Monday, October 08, 2001

NEW ORLEANS – Funny thing happened while all of the officials

in the Louisiana Superdome had their eyes glued to the usually

hot-headed offensive tackle Kyle Turley, just waiting to see him

pop an opposing player.

Turns out, Turley for the most part was a good boy and a personal

foul call early in the third quarter that forced the Saints to

settle for a field goal, came from none other than the usually

cool cat and unspoken leader of the line, center Jerry Fontenot.

&uot;You know, that’s the first personal foul I’ve ever had

in my career,&uot; the 13-year veteran said. &uot;The odd thing

is, I was just telling (a local media member) that this week.

So, I guess I jinxed myself.&uot;

With 11:21 remaining in the third, Ricky Williams ripped off

a 7-yard gain on second and nine. Toward the end of the run, Fontenot

laid into a Minnesota linebacker at the end of the play.

&uot;The mentality for us as an offensive line near the goal

line is we can be a force by hitting guys in front of our backs

to help get them in. But I gave the umpire an opportunity to call

it. I don’t hold it against him for calling it. It was my fault.

I was a little overly aggressive there.&uot;

But Turley being Turley, made light of the incident. &uot;At

first we thought they threw the flag because they thought I did

it,&uot; he joked.

Loud crowd

Fan noise from the sellout throng of 70,020 made life for the

Vikings’ offense extremely difficult. The offensive line was guilty

of a number of false starts and seemed generally rattled. Most

of the team’s 12 infractions for 115 yards came in the trenches.

&uot;It’s a tough place to play, just like at our place,&uot;

Vikings head coach Denny Green said. &uot;We jumped offside some

and had a lot of mistakes. I think that crowd had a lot to do

with it. The pass rush didn’t hurt, either.&uot;

Canine cuties grace ‘Dome

Three members of the Huntington School Canine Cuties dance

team were selected as All-Americans during their summer dance

camp. For this honor, students of the Ferriday, La. private school,

Courtney Glidden, Brandy Raley and Maggie Blunschi were rewarded

by being chosen to dance in an elaborate halftime performance

during Sunday’s Saints game that included dozens of student dancers

from all over the south.

Pivotal Play

An easy selection, this is one many Saints faithful will remember

for some time. To the naysayers, however it began as seemingly

typical. With nearly two minutes remaining in the first half,

Daunte Culpepper hit Cris Carter in stride for what appeared to

be a 52-yard touchdown strike. But the heady Saints corner Kevin

Mathis caught up with Carter at the 3 and in a sweeping motion,

jarred the ball forward into the end zone where Sammy night recovered

it, resulting in a touchback.

What,s next: The home again, away again Saints (2-1) will hit

the road to face the Carolina Panthers in a noon kickoff at Ericcson

Stadium.