Saints 27 Patriots 30 The Saints gave the Patriots everything they could handle before succumbing to a last-second New England triptych. Bledsoe hit Coates for 15 on the first play from scrimmage to launch a drive into Saints territory- a defensive pass interference penalty, a 6 yd Brown catch, and an 11 yd Edwards run moved the sticks three additional times. On 4th & 6 from the NO 37, Bledsoe hit Glenn for 12. The secondary ended the threat- on the next play, Rob Kelly knocked away a potential TD pass; a play later, Molden intercepted a throw at the goal line. Danny Wuerffel led the team to two 1sts before Mark Royals' services were required; the punt was returned to the NO 37. New England converted the field position into a 34 yd FG. The next Saints series went 3 & punt, and a 43 yd catch by Glenn set up the Patriots at the NO 25. One play later, however, Ink Aleaga wrenched the ball from Bledsoe's grasp. Keith Mitchell picked up the pigskin and ran 63 yds for a TD. With 13:29 left in the half, the Saints were up 7-3. New England made it to the NO 47 before pressure from Wayne Martin allowed La'Roi Glover to intercept Bledsoe. The turnover was negated a couple of plays later when Law camped out under a DW deep ball at picked it off at the NE 16. The Patriots broke out with a 3rd & 7 screen to Cullors that gained 43 and put the visitors at the NO 38. From there, New England marched in for a TD- Glenn 15 catch; Edwards runs of 4, 9, 4; Brisby 6 catch for the score. The PAT put the Pats up by 3. The ensuing Saints series netted -3 yds in 3 plays, and the punt was partially blocked- New England took possession at the NO 26. The Patriots wasted no time- Coates caught a pass for 18; Edwards ran in from 8 yds out to complete the two-play drive. Following a touchback, Wuerffel and the Saints took the field and embarked on another impressive 2-minute drill- Lamar Smith caught a pass for 17 yds on 1st & 10 and took another for 21 yds on 3rd & 14. Following an incompletion, Wuerffel hit Andre Hastings for 12, ran for 9, then went back to Hastings for 24 and a 1st at the NE 1. With 21 seconds left and no timeouts remaining, Wureffel's sneak attempt was unsuccessful; a spike stopped the clock with :03 on the clock. Coach Ditka declined the gimme FG and went for the TD; DW thew a dart over the middle to Cam Cleeland for a gutty score. The momentum swung back during the first possession of the second half- Thomas snagged a screen pass attempt and returned the ball 24 yds for a TD. 101 seconds into the third quarter, the Patriots were up 24-14. Wuerffel moved the team via the air- Cleeland 12 catch, Brett Bech 32 catch, Sean Dawkins 11 catch. An 11 yd run by Smith set up 1st & goal at the 6, but the team couldn't punch it in. Doug Brien cut the deficit to 7 with a chip shot FG. Bledsoe helped get the three points back- he hit Coates for 5 on 3rd & 3 before completing a 35 yd throw to Glenn. Vinatieri was true from 50 yds out. The Patriots came out on top in an exchange of punts by downing the ball at the NO 2; a Saints punt from the endzone ensued. A Patriot rolled into Royals' ankle but running-into-the-kicker wasn't called; the punt was returned to the NO 22. Tyronne Drakeford saved the day by picking off Bledsoe and taking the ball to the NO 25. Wuerffel again hurt the Patriots with his arm- he provoked defensive holding, threw to Cleeland for 15, dumped one to Troy Davis for 19, moved the sticks on 3rd & 1 with a 4 yd throw to Hastings, and connected with Hastings for 22 on 3rd & 10. A 19 yd throw to Bech on 3rd & 17 set up 1st & goal at the 8; one play later DW hit Smith for an 8 yd score. Over the next three possessions neither team could manage a 1st. The third punt came on the last play before the two-minute warning and looked to have been downed by the Patriots at the NO 1. Instead, the Saints pulled off a play similar to the odd punt return executed by the Rams in the Dome in '94- Hastings grabbed the ball and returned it all the way to the NE 25, with only a shove by the punter preventing a coast-to-coast TD. The team couldn't get into the endzone, but Brien tied matters with a 37 yd FG with 1:29 left. The improbable Saints comeback was trumped by Bledsoe, however. In four plays over the span of 38 seconds, he drove the Patriots to the NO 18 through the air- Brown 8, Brown 16, Coates 11, Brisby 27. The visitors killed the clock and won the game with a 27 yarder with :03 left. 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'........ 3-13 danny Wuerffel 13-22 Lamar smith 4- 45-1 2- 3 ray Zellars Aaron craver 2- 6 troy Davis 1- 19 andre Hastings 6- 73 Sean dawkins 1- 11 brett Bech 2- 51 Keith poole 1- 9 cameron Cleeland 8- 65-1 incomplete 20 intercepted 2 18-38 25-47-279-2-2 W Z <--runs LL LZW LLLLLLLL L W L ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** L CC HCHCLKCSCC C L B LH H B A AH H D <--passes ..runnin'....../.......throwin' & catchin'............... dreW bledsoe 22-98-1 robert Edwards 1- 4 1- 3 Tony carter 2- 8 1-(2) Derrick cullors 2- 56 terry Glenn 4-105 Vincent brisby 2- 33-1 troy Brown 3- 30 ben Coates 7- 79 incomplete 11 intercepted 3 24-99-1 21-35-315-1-3 T EE EEE <--runs EEEEE DE EEEEEEEEE E E ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** TCB BCCCGD CB C V G G T V C G D E <--passes comments ^^^^^^^^ * the team improved its level of play significantly over last week's effort but got the loss due to the quality of opponent * Royals' ankle was injured when he was rolled into; Brien kicked the team's final punt; Royals held for Brien's last FG * I think the refs made all the right calls during the wacky punt return (the Patriots didn't step in the endzone; the Saint touched in the endzone didn't have the ball), except it looked like Hastings signalled for a fair catch before all the craziness began (kudos to Hastings for realizing it hadn't been acknowledged, though) ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu