JOESAM2002

Not much positive in Saints 27-12 loss to Niners
11:39 PM CDT on Saturday, August 23, 2003

WWLTV.com


Deuce McAllister and Michael Lewis will be no worries for the Saints in the coming season, but Saturday’s performance against the 49ers suggested just about every other area is a cause for some concern as San Francisco beat the Saints 27-12.


McAllister ran as if in midseason form, gaining 74 yards on 15 carries and catching three passes for 20 more. He also had a nice 24-yard gain called back by penalty. As for Lewis, after two returns of over 40 yards, the Niners elected to squib the ball on the ensuing kickoff.




WWL-TV
Deuce McAllister gets loose on one of several nice plays Saturday night
However, in the first half, when most of the first teamers played, the Niners nearly doubled the Saints offensive yardage output.


The Saints defense seemed to be challenged again as the combination of 49er quarterbacks Jeff Garcia, Tim Rattay and Ken Dorsey hit on 22 of 25 passes on the evening for 264 yards and one touchdown. The Niners scored three touchdowns in the second quarter on drives of 52, 64 and 80 yards to take a 20-9 halftime lead.


“I think it’s the little things,� said cornerback Ashley Ambrose of the defense’s continuing struggles. “I think we stepped back a little bit from last week, but it’s because of the little things.�


The Saints could only add a field goal in the second half, and the starters, despite playing almost three quarters, could only manage 12 points. Aaron Brooks hit 14 of 20 passes for 118 yards and an 18-yard laser scoring pass to Joe Horn. But Brooks missed badly on a few key third down pass plays that cost the team scoring opportunities. His backup, Todd Bouman fared even worse by hitting only 3 of 8 passes and having one picked off.


“We were able to move the ball up and down the field but we couldn’t get points,� said receiver Jerome Pathon. “It’s preseason, so we weren’t showing much of what we could do, but we had the opportunities and we kept missing them.�


I think these two paragraphs pretty much say it all.