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SHAKY START
Saturday, August 13, 2005
By Jeff Duncan
Staff writer
Saints struggle in preseason opener;

Haslett says it's way too early to panic



The Saints put their 2005 advertising slogan to the test Friday night.

You gotta have faith. Indeed.

Faith was about all the Saints left their frustrated fans with after a 34-15 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the exhibition opener for both teams at the Superdome.

It was only an exhibition game, but the Saints' performance was ugly, even by preseason standards. The offense committed three first-half turnovers that Seattle turned into 21 points. The defense surrendered 216 rushing yards and put on a woeful display of tackling in the second half.

All in all, the inept performance gave Saints coach Jim Haslett plenty of fodder to drill his troops next week in practice before the team hits the road for a nationally televised preseason game against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots on Thursday night.

"Obviously, it was not exactly the way we wanted to get going," Haslett said.

Said running back Deuce McAllister: "We got a long ways to go."

With any new offense, there are going to be kinks, and the Saints had their share of first-game miscues.

Operating in game conditions for the first time under first-year coordinator Mike Sheppard and a new play-call system, the first-team unit was effective on the ground but struggled to move the chains.

The tone was set on the game's first series.

McAllister was stripped of the football by linebacker Niko Koutouvides on his third carry from scrimmage to set up an early touchdown by Seattle.

Right tackle Jammal Brown, who worked for almost three quarters, experienced his first rookie mistake when he failed to line up within one yard of the line of scrimmage and was whistled for illegal formation, nullifying a 26-yard reception by Donté Stallworth, the unit's biggest gain of the half.

Otherwise, Haslett was happy with the process, which utilized play-call wristbands for the first time. The offense routinely broke the huddle with 15 seconds or more on the play clock, although a handful of third downs went down to the final seconds.

"I thought the precision was fine, but the execution wasn't there," Haslett said. "I was happy with the way we got out of the huddle. I thought the quarterbacks had plenty of time to look things over at the line.

The Saints left the fancy stuff in the locker room. They ran on 11 of their first 18 plays. McAllister led the way with 38 yards on nine carries, most of them straight up the middle.

But turnovers and penalties kept the first unit out of the end zone.

Brooks played five series. Four of his possessions went three-and-out. He finished 5-of-9 for 14 yards.

"I think we were moving it pretty well," left tackle Wayne Gandy said. "We killed ourselves with turnovers and false starts."

The execution went from shaky to shoddy when the reserves hit the field midway through the second quarter.

Backup quarterback Todd Bouman turned over the ball on two of his first five plays. He lost a fumble when Leroy Hill beat Aaron Stecker's block for a blindside sack. Joe Tafoya recovered the loose ball, which set up a 24-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Seneca Wallace.

On the next series, Bouman threw an ill-advised deep pass into double coverage that was picked off by John Howell.

"The fumble was because of a missed block in protection," Haslett said. "The one pass was bad. The ball just slipped out of his hand."

Things got downright comical in the fourth quarter when rookie quarterback Adrian McPherson lined up behind right guard Augie Hoffman to take a snap from center, forcing running back Keith Joseph to call a timeout.

The defense didn't fare any better. The second- and third-team units surrendered four consecutive scoring drives to Wallace. In the fourth quarter, third-string fullback Leonard Weaver ran through three missed tackles en route to a 40-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring.

"The fourth quarter was horrendous," Haslett said. "That one drive in the fourth quarter was about as bad as I've seen."

It was not a good night for Jason Craft. He was beaten in single coverage on back-to-back plays for completions of 33 and 28 yards. The latter resulted in a touchdown by former Saint Jerome Pathon and gave the Seahawks a 21-3 lead late in the first half.

Reserve Kliff Kingsbury and McPherson each had their share of flashes in the fourth quarter but were unable to sustain them for prolonged stretches. Kingsbury completed four of seven passes for 73 yards, including a 57-yard bomb to Michael Lewis. McPherson showcased his all-around athletic skills, running for 25 yards on four carries and completing three of seven passes for 28 yards.

"I thought the wrist bands and the play calls worked well," Kingsbury said. ". . . we just didn't execute as well as we'd like."

Kingsbury, though, preferred to remain optimistic.

"When I played for New England last year we lost to the Bengals 31-3 in the preseason," Kingsbury said. "So take from that what you will."

While far from satisfied, Haslett had a few words of advice for reporters before leaving his postgame press conference.

"Don't panic," he said. "It's only the preseason."

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Jeff Duncan can be reached at jduncan@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3405.

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