CHARLOTTE — One second remained on the clock. One yard stood between an amazing comeback victory and a heartbreaking loss.

New Orleans Saints running back Ricky Williams knew he was about to decide the outcome of the game, and one thought ran through his head.

“I was thinking to myself, if I score or if I don’t score, it’s going to be on SportsCenter,” Williams said. “They were going to say, ‘Ricky Williams gets stopped and the Panthers win.’ ”

Instead, the first scenario played out, and Williams avoided humiliation. The cameras caught Williams taking a pitch from Aaron Brooks, looking inside, dashing outside and crossing the goal line just out of the reach of Carolina defensive end Michael Rucker.

Williams immediately threw the ball into the air to celebrate the Saints’ 27-25 victory. His 147 yards paced the Saints offense, and none were more important than the final three feet he gained on a play called “Toss 55 OP.”

“It’s a zone play,”Williams said. “I can go anywhere I want. It can go anywhere from sideline to even the other sideline.”

Williams lined up alone in the backfield with one receiver to the left and two to the right. He got the pitch, saw that the Panthers had clogged the middle and ran around left end for the score.

The Saints marched 73 yards on their final drive in 13 plays, only one of which was a designed run. New Orleans offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy had wanted to run Ricky a few plays earlier, and he finally got the go-ahead with the Saints down to their last snap.

“I said ‘Give it to our best player,’ ”New Orleans coach Jim Haslett said. “You have to have confidence that the guy will make somebody miss. We did a great job of blocking. They were blitzing the crap out of us.”

Said Williams, “It came down to, I’m 240 pounds. It’s tough to stop me from 1 yard away. It wasn’t a gutsy call, it was an easy call.”

And it was an easy read. Williams had success all afternoon running outside against the Panthers. He gained 87 yards on his 15 carries that went off tackle or around end.

“I knew I had the corner. I knew when (Rucker) was running, he couldn’t catch me,” Williams said.

The simple fact that Williams was around for the final play was significant.

His bad luck against the Panthers started in his first game as a rookie in 1999, when he injured an ankle at home against Carolina. In the season finale at Ericsson Stadium, he struggled and declined to talk to the media afterward.

Williams’ fortunes took a turn for the worse at Ericsson last year. He rushed for 93 yards on 16 carries but broke his left ankle on his final carry in the fourth quarter.

Williams had to limp off the field on crutches that afternoon. He ran off with his head held high on Sunday.

“I’m just happy I’m healthy,”Williams said. “It was tough to break an ankle with as good of a season as I had last year, but the biggest thing is we had won six games in a row and I knew I couldn’t be a part of that anymore with the team.”

That last statement shows how much Williams has matured since his first trip into Ericsson. He had been criticized in the past for being a bad teammate, but those negative comments have practically disappeared this season.

Veteran left tackle William Roaf said Williams has a better understanding of the game and shows more respect for his teammates than he did in the past.

“Ricky had to grow up,”Roaf said. “In this league there are a lot of players that were born in the 50s, 60s and 70s that have left their legacy, and we have to continue that.

“Ricky has to understand to appreciate and respect the veteran players from New Orleans.”

A performance like the one Williams gave Sunday will force the veterans to return the favor.

n

Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com .