NFL Recap (Tampa Bay-New Orleans)
Posted: Sun October 25, 1998 at 6:09 p.m. EST
NEW ORLEANS 9, TAMPA BAY 3
NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- Doug Brien kicked three
field goals and Chad
Cota intercepted Trent
Dilfer with just over one minute left as the New Orleans Saints beat
the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers, 9-3, in a matchup of the NFC's worst offenses.
The Buccaneers (3-4) remained winless on the road in four attempts,
while the Saints (4-3) snapped a three-game losing streak after opening the
season with three wins.
Brien connected on kicks of 50, 46 and 41 yards, while Tampa's Michael Husted, who made a
season-long 52-yard boot in the third quarter, missed a pair of field-goal
attempts in the second half. Brien has converted all 11 of his attempts
this season.
"Any time I have the opportunity to place my foot on the ball, I'm
going to do well," said Brien. "That's the attitude I come into the game
with."
Tampa Bay drove to midfield with just under two minutes remaining, but
defensive end Joe
Johnson was draped all over Dilfer, who released a fluttering pass into
the arms of Cota at the New Orleans 20 to snuff the Bucs last threat.
"I am proud of them win or lose," said Saints coach Mike Ditka. "I
think this is big for our defense. I really do. I don't care who we play
or anything else. They stepped up and made the plays they had to make. It
reminds me of the defense we played with last year."
New Orleans safety Sammy Knight had a stellar
day, intercepting Dilfer at his own 20 in the second quarter, and
recovering a fumble by tight end Patrick Hape at his own
5-yard line on Tampa Bay's opening drive.
Billy Joe Tolliver
completed 20-of-32 for 216 yards in his second start for New Orleans. Troy Davis started in
place of injured starter Lamar Smith and rushed for
a career-high 50 yards on 19 carries and caught five passes for 44 yards.
"We knew it would be a tough game," said Tolliver. "They have a very
good defensive football team. We just had to go out and take care of the
ball. Don't turn it over. Don't have stupid penalties and do the things
that we can offensively. It's frustrating that we didn't punch it in the
end zone today."
Dilfer finished 20-for-43 for 186 yards and two interceptions and Warrick Dunn was held to
46 yards on 11 carries.
The Tampa Bay offense, which came in averaging a conference-worst
268.3 yards per game, was shut out in the first half. The Bucs have scored
just 16 points in the first half this season, all in the second quarter.
The Saints came in ranked just ahead of the Bucs with a 271.3
yards-per-game average.
"Not a lot of good things to say about this one," said Tampa Bay coach
Tony Dungy. "You have to give credit to the Saints. There weren't a whole
lot of plays that we made out there. They made some things happen. We had
our chances and couldn't take advantage of them and weren't able to put a
lot of points on the board."
Embattled Tampa Bay linebacker Hardy Nickerson, who was
fined by the league for spitting on Carolina fullback William Floyd a week ago,
became the Buccaneers all-time leading tackler in the fourth quarter with
858, surpassing former Tampa Bay linebacker Richard Wood (1976-84).
The Saints extended their streak of consecutive games with a sack to
58, when Kevin Mitchell
smothered Dilfer early in the third quarter. New Orleans is just four
games short of the all-time record, held by the Washington Redskins.
"All of a sudden, after staying back all day, we just called a blitz
out of the blue and we ran it perfect," said Mitchell.
New Orleans improved to 13-5 in the all-time series with Tampa Bay and
Ditka has won 18 of 22 games in his career against the Bucs.
With the game tied 3-3, Tampa Bay's Reidel Anthony returned
the second-half kickoff 32 yards to set up a six-play, 25-yard drive which
culminated in Husted's field goal.
New Orleans answered right back with a six-play, 45-yard drive, capped
by Brien's 50-yard field goal with 9:15 left in the third quarter. Brien
is 11-for-14 for his career on kicks of 50 or more yards.
The Buccaneers squandered their best opportunity to score later in the
third, when linebacker Jeff
Gooch recovered an errant handoff by Tolliver, which trickled down the
leg of Davis at the New Orleans 20.
Three plays later, Dilfer seemed to connect on a 14-yard touchdown
strike which was ruled incomplete. Replays indicated that the nose of the
ball nicked the turf, before Bert Emanuel was able to
nestle it in his arms. Husted proceeded to miss a 32-yard field goal that
would have tied the contest with 5:24 remaining.
Emanuel caught six passes for 86 yards and Dunn had five receptions
for 27 yards. Rookie returner Jacquez Green had a
productive day, returning four kicks for 110 yards and a punt for another
55.
However, Green dropped a 40-yard bomb from Dilfer with just under four
minutes remaining that would have placed the Bucs inside the New Orleans
20.
"I had the ball and I just didn't handle it," said Green. "I should
try to catch it first, before I made my move. It's frustrating because we
can't score many touchdowns and we are not putting together many drives."
New Orleans outgained Tampa Bay 266-238 and both teams were a woeful
4-for-16 on third-down conversions.
Cameron Cleeland,
who came into the game with the most receptions for a tight end, had four
catches for 55 yards, including a crucial grab on a 3rd-and-2 to the Tampa
Bay 25, which set up Brien's final field goal.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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