Week 1, September 4th, 1988, San Francisco 49ers @ New Orleans Saints

Sunday, September 4th, 1988 1:00PM

San Francisco 49ers (0-0) @ New Orleans Saints (0-0)

Louisiana Superdome

Weather: Dome

Line: Pick (49ers), O/U 43 (under)

Attendance:  66,357 (69,723)

San Francisco 19, New Orleans 13

The 49ers are looking to rise up to prominence in the NFC and live up to many predictions they will win a Superbowl.  They were faced with an electric crowd and a tough Saints team in the Louisiana Superdome.

The 49ers took the opening kickoff and quickly converted it to 3 points on Mike Cofer's 35 yard field goal.  The drive was aided by 2 key catches by Tom Rathman from Joe Montana for 16 and 13 yards.  The 49ers would quickly force a Saints punt and John Taylor provided great field position via a 22 yard return which resulted in a 47 yard field goal by Cofer to build a 6-0 lead.

New Orleans took the ball and converted on their second try.  Morton Anderson kicked a 40 yard field goal on a drive that was fueled by Gene Atkins' 24 yard kick return and a Rueben Mayes (11-66) 20 yard rush.  The next 2 drives resulted in the teams exchanging field goals for a 9-6 San Francisco lead and 5 consecutive drives resulting in field goals.  

After forcing a 49er punt, Rookie Craig "Iron Head" Heyward was stopped on 4th and 1 from the 49ers' 32.  The Saints defense was able to hold San Francisco, however punt returner Mel Gray mishandled a poor 32 yard punt by 49er punter Brian Helton and the 49ers maintained possession.  2 Plays later, Saints Safety Brett Maxie intercepted a Joe Montana deep pass intended for Mike Wilson and he returned it for 40 yards to the 45.  Joe Montana struggled on the afternoon going 16-31 for 173 yards and 1 Interception.  6 Plays later, Craig Heyward scored on a power run for 4 yards for his 1st career touchdown, giving the Saints a 13-9 lead with :22 left on the 1st half.

New Orleans huddles before a play in the 1st Quarter

Morton Anderson kicked 2 field goals (35, 40)

Mike Cofer was perfect on field goals nailing all 4 attempts (34, 47, 45, 43).  The kickers combined for 5 field goals in the 1st half. 

The 3rd Quarter was an exchange of punts and turnovers.  The Saints broke into 49er territory when Bobby hebert threw his 2nd interception, intended for John Tice, John Fuller came up with the athletic takeaway.

The teams exchanged punts.  San Francisco had a good drive underway in the final minutes of the 3rd quarter when Roger Craig was stripped of the football at the New Orleans 20 by Sam Mills and Pat Swilling jumped on the ball to preserve the 13-9 lead.  New Orleans drove to San Francisco's 35 where they elected to punt on 4th and long and punter Brian Hanson pinned the 49ers at the 7 yard line with 13:18 remaining.  Aided by a 1st play 31 yard catch and run by Jerry Rice, and 20 yards in penalties, San Francisco and Mike Cofer with his 4th field goal cut the deficit to 1 13-12 with 10:07 to play.

After forcing the Saints to go 3 and out, Roger Craig had his longest run of the day, 28 yards.  The 49ers stalled, but it set up an advantage in the field position battle.  They forced another 3 and out and Brian Hanson kicked a 40 yard punt from the 15, giving the 49ers a chance to win at their own 45 with 2:38 remaining.

The 49ers did not waste time, as Joe Montana hit Jerry Rice with a 26 yard pass to get the ball in field goal range.  They were able to continue moving the ball behind the running of Roger Craig and Tom Rathman, burning the Saints' timeouts and setting up a 5 yard touchdown run by Doug Dubose to take 1 19-13 lead with 1:22 to play. in another 4th quarter comeback for Joe Montana.  The Saints with limited time were able to get to midfield but stalled out on downs.

Player of the Game:

Roger Craig - 49ers

Craig was the lone standout offensively, gaining 126 yards on 26 rushes, and leading the game with 8 receptions for 57 yards

1988 San Francisco 19, 1988 New Orleans 13
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
1988 San Francisco	6	3	0	10	0	19
1988 New Orleans	3	10	0	0	0	13

Scoring Plays
Qtr	Clock	Poss	Scoring Description(Extra Point)	Score
1	0:00	1988 San Francisco	M.Cofer 34 yd. field goal	3-0 SFN
1	0:00	1988 San Francisco	M.Cofer 47 yd. field goal	6-0 SFN
1	1:45	1988 New Orleans	M.Andersen 40 yd. field goal	6-3 SFN
2	11:13	1988 San Francisco	M.Cofer 45 yd. field goal	9-3 SFN
2	8:30	1988 New Orleans	M.Andersen 35 yd. field goal	9-6 SFN
2	0:22	1988 New Orleans	C.Heyward 4 yd. run (M.Andersen kick)	13-9 NON
4	0:00	1988 San Francisco	M.Cofer 43 yd. field goal	13-12 NON
4	1:22	1988 San Francisco	D.DuBose 5 yd. run (M.Cofer kick)	19-13 SFN

