Saints still hurt after loss
By By Richard Dark / EMG staff writer
Oct. 28, 2003
METAIRIE, La. Following Sunday's 23-20 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers, the throng of media surrounded a seemingly inconsolable New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister, who was stopped on a pivotal fourth and one in the extra session.
But what McAllister didn't want to stipulate, is that the game may have been lost numerous other times before Julius Peppers shed the block of tight end Ernie Conwell and stripped Deuce of the ball as he took flight.
That play and many other missed opportunities were what Jim Haslett focused on the day after his team suffered what he called mentally the toughest loss since he has been here.
Haslett admitted, as Conwell did a day earlier, that his tight end missed the critical block that allowed Peppers to get free.
But there were other bad breaks as well. Haslett talked of the two turnovers by quarterback Aaron Brooks that he said cost the Saints two scores. The first came when Brooks fumbled the ball while attempting to connect with an all-alone Joe Horn, who had beaten Panthers cornerback Terry Cousins. The second came on his interception of the pass that was intended for tight end Boo Williams at the Carolina 7.
