NFL Recap (New Orleans-Atlanta)
Posted: Sun October 18, 1998 at 6:20 p.m. EDT
ATLANTA 31, NEW ORLEANS 23
ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Steve DeBerg has made quite a career of being a
backup quarterback.
The 44-year-old DeBerg came off the bench to replace the injured Chris Chandler and guided
the Atlanta Falcons to
their seventh straight victory over the New Orleans Saints, 31-23.
After a five-year absence, DeBerg was lured back to the NFL by Falcons
coach Dan Reeves to back up the injury-prone Chandler, who was knocked out
late in the first half with shoulder and wrist injuries. He overcame a
safety and directed a scoring drive in the fourth quarter, finishing
7-of-10 for 60 yards and a touchdown to Bob Christian.
"If I go in and do what I'm supposed to do, and not do anything to
help us lose, I'm doing my job," DeBerg said. "Hopefully Chris stays
healthy and plays all year. That's the way we have the best chance to
win."
"It was a huge win for us," Falcons coach Dan Reeves said. "I can't
tell you how pleased I am that we overcame some of the things we did.
Certainly losing Chris in the ballgame. ... To overcome that was
important."
DeBerg, who has served as an understudy to Joe Montana, John Elway, Steve Young and Dan Marino, had some help in
spoiling Saints coach Mike Ditka's 59th birthday. Jamal Anderson eclipsed
100 yards for the fourth straight game and Eugene Robinson returned
his 50th career interception 25 yards for a score.
"Football's the biggest team sport there is," Chandler said. "The
whole team played well, especially in the fourth quarter, and that's what
won it for us."
After former Falcon Billy Joe Tolliver's
82-yard bomb to Keith
Poole pulled New Orleans within eight points with 3:19 to go, DeBerg
calmly completed a sideline pass for a clinching first down to Tony Martin, who caught
seven passes for 116 yards.
"Steve DeBerg made a good throw on third down to Tony Martin, and Bob
Christian did a good job of getting in the end zone," Reeves said.
The Falcons dealt the Saints (3-3) their third consecutive loss and
improved to 5-1 for the first time in 1986 as they staked their claim as
the second-best team in the NFC West behind San Francisco.
"We're not tough enough. They're tougher than us," said Ditka, whose
league-worst defense gave up 140 rushing yards. They beat us on the front
line. I told them last night what it would take. They demolished our
defense. Our defense is very, very soft. It deserves to be rated where it
is. We don't challenge people. We can't stop the run."
Anderson finished with 132 yards on 25 carries, tying the club record
for consecutive 100-yard games set by Gerald Riggs in 1985.
Tolliver was 14-of-29 for 261 yards and a pair of long TDs to Poole,
who caught three passes for 154 yards. But New Orleans was done in by
turnovers. The Saints came in with no fumbles among their conference-low
five turnovers but committed four giveaways, including a pair of fumbles.
"We had an opportunity today to win a football game but we made too
many turnovers and penalties," Tolliver said. "Anytime that you play a
good football team, especially at home, you can't turn the ball over."
Chandler, Atlanta's most indispensible player who has missed parts of
the last three seasons with injuries, was knocked out of the game late in
the first half after guiding the Falcons to a 17-7 lead.
Chandler got up holding his left wrist when he was tackled after the
whistle. He stayed in the game, but on the next possession, the Pro Bowler
was sacked by linebacker Mark Fields and suffered a
sprained left shoulder and bruised ribs.
"It's just hard to breathe and move that shoulder right now," Chandler
said after the game as he favored his left side. "There's nothing in there
that is broken or cracked. It just that the muscles and cartilage in those
ribs are sore. I'll show up early in the morning for treatment and stay
there all day and hopefully it will respond well."
"It doesn't look very good right now, but a lot of things can happen
between now and Wednesday," said Reeves, who seemed a bit more concerned.
Before the injuries, the Saints scored on a 64-yard TD pass from
Tolliver to Poole, cutting the deficit to 17-14 with 3:52 left in the half.
Tolliver read a blitz and threw a post pattern to Poole, who sped through
an empty secondary to the end zone.
DeBerg, who came in with one more pass attempt than receiver Tim Dwight, fumbled a snap
early in the third quarter and corraled it in the end zone, where Saints
defensive lineman Wayne
Martin fell on him for a safety.
"It took me a little while to settle down," DeBerg said. "Seems I was
anticipating things a little too much."
But New Orleans' next two possessions ended in fumbles, allowing
DeBerg to ease in. On Atlanta's first possession of the final period,
DeBerg was 3-of-3 for 38 yards, including an eight-yard swing pass that
Christian took in for a score with 11:05 to go.
"Bob was wide open and made a fantastic run to get into the end zone.
Bob did most of the work," DeBerg said.
"The fumbles were ridiculous," Ditka said. "You want to blame the
coaches, fine. But look at the players who fumbled. It's silly. It's
lack of discipline."
On the ensuing possession, Tolliver's third-down pass from his own end
zone was nabbed in the middle of the field by Robinson, who took it back
for his third career TD. Robinson became the 21st player in NFL history
with 50 interceptions.
"It was a big play," Robinson said. "I crept over to the other
position. I saw the overthrow, caught the ball and ran it in. It looked
like they kind of just stopped on the play."
There were a handful of long scoring drives in the first half. Atlanta
marched 76 yards after the opening kickoff and Morton Andersen kicked a
22-yard field goal. The Saints responded with a 14-play, 80-yard drive
that consumed nearly 9 1/2 minutes and resulted in Lamar Smith's five-yard TD
run. Tolliver threw passes of 10 and 23 yards to tight end Cameron Cleeland.
Anderson's 31-yard TD jaunt punctuated a 79-yard drive in just under
five minutes and gave the Falcons the lead for good at 10-7 with 8:43 left
in the first half. After Atlanta forced a punt, Chandler found Tony Martin
with a 45-yard bomb.
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