Team Statistics
	1988 San Francisco	1988 New Orleans
First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total	9-10-4-23	6-10-3-19
Third Down Efficiency	6-14-43%	4-13-31%
Fourth Down Efficiency	0-0-0%	0-2-0%
Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct)	10-14-71%	10-14-71%
Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play	368-72-5.1	270-64-4.2
Total Net Yards Rushing	198	98
Total Rushes	40	27
Average Per Rush	4.9	3.6
Passes Completed/Attempted	16/31 (51.6%)	23/36 (63.9%)
Net Yards Passing	170	172
Avg Yards Per Pass	5.6	4.9
Sacked/Yards Lost	1/3	1/3
Punts/Average	3/38.7	5/43.6
Punts Received/Return Yardage	2/23	2/22
Kickoffs/Returns	1/17	5/105
Interceptions/Returns	2/4	1/40
Penalties/Yards	8/78	10/110
Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost	2/2	0/0
Time of Possession	31 mins 23 secs	28 mins 37 secs
Average Drive Start	SFN 24	NON 29

Passing Stats
	Att	Comp	Yds	Comp %	Yds/Att	TD	TD %	INT	INT %	Long	Sack	Rating
1988 San Francisco
Joe Montana	31	16	173	51.6	5.6	0	0	1	3.2	31	1/3	54.9
1988 New Orleans
Bobby Hebert	36	23	175	63.9	4.9	0	0	2	5.6	16	1/3	52.4

Rushing Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv	Fumbles/Lost
1988 San Francisco
Roger Craig	26	126	4.8	28	0	0	1/1
Tom Rathman	9	40	4.4	17	0	0	0/0
Joe Montana	4	27	6.8	12	0	0	0/0
Doug DuBose	1	5	5.0	5	1	0	0/0
1988 New Orleans
Rueben Mayes	11	66	6.0	21	0	0	0/0
Dalton Hilliard	10	26	2.6	18	0	0	0/0
Craig Heyward	3	3	1.0	4	1	0	0/0
Bobby Hebert	2	4	2.0	3	0	0	0/0
Buford Jordan	1	-1	-1.0	-1	0	0	0/0

Receiving Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv
1988 San Francisco
Roger Craig	8	57	7.1	13	0	0
Tom Rathman	3	35	11.7	16	0	0
Jerry Rice	2	57	28.5	31	0	0
Ron J. Heller	1	12	12.0	12	0	0
John Taylor	1	4	4.0	4	0	0
Terry Greer	1	8	8.0	8	0	0
1988 New Orleans
Dalton Hilliard	7	34	4.9	9	0	0
Lonzell Hill	6	52	8.7	12	0	0
Eric Martin	5	47	9.4	16	0	0
John Tice	2	19	9.5	14	0	0
Rueben Mayes	1	8	8.0	8	0	0
Brett Perriman	1	7	7.0	7	0	0
Robert Clark	1	8	8.0	8	0	0

Field Goals
	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Totals	% Made
1988 San Francisco
Mike Cofer	0/0	0/0	1/1	3/3	0/0	4/4	100
1988 New Orleans
Morten Andersen	0/0	0/0	1/1	1/1	0/0	2/2	100

Punting
	No	Avg	Net	Tb	Inside 20	Long	Blocked
1988 San Francisco
Barry Helton	3	38.7	31.3	0	2	44	0
1988 New Orleans
Brian Hansen	5	43.6	39.0	0	3	55	0

Kickoff Returns
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 San Francisco
Doug DuBose	1	17	17.0	17	0
1988 New Orleans
Gene Atkins	4	88	22.0	24	0
Mel Gray	1	17	17.0	17	0

Punt Returns
	Ret	FC	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 San Francisco
John Taylor	2	1	23	11.5	22	0
1988 New Orleans
Mel Gray	1	0	13	13.0	13	0
Lonzell Hill	1	0	9	9.0	9	0

Individual Defense
	Tackles	Sacks	Fum Rec
1988 San Francisco
Michael Walter	11	1	0
Keena Turner	9	0	0
Don Griffin	5	0	0
Michael Carter	4	0	0
Riki Ellison	4	0	0
Charles Haley	4	0	0
Ronnie Lott	4	0	0
Larry Roberts	2	0	0
Jeff Fuller	2	0	0
Kevin Fagan	2	0	0
Tim McKyer	2	0	0
Eric Wright	1	0	0
1988 New Orleans
Vaughan Johnson	12	0	0
Pat Swilling	10	0	1
Rickey Jackson	8	0	0
Sam Mills	8	0	0
Dave Waymer	5	0	0
Brett Maxie	2	0	0
Van Jakes	2	0	0
Tony Elliott	2	0	0
Antonio Gibson	2	0	0
Frank Warren	2	0	0
Jim Wilks	2	1	0
Steve Trapilo	0	0	1

Interceptions
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 San Francisco
Don Griffin	1	4	4.0	4	0
Jeff Fuller	1	0	0.0	0	0
1988 New Orleans
Brett Maxie	1	40	40.0	40	0

Game Story

It was a tough loss for the home team as the visitors from San Francisco bested New Orleans by the score of 19 to 13. Roger Craig led all rushers, carrying the ball 26 times for 126 yards. San Francisco controlled the ground game, out-rushing New Orleans 198 to 98 yards. New Orleans took the lead into the locker room at the half 13 to 9.