Saints 0 49ers 31 San Francisco humbled the Saints by notching their second straight Superdome shutout. The first three plays from scrimmage were a no-gainer by Lamar Smith and a pair of short scrambles by Danny Wuerffel; the result was the first of three straight 3 & punt series by the Saint O. San Francisco entered New Orleans territory with a 35 yd catch by Rice, then moved to the NO 24 on the next play when Young was roughed. A play later, the QB scrambled to the 1; he subsequently rolled out and found Clark in the endzone for a TD. The ensuing punt was returned to the NO 49. A pair of Hearst runs bracketed by a pair of Owens catches put the ball at the 6, but the Saint D repelled the threat- on 4th & 1 from the 5 Hearst was thrown for a 2 yd loss. Again the O failed to get a 1st; conversely, the 49ers got a pair of 'em via 3rd & 6 conversions- Irv Smith withstood a powerful hit to hold onto a 10 yd throw; Uwaezuoke caught a ball for 25. San Fran ended up kicking a 42 yd FG. Ten ticks into the second quarter, the score was 10-0. Looking for a spark, the Saints coaching staff replaced the Smith-Zellars backfield with Troy Davis. The team did manage its first 1st of the day (a 13 yd catch by Keith Poole), but no others were forthcoming. The Niners moved back into Saints territory with a 27 yd catch by Owens. The visitors set themselves up for a 45 yd FG but missed it. The team netted only 16 yds during the next possession, but did manage to earn a rare 1st down and penetrate a yard into Niner territory. It would be the fourth quarter before the O would make it back to Frisco's half of the field. Twenty minutes into the game, the Saints' attack had been completely stifled, but the deficit was only 10 points. Mark Royals' fifth punt of the day went out-of-bounds at the 2, but three quick penalties on the Saints secondary extracted the visitors. First, Tyronne Drakeford drew a questionable flag for pass interference. Chad Cota was hit for 15 yds when he removed his helmet while arguing the call. A play later, Sammy Knight was called for unnecessary roughness. An offensive holding penalty balanced the scales somewhat, but a 33 yd dump to Hearst put SF at the NO 21. San Francisco kicked a 37 yarder after Knight couldn't hold onto a potential endzone INT. With 1:50 to go before halftime and the ball at the 20, Wuerffel tried to extend his recent 2-minute drill success. Unfortunately, 1st down was a 5 yd sack, and 2nd down was an intercepted screen pass (very reminiscent of last week's play). San Fran converted the field position into a 6 yd Owens TD catch. A swing to Hearst was good for a 2-point conversion and a 21-0 halftime lead. Fetch Monster ran onto the field to retrieve Doug Brien's tee following the second half kickoff; it was then time to cordon Bleu. The Niners picked up four 1st downs in as many plays- Young sneaked for exactly the needed yardage on 3rd & 1, Keith Mitchell pulled a 15 yd facemask, Rice caught a ball for 12, Stokes caught a ball for 10. One play later, Hearst notched a too-easy 33 yd TD catch & run against a thoroughly-frustrated Saints defense. The O went 3 & punt again, and a pair of defensive holding penalties helped SF drive for a 43 yd FG. In the game's final 20 minutes, neither team scored. The Saints' two fourth quarter possessions both ended with a 4th down incompletion- Wuerffel came up empty from the SF 39 and Billy Joe Tolliver couldn't connect from the SF 12. The 31-0 final means that Ditka's Saints have been outscored by the Niners 87-7 over the course of three games. 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- 7 danny Wuerffel b.J. tolliver 7-18 Lamar smith 1-(2) ray Zellars 1- 4 3- 9 troy Davis 2-15 andre Hastings 2-25 1- 9 Sean dawkins 2-23 2-34 Keith poole 1-13 2-25 cameron Cleeland 1-15 1-12 incomplete 11 3 intercepted 1 0 13-32 9-21-95-0-1 6-9-80-0-0 W <--runs LDL W Z LLLDLD 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 DHSH KS S H S D CK C K <--passes ..runnin'......./.......throwin' & catchin'................................. 2- 19 steve Young ty Detmer Jim druckenmiller 22- 71 garrison Hearst 2- 66-1 8- 46 chuck Levy 3- 8 marc Edwards 1- 7 terrell Owens 6- 94-1 jerry Rice 6- 79 j.j. Stokes 3- 27 iheanyi Uwaezuoke 1- 25 greg Clark 1- 1-1 Irv smith 1- 10 fred Beasley 1-11 incomplete 19 0 0 intercepted 0 0 0 35-144 21-40-309-3-0 1-1-11-0-0 0-0-0-0-0 Y E H L H EHHL L <--runs H LHHHLH EH HHHHHHHHLHHHL LH Y ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** C O RORORSRR O U O OH R ESSIB H <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * I've lost count of how many "time to make a statement by beating SF" games we've lost * if you're looking for something good about the game, Royals showed no ill effects of the ankle injury he suffered last week ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu