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| Sunday, October 20 Updated: October 23, 2:32 PM ET Third-down success has Saints among NFC's elite By Len Pasquarelli ESPN.com |
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NEW ORLEANS -- In a raucous New Orleans locker room packed with new converts, and where you half-expected a Zydeco snake dance to break out at any second, Saints veterans patiently reviewed the components of their latest victory on Sunday evening and sudden status as an NFC powerhouse. Strong safety Sammy Knight spoke of the two takeaways the Saints defense forced in the final 12 minutes of a breathtaking 35-27 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, a win that nudged New Orleans to 6-1. Offensive left tackle Kyle Turley cited the career-high 139 rushing yards amassed by second-year tailback Deuce McAllister. And special teams ace Michael Lewis wasn't at all shy about acknowledging his significance in dictating field position with his production on the runback units and his tackles on kick coverage.
Until, that is, the Saints were politely reminded of the importance that third-down conversions had in what New Orleans players and coaches considered a statement game for them. The Big Easy Bandwagon might need to be retrofitted for those heavy-duty shock absorbers, so crowded has it become in recent days, and converting 10-of-14 third-down plays Sunday clearly added some passengers to the burgeoning congregation of true believers. "Oh, yeah, we converted some tough (circumstances), didn't we?" allowed wide receiver Joe Horn, who had eight catches for 109 yards and two scores and who produced seven first downs. "I guess now that you mention it, we had it working on third down, huh?" More renowned for his trademark hyperbole, Horn certainly understated the obvious for a change, since the New Orleans offense regularly transformed the San Francisco defensive "sub" looks into, well, a "plug nickel" package. Not that the third-down success shouldn't have been anticipated. New Orleans entered the showdown having moved the chains 39 of 85 third downs and its 45.9 percent conversion rate was fifth-best in the NFL. In the 49ers, they found an easy mark, a secondary so deficient on third down that some members of the unit should have bull's eyes stenciled on the fronts of their uniforms. San Francisco had permitted a 47.8 conversion rate on third down, the fourth-worst mark in the league, with opponents hitting on 32 of 67 tries. But what the Saints accomplished in shredding San Francisco on third-down plays Sunday afternoon was something special. Consider these numbers:
Like most of the San Francisco opponents, the Saints went hard after rookie "nickel" cornerback Mike Rumph, the 49ers' first-round draft choice and a guy often exposed as a step slow. It would be unfair, though, to blame all of the San Francisco third-down problems on the former University of Miami standout, since secondary breakdowns were epidemic. It was clear that the 49ers missed free safety Zack Bronson, sidelined by a broken foot, in many of their third-down failures. Horn was hardly the lone beneficiary of the third-down conversion binge, as Brooks spread the ball nicely to wide receivers Jerome Pathon (four catches for 59 yards) and Jake Reed (four grabs, 54 yards), as well. Seemingly over a foot injury that has slowed him since last season, Pathon now is beginning to make plays, and to find holes in the secondary when the Saints spread the field. Salvaged from the mothballs, and playing in most of the three-wideout sets as first-round sprinter Donté Stallworth rehabilitates from yet another hamstring injury, Reed is proving to be a bargain. "Look, the third-down plays, those are clutch," said Pathon, signed as a free agent this summer after spending his first four seasons in Indianapolis. "You have to convert (third downs) in this league to be a good offense." A somewhat ironic sidebar to the game was that former Saints coach Jim Mora, blistered for years by the fans and media here for a conservative bent on offense during his tenure, was honored at halftime and inducted into the franchise hall of fame. This is definitely nothing resembling the attack that Mora's teams ran. Doubly ironic: Mora's son is the San Francisco defensive coordinator and, while his unit is markedly better than a couple seasons ago, the third-down disasters haven't ceased. "We had a lot of chances to knock them off the field on third down," said 49ers coach Steve Maruicci. "And we just couldn't do it. Our third-down conversions were pretty good but we couldn't stop them." Actually, the 49ers converted an even higher percentage on third down than the Saints, moving the sticks nine of 12 times. The New Orleans defense continues to be suspect at times, although it shut down the 49ers when it had to at "crunch time" on Sunday, but there is no denying the offense rates as one of the quickest and most explosive units in the league. The Saints love to spread the field -- by our unofficial count, they were in three- or four-wide receiver formations on 36 of 65 snaps Sunday -- to create matchup advantages for their receivers and creases for McAllister. Obviously, the wide-open approach is working, since the club is averaging 31.6 points and is on pace to obliterate the franchise record for scoring, 422 points in 1987. Things, in fact, are falling into place nicely for the Saints, whose schedule for the balance of the season is hardly daunting. Many pundits wrote off the club after an offseason in which it lost half its starting defensive line in free agency, traded perennial Pro Bowl offensive left tackle Willie Roaf and also tailback Ricky Williams, lost cornerback Dale Carter to a drug suspension, and fired general manager Randy Mueller. With victories over playoff hopefuls like Tampa Bay, Green Bay, Pittsburgh and now San Francisco, the Saints have already posted a neat resume. And it is not an overstatement to suggest they are the NFC's premier outfit, perhaps the best team in the league, for that matter. Haslett crowed in his postgame interview that not many of the inquisitors standing in front of him figured New Orleans would be 6-1 at this point. But it was Brooks, on-target all day long in clutch situations, who said it best. "I think we know who we are and what we have now," Brooks said. "I think we know that we've weathered the (schedule) and that we can move on now from this and really do something special." Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com. |
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