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http://www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs..../1032/SPORTS01




Dropped passes ruin Brooks’ productivity

By DAVID JACKSON
Courier Correspondent



Saints running back Deuce McAllister (26) rushed for 116 yards on 29 carries in Sunday win over the Bears. (Jonathan Cohen/The Courier)

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NEW ORLEANS -- It should have been a monster game for New Orleans Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks. But five dropped passes by the receiving corps made sure that Brooks looked merely adequate in their 20-13 win over the Chicago Bears Sunday afternoon in the Louisiana Superdome.

Brooks, who completed 14 of 29 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns, delivered nearly perfect passes to receivers Joe Horn, Donté Stallworth and tight end Ernie Conwell before they simultaneously dropped the football and his quarterback rating.

"Six penalties on offense and three dropped passes in the first half," Saints coach Jim Haslett said. "Those are things that we are going to have to eliminate. The good football teams don’t do that."

After Horn dropped a deflected pass with 8:03 left in the first quarter on third down and 10, Stallworth dropped a potential 7-yard gain on third-and-four after running a slant route up the middle at the beginning of the second quarter.

But the biggest drop came with 12:13 remaining in the second quarter as the Saints led 3-0. Horn beat his defender on a double move. Brooks stepped up on his own 37-yard-line and threw the ball directly to Horn. The ball sailed more than 45 yards and landed directly over Horn’s right shoulder. But he dropped the pass with only the end zone in front of him.

"I should have caught the damn ball," Horn said. "I could say 'the guy had his hand in there’ and 'he was too close.’ No, I should have caught the ball, put the corner(back) on my back and made a touchdown. I’m not going to make excuses. I should have caught the damn ball."

Six offensive plays later, Conwell dropped a pass thrown directly to his stomach on first and 18 with 5:08 left in the first half.

After Stallworth and Horn dropped third-down passes, Brooks took both players on the sideline and threw passes to them for several minutes as the defense took the field.

Both Conwell and Horn, however, redeemed themselves by catching touchdown passes in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. Conwell caught a nine-yard-strike from Brooks in the middle of the end zone with 12:09 in the third quarter to make the score 13-3 in favor of the Saints.

Brooks found Horn for a 6-yard completion with 7:23 to go in the fourth quarter, increasing the lead to 20-6.

Being booed by fans after nearly every incompletion, Brooks finally hooked up with Conwell on the touchdown pass. Brooks celebrated by raising his hands and pointing exuberantly to the crowd.

Horn said Brooks remained confident "without a shadow of a doubt" in his receivers.


"We made some big plays and we also left a lot of big plays out there," Horn said. "But, we didn’t stop there. We didn’t hang our heads. We just kept chopping wood. I could have had 190 yards today and four touchdowns. But we have to put the ball in the end zone."

Despite the miscues by the passing attack, McAllister continued to chop away at the defense with 116 yards rushing on 29 carries.

"They stop Deuce (McAllister) when we don’t convert the big play," said Horn. "If we make those plays then it will continue to open holes for Deuce."