Saints Friesz Up, Lose to Chargers : Interconference: San Diego quarterback operates no-huddle offense to perfection, pulls out 24-21 victory.

When the San Diego Chargers went to the no-huddle offense, it was no problem for John Friesz, even against the New Orleans Saints.

Friesz completed nine of 11 passes for 95 yards on the final two drives to rally the Chargers to a 24-21 victory over the Saints on Sunday.

John Carney kicked a 19-yard field goal with five seconds left after San Diego’s defense helped set up Marion Butts’ tying touchdown run.

It was Carney’s second consecutive game-winning kick. One week earlier, he kicked a team-record 54-yarder with 18 seconds left to give the Chargers (3-8) a 17-14 win over Seattle.

“We decided to go with a no-huddle with John at the end because that would allow us to get the quick-passing game going,” Coach Dan Henning said. “It was a risk because the line has to hold. They did a good job and he did a good job of picking people out.

“I would say this is a coming of age for John because this was a good defensive team.”

Friesz was running the hurry-up offense so well that he missed the signal for a quarterback sneak and instead completed a 29-yarder to rookie running back Chris Samuels to the New Orleans one-yard-line to set up Carney’s winning kick.

Samuels sustained a broken ankle on the play, but urged on the crowd as he was carted off the field prior to Carney’s kick.

“Apparently, I couldn’t hear it, but (the coaches) were yelling for me to do that QB sneak,” said Friesz, a second-year pro. “I knew the clock was rolling. When you have a controlled two-minute offense, you can look to the sidelines for help, but in that situation, there were less than 30 seconds. I didn’t have a chance.

“I’m sure it caught them off guard. We weren’t behind by two scores, so they didn’t expect it. There were a lot of holes underneath, and that’s what I kept hitting.”

New Orleans (9-2) sacked Friesz twice in the first half to increase its NFL lead to 39, but didn’t get to him again.

Friesz, who completed 16 of 30 passes in the game for 175 yards, said the Saints went to a two-deep zone in the final minutes.

“Have you seen our two-minute defenses lately?” Saint Coach Jim Mora said. “People ought to hope they get in a situation where they have to score a touchdown or field goal to win. We just aren’t executing that phase of our defense.”

The Saints had a 21-14 lead and were driving midway through the fourth quarter when Fred McAfee fumbled. Martin Bayless recovered for the Chargers and lateraled to Gill Byrd, who returned it to the San Diego 37. It was the third of four New Orleans turnovers.

Friesz led the Chargers on an 11-play, 63-yard drive on which they converted two third downs, after going zero for nine on previous third downs.

Friesz ran for five yards on third-and-two from the San Diego 45, and completed six of eight passes for 48 yards, including another third-down conversion, a 12-yarder to Craig McEwen to the New Orleans five.

Two plays later, Butts powered through safety Gene Atkins to score for a 21-21 tie. Butts rushed 15 times for 92 yards.

Saint quarterback Steve Walsh threw two touchdown passes and Frank Warren returned a blocked punt 37 yards for a score as New Orleans took a 21-14 halftime lead. Walsh completed 21 of 34 passes for 203 yards with one interception.

Walsh, filling in for the injured Bobby Hebert, threw a one-yard scoring pass to Buford Jordan on the game’s first drive and a 38-yarder to Quinn Early late in the second quarter.

After Wayne Martin blocked John Kidd’s punt, Warren picked it up and ran down the left sideline to give New Orleans a 14-7 lead.

Nate Lewis returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.

Following Lewis’ kickoff return, Walsh moved the Saints 77 yards on seven plays for the go-ahead scoring pass to Early, a former Charger.

Special teams standout Steve Hendrickson scored a touchdown on the first carry of his NFL career, a three-yard run on San Diego’s first drive for a 7-7 tie.