Saints down Steelers, 20-16
;By ALAN ROBINSON
•AP Sports Writer
. PITTSBURGH The Pittsburgh Steelers discovered
•yesterday what the rest of the NFL is quickly learning:
These New Orleans Saints definitely aren’t the Aints.
The Saints, redefining the term big-play defense,
turned two of Pittsburgh’s four fourth-quarter turnovers
into scores and mounted two memorable goal line stands
in the closing minutes to beat the Steelers 20-16 yesterday
and guarantee their first-ever winning season.
It might have been the most unforgettable victory in the
Saints’ 21 years of existence even if it hadn’t improved
their record to 8-3 and put them in line for their first-ever
playoff appearance.
“This is the most incredible win we’ve ever had,” said
Saints linebacker Pat Swilling. “We were on the ropes the
whole time yet we won. There was just a sense of urgency
in the fourth quarter for us to never let them score.”
“There are so many times we could have won the game
and didn’t,” said Steelers running back Walter Aber
crombie. “We had this game in our grasp and let it slip
away. There were just too many mistakes .. . maybe we
had too many opportunities to score.”
The Saints winning their fifth in a row, four of them of
the road trailed 14-3 at halftime, but rallied for a 20-14
lead when their defense forced last-quarter turnovers
that led to Bobby Hebert’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Eric
Martin and Morten Andersen’s 32-yard field goal.
Martin’s touchdown with 8:16 left followed Dave Waym
er’s recovery of Rod Woodson’s fumbled punt and put the
Saints in the lead for good at 17-14. Andersen’s second
field goal of the game came after Milton Mack inter
cepted Mark Malone on Pittsburgh’s next possession.
It was hardly over.
Malone hit Calvin Sweeney for completions of 34,7 and
11 yards for a first down at the Saints’ 4, but the Steelers
managed only 3 yards on the next three plays and on a
fourth-and-goal play from the 1, linebacker Sam Mills
slammed into fullback Frank Pollard just in front of the
goal line on a fourth-and-goal play from the 1.
“We knew exactly what play they were going to run.. .
we’d seen it on film, they ran the same play a couple of
weeks ago,” said linebacker Rickey Jackson. “I called it
in the huddle.”
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The Saints’ Brian Hansen then ran out of the end zone
for a safety rather than risk having a punt blocked with
1:05 to play. The strategy almost backfired as Malone
marched the Steelers down the field again to a first down
at the Saints’ 3 in the final minute.
But Joe Kohlbrand pulled Malone down for a 7-yard loss
on first down, and Waymer intercepted Malone on the
final play of the game “to take the monkey off our backs ”
said Saints Coach Jim Mora. ’
“By achieving this, people can no longer say, ‘The
Saints are the only NFL team not to have a winning
season,’ ” Mora said. “It was a monkey that had become
a gorilla. And this win says a lot about us.”
“It definitely seems God was on our side at the end,”
Hebert said.
Ruben Mayes ran 5 yards fora touchdown early in the
third period to pull the Saints to within 14-10, the only
score of the game that wasn’t set up by two of the NFL’s
top-rated defenses.
New Orleans is assured of an 8-7 record even if it loses
its remaining four games. The Saints have never had a
record better than 8-8 since gaining an NFL expansion
franchise in 1966.
The Saints’ defense blocked its sixth kick of the year
when Johnnie Poe tipped Harry Newsome’s punt, setting
up Andersen’s 25-yard field goal with 2:42 left in the first
quarter.
Dwayne Woodruff’s 32-yard interception return, the
sixth touchdown scored by Pittsburgh’s defense this
season, gave the Steelers a 7-3 lead early in the second
period. Pittsburgh made it 14-3 on Walter Abercrombie’s
5-yard TD run just 46 seconds before halftime following
Mike Merriweather’s recovery of a Mayes fumble.
The only score of the day that the defenses didn’t figure
in was Mayes’ scoring run. The Saints drove 86 yards on
13 plays after the second-half kickoff with Mayes who
finished with 73 yards on 22 carries gaining 23 yards on
five carries and Hebert hitting Hoby Brenner for 20 yards
and Mike Jones for 16 yards.
The Saints forced three Steelers’ fumbles and harassed
Malone into completing only 16-of-31 passes and three
interceptions.
New Orleans also limited Pittsburgh’s usually effective
ground game to 112 yards.
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Saints comerback Johnnie Poe breaks up a pass intended for John Stallworth in
the first quarter of New Orleans’ 20-16 win yesterday.
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