Saints  24
49ers    6


Billy Joe Tolliver played his best game as a Saint in a solid win over
San Francisco.


The first half was consumed by four long scoring drives, with the Saints'
pair ending in TDs and the Niners' pair ending in FGs.  The big play of
the game-opener was a 42 yd throw from Billy Joe Tolliver to Keith Poole,
which put the ball at the SF 4.  A play later, Tolliver bootlegged it in
for the TD.  The other first-half Saints TD also came on a Tolliver
bootleg, with much of the drive's yardage coming on a pair of Ricky
Williams receptions.

The Niners' first drive (which was prolonged by Rob Kelly jumping offside
on a punt) resulted in a 52 yd FG.  Starting QB Steve Stenstrom also led
the visitors to a 22 yarder with :35 to go before halftime.

Returning the second-half kickoff to the SF 41 gave San Francisco its best
chance to get in the game.  Frisco made it to the edge of FG range, but
that was all (in fact, a ruled-incompletion should've been a QB fumble
recovered by the Saints).  The punt went for a touchback.

A 42 yd catch by Andre Hastings put the Saints into San Fran territory;
a few plays later Tolliver went back to Hastings for an 11 yd score.
Halfway through the third quarter, the Saints were up 21-6 and in control.

The team was pretty much able to coast the rest of the way- a Doug Brien
FG put the lead a 24-6; it stayed there thanks to a Willie Clay endzone INT
with 2:30 remaining.  The win ended the Saints' seven-game 1999 losing
streak (as well as a seven-game losing streak to the 49ers).


stats (view with a fixed-width font, like Courier)
^^^^^

runnin'........../..........passin' & catchin'

 5- 37-2                      B.J. Tolliver
30- 99      Ricky Williams       3- 57
 3-  8      Lamar Smith          1-  6  
            Eddie Kennison       3- 41
            Keith Poole          2- 74  
            Andre Hastings       2- 53-1
            Scott Slutzker       1- 11
38-144-2       TOTAL            12-242-1
                inc              3
                INT              0
 
 
runnin'........../..........passin' & catchin'
 
 1-  8                        S. Stenstrom
12- 60    Charlie Garner         2-  8
 6- 26       Fred Beasley        2- 19
          Terrell Owens          5- 56
             J.J. Stokes         4- 35
            Jerry Rice           4- 31
             Greg Clark          1-  8
19- 94         TOTAL            18-157  
                inc             13
                INT              1


notes
^^^^^

* I figure this game to be one of four complete victories logged by Ditka's
  Saints, all of them coming in the Superdome (the others being the '97 win
  over Detroit and last year's home wins over St. Louis & Dallas)


*******************************************************************************
Frank Serpas III    serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu