ssmitty

HOW THE GAME WAS WON

For the Panthers to have any success, they need a solid running game to take some of the pressure off Delhomme, who can be somewhat limited if he has to carry the team by throwing.

Carolina did just that against the Saints' defense, which had entered the game having allowed opponents just 88 yards a game on the ground the first three weeks.

On Sunday, the Panthers nearly doubled that total, gaining 167 on 29 carries, nearly a 6-yard-per-carry average.

Much of the damage came when the Saints rotated Antwan Lake and Rodney Leisle into the game in place of Brian Young and Hollis Thomas while trying to give Young and Thomas breaks.

"Just the nature of the beast," Thomas said. "When Coach tells you to go out there, you go out there."

FROM THE COACH'S MOUTH

"In the end, they ran the ball pretty effectively today, and I don't know that we did. That combined with finishing minus-1 in turnovers are some things we want to correct." -- Saints Coach Sean Payton


http://www.nola.com/saints/t-p/index...040.xml&coll=1

ssmitty

my question on this one would be was fox and his staff watching for this in what little game film they had, knowing payton?

Touchdown

Without Foster's long run at the end, they didn't run the ball all that well. 6 ypc average is overstated. We had quite a few good stops on defense all day. We just didn't have the most points at the end of the game. Two good teams battled it out, one came up short. Unfortunately, it was just us this time.