by LES EAST; Special to The Advocate; , The Advocate

On the second play from scrimmage, DeAngelo Williams ran 66 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 Carolina lead.

"We had some missed (assignments) and when you do that in the NFL, plays like that are going to happen," linebacker Scott Shanle said. "It wasn't like they were just beating us up front physically. There was never any panic."

At the end of the first quarter Carolina had a 14-0 lead and Williams had 83 yards rushing, one more than New Orleans' total offense total.

But gradually, the Saints got a handle on Williams, fellow halfback Jonathan Stewart, and the whole running game. After Carolina averaged 12.0 yards on eight first-quarter rushes, it averaged 2.8 on 31 carries in the final three.

"At first we were overhyped and we got out of our gaps," defensive tackle Remi Ayodele said. "Once we got a handle on the fact that (Williams) was a cutback runner, and (Stewart) was the downhill runner, we knew how we had to play as a defensive line."

As long as the Panthers were running effectively and holding the lead, there was no need to ask Delhomme to do much. He threw just five first-half passes, completing four, as Carolina took a 17-6 halftime lead.

"We got back in at halftime," defensive end Will Smith said, "and (defensive coordinator Gregg Williams) told us they had done just about everything they could do against us. We just had to hunker down."

A quick touchdown got the Saints within 17-13 at the start of the third, then the Panthers came right back. Delhomme had four completions among nine rushes for 46 yards and Carolina marched to a first-and-goal at the New Orleans one.

Delhomme mishandled the snap on the next play and wound up losing seven yards when tackled by Smith. After a 1-yard run and an incompletion, the Panthers had to settle for a field goal and a seven-point lead instead of 10.

"That was huge," linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. "We kept it a one-score game. We felt good as long as we didn't let them break the game open."

The Saints tied the score at 20 on Drew Brees' 54-yard touchdown pass to Robert Meachem on the final play of the third quarter. When the Panthers got the ball back, their play-calling changed as Delhomme threw five passes and handed off just twice before Carolina had to punt.

"You could definitely tell their game plan was to play it close to the vest," Shanle said. "They were able to keep doing that because they got up early. But once we started scoring some points they had to open it up a little bit."

Ayodele said that meant "we had them right where we wanted them."

The Panthers didn't score again, the Saints drove to a tie-breaking field goal, then Anthony Hargrove recovered two fumbles, returning one for a clinching touchdown.

Still, the Saints say they have to work on stopping the run. The Panthers' 182 rushing yards were the most against New Orleans this season and came six days after the Falcons' Michael Turner became the first individual to gain 100 yards (151) against the Saints .

"We've faced some great backs and they're going to get some yards," Vilma said, "but that doesn't mean you're going to give up a 66-yard touchdown. We can't allow that. But after the first couple of series or so, we did a pretty good job.

"People say that that's going to come back and bite us. Well, we're not worried about it coming back to bite us, we're just working on fixing it."

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