Saints 24 Rams 17 The Saints started strong and held on to beat the Rams, but Billy Joe Hobert's torn Achilles' tendon caused Ditka's 1998 QB gamble to come up snake eyes. Each team began the season with a 3 & punt series. On the first play of the third possession, La'Roi Glover sliced into the Ram backfield and caused Moore to fumble. Freshly-signed Joe Johnson was there to scoop up the ball and score an easy 5 yd TD. Three minutes into the season, the Saints were up 7-0. Banks twice moved the sticks with throws to Bruce, but the drive ended when St. Louis elected not to go for the 1st on 4th & 1 from the NO 48. After the punt, Billy Joe Hobert converted consecutive 3rd down situations by going to Cam Cleeland for 15 & 34. One play later, lefty Lamar Smith flipped a TD throw to a wide open Andre Hastings from 20 yds out. The PAT put the Saints up by 14. Three 3 & punt series ran out the balance of the first quarter. The O took possession of the ball at its 42 and moved into field goal range via catches by Ray Zellars & Cleeland and a pair of runs by Smith. Doug Brien's 36 yarder made it 17-0. After two uneventful possessions, the Rams committed their second turnover when a deflected pass was snagged by Sammy Knight and returned to the St. Louis 35. The season reached its zenith on the very next play, when Smith emulated Barry Sanders by zig-zagging a dump pass all the way into the endzone. With 4:45 left in the half, the Saints had a commanding 24-0 lead. After a 2 yd Moore run, Banks hit on six straight passes- to Bruce for 24 & 14, then to Lee for 5, 17, 5, & 5. An incompletion broke the string, but on the following play Tyronne Drakeford was flagged for pass interference in the endzone, putting the ball at the 1. With a minute to go before halftime, Moore fumbled the ball into the endzone, but he atoned for his mistake by falling on the pigskin. At the break, it was 24-7 Saints. The second half began with a Saints series that netted -5 yds, and Kennison returned the punt to the NO 25. Passes to Kennison & Conwell and two runs by Moore set up 1st & goal at the 2. The next four plays were pretty wacky- * Harris fumbled during a run, but got the ball back * Armstrong dropped an easy TD pass * the D seemed to end the Rams' progress by knocking Banks out-of-bounds for no gain, but Drakeford was hit with a chintzy unnecessary roughness call * Moore fumbled during a run, but the Rams recovered following a mad scramble Finally, on 3rd & goal from the 15, Banks hit Kennison with a strike for the score. The conversion put the count at 24-14 with 7:14 left in the third quarter. Over the next two drives, the teams managed one 1st each. The second play of the fourth quarter changed the course of the Saints' season- Hobert tore his right Achilles' tendon while hanging in the pocket. The injury will cause him to miss the rest of the season. Danny Wuerffel came on and moved the team to near midfield before Mark Royals was called upon to punt. Less than two minutes later, the Rams booted it back. A generous 30 yd defensive pass interference penalty put the Saints into FG range, but no points were forthcoming- on 2nd & 10 from the 11 Wuerffel forced a throw into the endzone and was intercepted. St. Louis took over at the 2 with 7:08 left to go. After Banks converted 3rd & 2 by throwing to Conwell for 5, the QB ran for 12 on 3rd & 11. He then hit on two throws in a row (to Bruce for 23 and to Conwell for 13). Banks moved the sticks again by hitting Bruce for 9 on 3rd & 1. Pass interference on Chris Hewitt put the ball at the NO 3 at the two-minute warning. Back-to-back sacks (by Johnson & Chad Cota) moved St. Louis away from the goal, however, so the Rams elected to secure a FG and reduce the deficit to 7. Wilkins was good from 34 yds out. With 1:26 left, the Rams lined up as if to dribble an onside kick, but instead the ball was booted into the endzone for a touchback. The strategy paid dividends when DW unwisely stopped the clock for the timeout-less Rams by throwing incomplete on 3rd & 14 from the NO 16. St. Louis took possession at their 41 with 59 ticks remaining. A Glover sack backed up the Rams, but on 3rd down Banks hit Proehl at the NO 35. A spike stopped the clock at :05. On the final play, Glover and Wayne Martin sandwiched Banks before he had a chance to heave the ball into the endzone. stats & yardage histograms (from my notes, not official) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ..runnin'....../................throwin' & catchin'........................ 1-13 billy Joe hobert danny Wuerffel 16-13 2- 46-1 1-14 Lamar smith 5- 8 ray Zellars 1- 12 1- 2 Aaron craver 1- 6 1- 2 andre Hastings 2- 12 1-20-1 Keith poole 1- 12 cameron Cleeland 4- 82 Tony johnson 1- 9 incomplete 12 2 0 intercepted 0 1 0 23-36 11-23-170-1-0 3-6-25-0-1 1-1-20-1-0 Z AZZ <--runs L ZZLLL L LLLLLLLLLL L J ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** AH A H LKCLC C CL T Z H <--passes ..runnin'....../.......throwin' & catchin'.......... 4-17 tony Banks 15-30-1 jerald Moore 1- 6 1- 3 amp Lee 8- 64 3- 5 June henley 2- 9 1-(2) derrick Harris Isaac bruce 10-131 eddie Kennison 2- 27-1 ricky Proehl 2- 25 ernie Conwell 4- 38 incomplete 14 intercepted 1 24-53-1 29-44-300-1-1 B J J MLB <--runs H MBMMM MMMMMMMMJ MM B ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** J P LLIIII KCIK L I II LC II C P LM LL <--passes C L J comments ^^^^^^^^ * Cleeland & Glover had great games * each team managed only one run of more than 8 yds; both were by QBs * Mark Fields and Sean Dawkins sat out due to injuries * harken back to game 6 of the '93 season- Capers will pack the line next week against poor Danny ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu