Saints 23 Falcons 31 Turnovers helped transform a winnable game into the Saints' seventh-consecutive loss to Atlanta. The Falcons steadily moved downfield during the game's initial drive, the most significant plays being a 22 yd catch by Santiago, a 21 yd run by Anderson, and a 12 yd catch by Martin on 3rd & 10. On 3rd & 3 from the 5, Chandler was tackled at the line of scrimmage. Andersen's chip shot FG opened the scoring. The Saint O began with a 15 yd run by Lamar Smith, then Billy Joe Tolliver converted three consecutive 3rd down situations- 9 yd throw to Cam Cleeland on 3rd & 6; 6 yd throw to Smith on 3rd & 3; 3 yd sneak on 3rd & 1. A 24 yd Cleeland catch put the ball at the Falcon 13; on 3rd & 2 from the 5 Smith ran it in. The PAT put the Saints up 7-3 with 13:35 left in the first half. Atlanta came right back thanks to unnecessary roughness on Keith Mitchell and a catch each by Mathis and Martin. On 1st & 10 from the NO 31 Anderson exploited a seam, bust outside, and found the pylon for a TD. The extra point restored the Falcons' three-point lead. The home team threw Smith for a loss on 1st & 2nd downs, then brought about an incompletion. Mark Royals' punt was returned 4 yds to the NO 45, and on the next play from scrimmage Martin beat the Saints' secondary on a post pattern for the score. It was 17-7 with 6:43 to go before halftime. A short while later, with the team facing 3rd & 9 from the NO 36, Keith Poole got behind the Atlanta D while Tolliver scrambled. The QB threw deep and hit the WR, who ran it in for a 64 yd TD. The Falcons reached the 50 before punting the ball back. On the first play of the ensuing possession, Ray Zellars fumbled. Atlanta took over at the NO 26, but the next two snaps resulted in a holding penalty and a sack (which knocked Chandler out of the game). DeBerg brought the Falcons back into FG range, but Morten missed badly on a 45 yd attempt with :25 left. The first drive of the second half halted when Andre Hastings dropped an easy one on 3rd & 1 from the NO 49. Brett Bech downed the ensuing punt at the 7, and on 3rd down Wayne Martin sacked DeBerg in the endzone for a safety. Bech returned the resulting free kick to within a yd of midfield, then a roughing-the-passer call put the ball at the Atlanta 31. Smith moved the sticks with a 9 yd catch on 3rd & 6, but on the next play he failed to catch a pitchout, and the Falcons recovered. The D got the ball back for the O by forcing a punt via a 3rd down sack. Smith fumbled again on a 3rd & 1 run that was going nowhere, but Cleeland alertly picked the elusive ball off the turf and ran it past the 1st down marker. The pigskin went back over to Atlanta when Tolliver had it poked loose while trying to run for a 1st. Atlanta netted -4 yds on the ensuing drive, so the ball went back to the visitors. The Saint O did a little worse, netting -6 yds. Royals' punt was returned to the 50. A key play came with about 13:20 remaining- the Falcons faced 3rd & 4 from the NO 44; since entering the game, DeBerg hadn't led the Atlanta O to a single 1st. The QB dumped a short one to Martin; Alex Molden tried to jump around the WR and deflect the ball but came up empty. The play was good for a 27 yd pickup. On 3rd & 1 from the 8, Christian took in a swing pass and broke tackles en route to the endzone. The conversion made it 24-16 Atlanta. Qadry Ismail's kickoff return ended at the 9, and back-to-back false starts put the O at the 3. From there, a Tolliver overthrow was picked off and returned 25 yds for a TD. The Falcon D caused the Saints to go 3 & punt, then Anderson killed time with seven consecutive carries. Things got a little interesting when Poole again got behind the Falcon secondary to notch an 82 yd TD catch with 3:19 remaining. The PAT cut the deficit to 8, but an onside kick failed to go 10 yds and a pooch kick was returned to midfield. Two 1sts were sufficient to drain the remaining time. 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'................. 2- 8 b.J. tolliver 19-46-1 Lamar smith 2- 15 4- 6 ray Zellars 2- 5 1- 1 troy Davis andre Hastings 1- 9 Sean dawkins 2- 25 Keith poole 3-154-2 brett Bech 1- 11 cameron Cleeland 3- 43 incomplete 14 intercepted 1 26-61-1 14-29-262-2-1 ZJ ZZ J LL L <--runs L DLLLL L L LZLLLLLL 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 LSKHCB S C K K L (82) C <--passes ..runnin'......./.......throwin' & catchin'................................. 2- 0 chris Chandler Steve deberg 1- 4 tim Dwight 25-130-1 jamal Anderson 1- 7 1- 6 Bob christian 2- 5-1 Tony martin 5- 97-1 2-19 terance Mathis 1- 9 1-27 O.j. santiago 1- 22 1- 5 incomplete 3 3 1 intercepted 0 0 0 29-140-1 7-10-128-1-0 7-10-63-1-0 0-1-0-0-0 AA CAA DA <--runs CAA AAB AAAAAAAAAA AA AA A A ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** B T ABTT T T T O M T O M <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * during the first drive, Lamar Smith ran 8 times for 37 yds & scored a TD; after that he ran 11 times for 9 yds (no TDs) & fumbled twice (one was lost) ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu