Saints 20 49ers 31 The Saints' early lead disappeared when Steve Young finished four consecutive mid-game possessions with TD throws. Sean Dawkins was in the spotlight all night, starting with the first play from scrimmage- he let a deep ball go through his hands. Kerry Collins went back to him on the second play; this time the result was a 45 yd pass interference penalty. Three incompletes followed, but the field position was sufficient to allow Doug Brien to make a 47 yarder. The O quickly regained possession, thanks to a Chad Cota interception on the Niners' second play from scrimmage. The pick put the ball at the SF 27, but next came a 1 yd Lamar Smith run, a sack, a false start, and an INT- Hanks took in Collins' overthrow and returned it to the SF 43. San Francisco moved to the NO 18 in five plays- Hearst 14 catch, Young 10 run, Hearst 8 run, Hearst -1 run, Stokes 8 catch. On 3rd & 12 from the 20, Jared Tomich ended the threat by stripping Young and recovering the ball. An 18 yd pass interference call and a 13 yd catch by John Farquhar moved the ball into Niner territory, but two incompletions brought the drive to a halt- Farquhar dropped an easy one, then pressure forced a throwaway. Mark Royals' punt went out-of-bounds at the 13. The 49ers netted only 1 yd in the ensuing possession, and Andre Hastings returned the punt to the SF 36. Collins connected with Cam Cleeland and Keith Poole to move the ball to the 3; on 3rd & goal from the 2 a generous pass interference call gave the Saints a 1st. Collins sneaked in for the TD. With 34 seconds left in the first quarter, the Saints were up 10-0. Young went to Stokes to convert three 3rd downs in a row- for 12 on 3rd & 8, for 11 on 3rd & 10, for 9 on 3rd & 6. The drive ended when a collapsing pocket caused Young to fumble. Keith Mitchell recovered at the NO 38. On the next play, Collins hit Dawkins, who turned upfield and made it into SF territory, but Winfred Tubbs surprised the WR with a from-behind tackle that knocked the ball free- the Niners recovered at their 26. After La'Roi Glover jumped offside, San Fran edged downfield- Hearst 8 run, Owens 9 catch, Hearst 2 run, Hearst 6 run. On 3rd & 4 from the 44, Kirby made a key play by catching a dumpoff, spinning past Mitchell, and running for a 1st. From there, Young hit Owens twice- the first time for 17 yds, the second time for 8 yds and a TD. The PAT made it 10-7 Saints with 5:30 left before the half. Collins put the Saints at the SF 35 in three plays- Smith caught balls for 17 & 6, then Cleeland caught one for 28. Three incompletes followed, so Ditka had to decide whether to let Brien try the 53 yarder. He did, and the kick was barely short. Instead of the Niners trailing by 6 and receiving a kickoff, the trailed by 3 and had the ball at their 43. Young put his team into FG range right away with completions to Clark (10 yds) and Stokes (19 yds). On 3rd & 2 from the 20, it was Stokes yet again for a 12 yd pickup. One play later, Young hit Owens on a quick slant for the score. Taking possession with 66 seconds remaining, the team moved to the SF 18 in three plays- Aaron Craver 18 run, Poole 13 catch, Dawkins 31 catch. A 14 yd Dawkins catch put the ball at the 4, leaving time for one shot into the endzone. The result was an incomplete pass, so Brien ended the half with a 22 yarder. San Fran demoralized the visitors on the first play of the second half, when Hearst slipped behind the defense and took in a throw from Young. The play was good for an 81 yd TD. The momentum stayed with the home team- 1st down was a sack, 2nd was an incompletion, 3rd brought another Dawkins catch-strip-turnover. An Owens end-around and an Edwards catch put the ball at the 10. On 3rd down from the 8, Young hit Rice for the TD. Only 3:06 into the third quarter, the deficit had ballooned to 15 points. The O managed a single 1st before punting the ball back to the Niners. On a 3rd & 1 run, Hearst burst outside to put Frisco at the NO 33. The home team would up settling for a 45 yarder. Collins tried to get the Saints back into the game- he hit Hastings for 14, then Dawkins for 20, 9, and 16. The QB then ran the ball four times in a row to put the ball at the 3. The team's last real chance ended when a 4th & goal throw for Brett Bech was successfully defensed by Hanks. The Niners killed 7:25 before booting the ball to the Saints. The ball soon went back to San Fran- what would've been a tough catch by Dawkins turned into a deflection and an even tougher catch by Bronson for an INT. The Niners killed some more clock, Craver scored a garbage-time TD via a 1 yd plunge, Kirby stole the onside kick and returned it to the 4. SF made one attempt to get into the endzone, then wised up and knelt. 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'........ 7-30-1 Kerry collins 4-28 Lamar smith 3- 34 4-23-1 Aaron craver 1- 7 2- 8 ray Zellars 1- 1 troy Davis Sean dawkins 8-148 keith Poole 2- 38 andre Hastings 2- 30 brett Bech 1- 8 cameron Cleeland 4- 51 john Farquhar 1- 13 incomplete 20 intercepted 2 18-90-2 22-44-329-0-2 A A Z <--runs K D Z KLKLKAKL K K A L ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** C LACS LCPS SL SS S P C S B FH S H <--passes ..runnin'......./.......throwin' & catchin'................. 5- 37 steve Young 25- 88 garrison Hearst 4-104-1 2- 4 marc Edwards 2- 15 1- 8 terry Kirby 2- 21 1- 18 terrell Owens 4- 42-2 jerry Rice 3- 27-1 j.j. Stokes 6- 71 greg Clark 1- 10 incomplete 8 intercepted 1 34-155 22-31-290-4-1 Y HH HEYHHE K <--runs HHHHHHHH H H HHHHHHHH HYY Y O H ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** R KH EH OOESS H O S H OSC S R (81) S K <--passes R comments ^^^^^^^^ * Collins threw the ball to Dawkins 15 times- three throws resulted in defensive pass interference, two balls were dropped, one deflected off his hands for an INT, nine passes were caught (one of them was negated by a penalty, two others ended with fumbles) * the Saints have played the Niners in prime time in 7 of the past 10 seasons; every game has resulted in a loss ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu