Saints Let One Slip Away, 34-31
Mistakes on offense, questionable officials hand Vick and Falcons a win

posted October 16, 2005 - print me!
neworleansprofootball.com
By Chris Pika - courtesy of neworleanssaints.com

SAN ANTONIO, Texas--Atlanta made the most of a second chance as K Todd Peterson, who missed a 41-yard field goal - only to have a defensive holding call made on the Saints - a play earlier, made a 36-yarder as time expired as the Falcons beat the New Orleans Saints, 34-31 in the Alamodome.

The Falcons (4-2) had first-and-10 at the Saints' 28 with nine seconds to play. Atlanta QB Michael Vick went up the middle for no gain to get the ball in the center of the field. The Saints (2-4) were flagged for 12 men on the field and the ball was moved to the 23 with six seconds left.

Peterson trotted out for his field goal attempt and it sailed wide left with two seconds left as the Saints saw an overtime period on the horizon - but only for a moment - as a penalty flag was thrown at the line of scrimmage. Saints DT Tony Bryant was called for defensive holding, a five-yard penalty, which allowed Peterson another try. This time, his kick sailed through the uprights and the Falcons celebrated their victory in front of an Alamodome sporting event record crowd of 65,562.

"The explanation on the second to last play was defensive holding," said NFL referee Bill Carollo to a pool reporter after the game. "It's considered a 'pull-and-shoot'. No. 92 (Tony Bryant) on defense grabbed his opponent and pulled him to the inside, allowing his teammate to shoot through and into the hole. By definition of defensive holding on a field goal kick, two things have to happen. First, he has to have defensive holding and the second player has to shoot into the hole. That's what we called."

It was the exact play that the Falcons tried against New England last week in the final seconds as the Patriots won, 31-28 in the Georgia Dome, according to Saints Coach Jim Haslett.

"We took exactly the same play that Atlanta ran last week to try to block the game-winning field goal against New England and we tried to run, and they didn't call it (defensive holding) against Atlanta," he said. "They called holding on us. We were pulling a guy (Tony Bryant), and you are allowed to pull as long as you are going forward, which allowed Jason Craft to get through."

For the 18th time in the series between the NFC South rivals since 1990, the game was decided by a touchdown or less as Peterson's kick capped a fourth quarter in which 31 combined points were scored and the game was tied twice by the Saints in the final seven minutes - the last time at 31-31 on a 15-yard TD reception by WR Devery Henderson with 46 seconds to play.

Atlanta had all three timeouts remaining after the Saints score and CB Allen Rossum returned the ensuing kickoff to the Falcons 30. Vick hit TE Alge Crumpler with a pair of passes for 13 and 16 yards on the first two plays of the drive out to the Saints 39 with 24 seconds to go.

A false start penalty backed up the Falcons five yards to the 44, but Vick threw a 10-yard strike to WR Roddy White to the Saints' 34 with 19 seconds showing. A two-yard pass to Crumpler, who got out of bounds at the 32, set up a third-and-three at the New Orleans 32. Vick got outside and used his feet as he picked up four yards, a first down at the 24 and stopped the clock with nine seconds to go. That play set up the final sequence in which the Falcons beat the Saints for only the second time in the last five meetings.

"I was proud of the team in the way they came back from last week and we played well in a lot of areas," Haslett said. "When you turn the ball over for a touchdown, when you have a blocked field goal for a touchdown and an interception that directly led to a score, we have to eliminate those mistakes. It is a shame because I thought we played well enough to win."

The Saints got the opening kickoff, went three-and-out, and Atlanta took over at their 26 with 14:11 left in the first quarter. The Falcons drove down to the Saints' 19, but three straight incomplete passes forced Atlanta to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Peterson and a 3-0 lead with 9:39 to play.

New Orleans took a 7-3 lead later in the quarter as the running back tandem of Antowain Smith and Aaron Stecker got going. After a five-yard scamper by Brooks, Stecker picked up six and Smith went off right guard for 19 to the Atlanta 32. An offensive holding call on the Saints at the end of the run pushed the ball back 10 yards to the Falcons' 42. Brooks then found TE Zachary Hilton for a 18-yard pickup and a first down at the 24.

Smith took a handoff from Brooks on the next play, got up the middle and sprinted 24 yards for a touchdown with 3:37 left.

Rookie S Josh Bullocks got his first career interception on the first play of the second quarter as he picked off a Vick pass at the Saints' 4 and raced 51 yards to the Falcons' 45 with 14:47 to go.

Smith got four yards on first down and Brooks threw a 19-yard pass to WR Az-Zahir Hakim which gave the Saints a first down at the Atlanta 22. Brooks called his own number and scrambled up the middle for a 13-yard gain to the 9. Eventually, the Saints got to the Falcons' 1 on third-and-goal, but Smith was stopped for no gain and Carney connected on a 19-yard field goal with 9:55 left.

