt Smith was thrown for a 4 yd loss. On 2nd down, pressure from La'Roi Glover caused Troy Aikman to throw the ball away. The refs flagged the QB for intentional grounding, and because the pass came from the endzone, the result was a safety. Less than a minute into the game, the Saints were up 2-0. Eric Guliford returned the ensuing free kick to the Dallas 47. Twice the team went for it on 4th & 1- the first time, Kerry Collins' sneak was successful; the second time, his pass was batted down incomplete. The Cowboys took possession at their 28. Dallas advanced as far as the NO 45 before running out of steam. Their special teamers downed the ball at the 5. The Saints couldn't manage a 1st, and Mark Royals' punt went off the side of his foot to the NO 47. Back-to-back holding penalties killed the next drive, so again the Cowboys put the Saints in the hole with good punt coverage- Guliford fair-caught the ball at the 9. On the second play of the ensuing possession, Collins was flushed from the pocket and threw an interception. Three balls in a row went incomplete, so the visitors settled for a 33 yd FG. Collins then led the team on an impressive drive. Key plays included a 13 yd catch by Aaron Craver, a 16 yd reverse by Andre Hastings, and a 17 yd catch by Sean Dawkins. On 3rd & 2 from the 22, Troy Davis ran for 5. Four more Davis runs set up 3rd & goal from the 4. Collins evaded pressure and eventually found Craver with a TD toss. The team planned for a try for two, but delay-of-game brought on Doug Brien, who made the PAT. With 7:54 left in the half, the Saints were up 9-3. Once again the Cowboys failed to reach FG range, and once again their punt team did very well- the Saints took possession at the 3. On the first play after the 2-minute warning, the Saints faced 3rd & 2 from the 11. Hastings beat Kevin Mathis off the line, and Collins hit the WR with a perfect pass. Hastings ran all the way in for a big 89 yd score. Dallas failed to get a 1st during the ensuing possession, so the O took over at its 45 with 1:06 remaining. Passes to Craver and Dawkins, plus a scramble by Collins, put the team into FG range. The Saints caught a break when Lamar Smith was incorrectly ruled to have been down before fumbling. Brien ended the half with a 53-yarder. In the initial possession of the second half, the Saints were bailed out when a 3rd & 10 incompletion was negated by a hands-to-the-face call on Dallas. Collins kept the drive alive with consecutive 3rd down throws to Guliford- for 19 on 3rd & 8; for 24 on 3rd & 10. Collins was sacked for a 9 yd loss on 3rd & 6 from the 26, but Brien made the 53-yarder anyway. The balance of the third quarter was consumed by three inconsequential drives. With the clock an ally, in the following possession Ditka started handing the ball to Wilmont Perry. Unfortunately, he fumbled his sixth carry of the drive. Two more punts came next. In their final possession, the Cowboys drove inside the Saints' 10. On the last play before the two-minute warning, the visitors faced 4th & goal from the 2. Smith was tackled short of the goal, thus denying the RB sole possession of the all-time NFL rushing TD record. The 22-3 win put the Saints in contention for the final NFC playoff spot. 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'........ 3- 11 Kerry collins 13- 37 troy Davis 1- 8 5- 15-1 Aaron craver 5- 19 12- 39 Wilmont perry 1- (1) Lamar smith 1- 16 andre Hastings 4-122-1 Sean dawkins 2- 26 eric Guliford 4- 62 incomplete 11 intercepted 1 35-117-1 16-28-237-1-1 K A W W WAA DWWA DWDW <--runs LWKDDDW W W DDADDDD DKW H ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** A A AH GDS HGA H G G H A S (89) <--passes ..runnin'....../.......throwin' & catchin'................. troy Aikman 15- 6 emmitt Smith 2- 2 sherman Williams 3- 27 michael Irvin 5- 72 billy Davis 3- 36 patrick Jeffers 3- 40 david Lafleur 1- 13 eric Bjornson 1- 4 incomplete 15 intercepted 1 17- 8 16-32-192-0-1 S <--runs SS SSWS S SSSW SSSS S ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** IWI J D IJI I B D W L J D W <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * Collins was just the man to pick on the weakened Dallas secondary * the defensive effort was reminiscent of the good old days * this was one of those rare Saints games you could sit back and enjoy, without having to worry about something going wrong however... * in the spirit of "buy low, sell high" I'll repeat what I said when we were 3-0: I still harbor severe doubts about the direction of the franchise ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu