Week #9
Sunday, Nov.04, at 3COM Park, 1:05pm PDT
vs
28
 
27

San Francisco 49ers' Garrison Hearst runs past New Orleans Saints' Sammy Knight, left, in the first quarter in San Francisco, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2001. The 49ers won 28-27. (AP Photo/John Todd)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) In case any doubters remained, Garrison Hearst showed that he and the San Francisco 49ers are back.

Hearst rushed for 145 yards against one of the NFL's best run defenses, and Jeff Garcia threw four touchdown passes as the 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints 28-27 Sunday for their fifth victory in six games.

Garcia, who was 21-of-34 for 252 yards, hit Terrell Owens with eight passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Garcia also found Eric Johnson for the go-ahead TD with 11:06 left.

The receivers provided the points, but Hearst was the backbone of the 49ers' effort. He rolled up 119 yards rushing after halftime, including two long runs in the final minutes as San Francisco (6-2) ran out the clock.

Hearst, who missed the previous two seasons after breaking his leg in a playoff game in January 1999, had his best game since his improbable return to the 49ers. His teammates crowded around him in celebration after runs of 23 and 17 yards forced New Orleans to call its final timeout, effectively ending the game.

The 49ers punctuated their surprising season with their first victory over a winning team while also snapping a three-game losing streak to the Saints (4-4), whose maligned offense moved the ball impressively but couldn't score when it mattered most.

Joe Horn caught two TD passes from Aaron Brooks, and John Carney kicked four field goals - but as they have all season, penalties and turnovers played a key role in the Saints' downfall.

Ricky Williams ran for 121 yards, but his fumble in the fourth quarter set up San Francisco's last touchdown drive. A few minutes later, two false-start penalties inside the 49ers' 20 pushed New Orleans out of easy scoring range - and Williams then dropped a pass in the end zone.

Willie Jackson caught 11 passes for 167 yards for the Saints, while Horn had six catches for 99 yards.

Brooks, booed last week in the Superdome, looked like the mobile, decisive quarterback who gave the 49ers so much trouble last season. He was 22-of-37 for 347 yards.

San Francisco jumped to a healthy early lead on a nice play by rookie Kevan Barlow, who caught a short pass and rumbled up the right sideline late in the first half. He broke five tackles before lunging over the goal line for a 61-yard score that put San Francisco up 21-11.

The Saints surged back with 13 straight points, going ahead 24-21 late in the third quarter on Horn's 6-yard TD catch to end an 89-yard drive.

But with 13:23 to play, Chike Okeafor stripped the ball from Williams, giving San Francisco the ball at the Saints' 30. Garcia then got the ball to Johnson, the precocious rookie tight end from Yale, for a score that put San Francisco up 28-24.

New Orleans came back with another drive keyed on a 63-yard reception by Jackson to the 8. But after two false-start penalties pushed the Saints back, Williams dropped a catchable pass in the end zone with 8 minutes left, and New Orleans settled for a field goal.




 
FINAL
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Total
New Orleans
3
11
10
3
27
San Francisco
7
14
0
7
28
SCORING SUMMARY NOR SFO
1st Quarter
NOR FG 43 yard field goal by John Carney (NOR) is good.
3
0
SFO TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) pass across the middle complete to Terrell Owens (SFO) for a 25 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
3
7
2nd Quarter
SFO TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) pass right side complete to Terrell Owens (SFO) for a 5 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
3
14
NOR TD Aaron Brooks (NOR) pass right side complete to Joe Horn (NOR) for a 22 yard touchdown. 2 point pass from Aaron Brooks (NOR) to Willie Jackson (NOR) is good.
11
14
SFO TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) pass right side complete to Kevan Barlow (SFO) for a 61 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
11
21
NOR FG 42 yard field goal by John Carney (NOR) is good.
14
21
3rd Quarter
NOR FG 35 yard field goal by John Carney (NOR) is good.
17
21
NOR TD Aaron Brooks (NOR) pass left side complete to Joe Horn (NOR) for a 6 yard touchdown. Extra point by John Carney (NOR) is good.
24
21
4th Quarter
SFO TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) pass right side complete to Eric Johnson (SFO) for a 10 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
24
28
NOR FG 36 yard field goal by John Carney (NOR) is good.
27
28

 
 
TEAM STATISTICS
  NOR SFO
FIRST DOWNS 24 22
Passing 17 11
Rushing 7 9
Penalty 0 2
 
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 4-11 6-13
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-1 0-0
 
TOTAL NET YARDS 488 416
Total plays 70 59
Average gain 7.0 7.1
 
NET YARDS RUSHING 152 166
Rushes 32 24
Average per rush 4.8 6.9
 
NET YARDS PASSING 336 250
Completion-attempted 22-37 21-34
Yards per pass 9.1 7.4
Sacked-yards lost 1-11 1-1
Had intercepted 0 0
 
PUNTS-AVERAGE 3-43.7 6-45.2
 
RETURN-YARDAGE 120 100
Punts-returns 2-43 2-11
Kickoffs-returns 4-77 5-89
Interceptions-returns 0-0 0-0
 
PENALTIES-YARDS 8-65 5-55
FUMBLES-LOST 1-1 0-0
   
 

Passing
SAINTS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Aaron Brooks 22 37 347 59.5 9.38 1 11 2 0
49ERS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Jeff Garcia 21 34 252 61.8 7.41 1 1 4 0

Rushing
SAINTS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Ricky Williams 24 121 5.0 18 0 0
Aaron Brooks 4 16 4.0 10 0 0
Deuce McAllister 4 15 3.8 11 0 0
49ERS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Garrison Hearst 17 145 8.5 23 0 0
Kevan Barlow 3 12 4.0 7 0 0
Terrell Owens 1 12 12.0 12 0 0
Terry Jackson 1 1 1.0 1 0 0
Jeff Garcia 4 -6 -1.5 -1 0 0

Receiving
SAINTS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Willie Jackson 11 167 15.2 63 0 0
Joe Horn 6 99 16.5 44 2 0
Ricky Williams 3 52 17.3 34 0 0
Deuce McAllister 1 17 17.0 17 0 0
Terrelle Smith 1 12 12.0 12 0 0
49ERS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Terrell Owens 8 100 12.5 26 2 0
Kevan Barlow 3 80 26.7 61 1 0
Eric Johnson 3 35 11.7 19 1 0
Garrison Hearst 3 15 5.0 6 0 0
Fred Beasley 2 11 5.5 6 0 0
Tai Streets 2 11 5.5 12 0 0

Kicking
SAINTS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
John Carney 4 4 100.0 -- 1 1 100.0 13
49ERS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
Jose Cortez 0 0 0.0 -- 4 4 100.0 4

Punting
SAINTS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TOUCHBACKS
Toby Gowin 3 43.7 -- -- -- --
49ERS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TOUCHBACKS
Jason Baker 6 43.3 -- -- -- --

Kick/Punt Returns
SAINTS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Deuce McAllister 3 59 19.7 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --
Fred McAfee 1 18 18.0 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --
Wane McGarity 0 0 0.0 -- -- 2 33 16.5 -- --
49ERS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Vinny Sutherland 4 73 18.2 -- -- 2 11 5.5 -- --
Paul Smith 1 16 16.0 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --

Defense
SAINTS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS INT/TD
Fred Thomas 7 5 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Kevin Mathis 6 5 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Joe Johnson 4 4 0 1.0 1 0 0 -- --
Jay Bellamy 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Norman Hand 4 3 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Keith Mitchell 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Darrin Smith 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Darren Howard 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Michael Hawthorne 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Charlie Clemons 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Sammy Knight 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Chris Oldham 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Fred Weary 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Martin Chase 1 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Kenny Smith 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
49ERS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS INT/TD
Zack Bronson 10 10 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jeff Ulbrich 10 7 3 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Julian Peterson 8 6 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Derek Smith 7 4 3 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jason Webster 6 6 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Andre Carter 5 4 1 1.0 11 0 0 -- --
Rashad Holman 5 4 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Lance Schulters 4 2 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Dana Stubblefield 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Chike Okeafor 3 2 1 0.0 0 1 0 -- --
Ahmed Plummer 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Bryant Young 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Ronnie Heard 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --

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