The Saints got the ball back after an Atlanta punt with 8:16 left and had second-and-five at the Atlanta 32. Smith was halted for a two-yard loss and had the ball knocked away by LB Michael Boley. CB DeAngelo Hall picked up the fumble and went 66 yards for a touchdown with 4:04 on the clock as the Falcons tied the game at 10-10.

New Orleans took the ensuing kickoff and appeared to score a touchdown 16 seconds before halftime as Hakim caught a 17-yard pass from Brooks just over the goal line. But, an offensive pass interference call on Hakim nullified the play and marched the ball back to the Falcons' 27. Brooks was sacked by DE Patrick Kerney on the following play for a six-yard loss back to the 33 and took a timeout with 10 seconds remaining. Carney trotted out for a 51-yard field goal attempt and Atlanta called a timeout. During the stoppage in play, the Saints - with one timeout remaining - decided to run a play to get Carney closer. Stecker gained four yards to the 29 and the Saints used their last timeout with :04 on the clock.

Carney's kick was blocked by Boley and LB Demarrio Williams recovered at the Falcons' 41. Behind several blockers, he was able to go the distance and score 59 yards later for a 17-10 advantage as the first half came to a close. Television replays from Fox Sports appeared to show that the Falcons used leverage to block the kick, but no flag was thrown.

Atlanta had two returns for scores in the final 4:04 of the first half as they turned a 10-3 deficit into a 17-10 halftime lead. The first was a fumble by Saints RB Antowain Smith that was turned into a 66-yard fumble return for a score by CB DeAngelo Hall with 4:04 to go. The Saints lined up for a 47-yard field goal by K John Carney with four seconds left that could have given New Orleans a 13-10 advantage. Instead, the kick was blocked by Falcons LB Michael Boley and returned by LB Demorrio Williams 59 yards for a touchdown as time expired in the half.

The Saints tied the game, 17-17 on Smith's second TD run of the game, a one-yarder for the only points of the third quarter with 7:39 left.

The Falcons went on a long march after the score as Vick took the Atlanta offense on an 18-play journey over 82 yards that took 10:22 off the clock for a 24-17 lead as he threw an 12-yard pass to FB Justin Griffith with 12:17 to play in the fourth quarter.

New Orleans went to the air on their next possession as Brooks completed passes of 18 yards to Henderson, 12 to WR Nate Poole and 12 more to Henderson during the drive, which was capped by a 27-yard pass to WR Donte' Stallworth for a 24-24 tie with 6:56 remaining.

Atlanta went three-and-out after the TD, but Brooks' pass on first down that was intended for Henderson tipped off the wide receiver and fell into the hands of LB Keith Brooking at the Saints 33. He returned the pick 11 yards to the 22 at the 5:09 mark.

After an offensive holding call on Atlanta, Falcons WR Warrick Dunn gave them a 31-24 lead with 4:37 remaining on a 21-yard run off right end.

In need of a touchdown to tie the contest, the Saints went to work from their 15. Mixing runs with passes, New Orleans drove to midfield at the two-minute warning and faced a second-and-two with all three timeouts remaining.

Hakim caught a six-yard pass to the Atlanta 44 and a first down and a defensive holding penalty on the Falcons gave the Saints a first down at the 39 on the next play. Two straight incomplete passes by Brooks were followed a key 13-yard catch by Hakim at the Falcons' 26 and a timeout with 1:28 left.

Brooks passed for four yards to Stecker and seven more to Stallworth for another first down with 56 seconds as the Saints used their second timeout.

After an incomplete pass to Stecker, Brooks threw a bullet into the middle of the back of the end zone, where Henderson hauled it in for the 15-yard TD and the 31-31 tie - his first career TD catch.

With RB Deuce McAllister out for the season with a torn ACL, Smith (12 carries for 88 yards, two TDs) and Stecker (16 carries for 86 yards) carried the load.

It was the first time that Smith had a two-TD rushing game since Dec. 9, 2001 when he had a pair of scores for New England vs. Cleveland.

Brooks was 22-of-33 passing for 259 yards, two TDs and one interception for New Orleans. Stallworth led the Saints with seven catches for 83 yards and one TD, Hakim had six catches for 85 yards and Henderson finished with four receptions for 53 yards and one TD as WR Joe Horn, who started the game, left as he re-injured his hamstring.

Vick was 11-of-23 passing for 112 yards, one TD and one interception. Dunn had 22 carries for 100 yards and one TD for the Falcons while Vick had eight carries for 51 yards. Crumpler led all Atlanta receivers with four receptions for 52 yards.

The Saints tied the club record for first downs with 32, previously set vs. Atlanta on Jan. 2, 1983. New Orleans had 456 total yards, 211 on the ground, to Atlanta's 266 overall.

Atlanta was called for 10 penalties for 79 yards while New Orleans was whistled eight times for 55 yards.

The Saints travel to St. Louis next Sunday (Oct. 23) to face the Rams (Noon CT; FOX, WWL 870-AM, KGLA 1540-AM [Spanish], Saints Radio Network) in the Edward Jones Dome.

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