Double K’s Classroom: Greatest Sports Matchups of All Time

 Double K’s  Classroom:

Greatest Sports Matchups of All Time

Double K’s brings you some of the greatest matchups in NHL, NBA, MLB and NFL…

SF 49ers 36, NO Saints 32  

Date: January 14th, 2012
Location: San Francisco, CA
Venue: Candlestick Park

Storyline

Coming into the matchup the 49ers were a hot team fresh off of a 13-3 season and were the 2 seed in the NFC that year, with Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers taking the 1 seed with a 15-1 record. This was after the turmoil of the offseason firing head coach Chip Kelly and bringing in former NFL QB and former Stanford Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh had been being courted by many teams in the NFL. The 49ers are the one that offered enough for him to say yes. The Saints also finished 13-3 but ended up with the 3 seed and had to play in the first round against the Wild Card Lions. After dispatching them they came to SF to take on the newly revived SF 49ers and QB Alex Smith and boy what a game it was..

Results

With 4:02 left in the game, New Orleans took their first lead of the game at 24–23 with Brees' 44-yard touchdown pass to Sproles. But it lasted less than two minutes before San Francisco took it back, with Smith hitting Davis for a 37-yard gain before taking the ball into the end zone himself on his career long 28-yard run, making the score 29–24 after the two-point conversion failed. Not to be outdone, Brees matched the score with his fourth touchdown pass of the day, a 66-yard completion to Graham, and then threw the ball to Sproles for a successful 2-point conversion, giving the Saints a 32–29 lead.

San Francisco got the ball back on their own 15-yard line with 1:37 left in the game. Smith started the drive with two completions to Gore for 18 yards. Then after an incompletion, he connected on a 47-yard pass to Davis, advancing the ball to the Saints 20-yard line. A 6-yard completion to Gore then moved the ball to the 14, where Smith spiked the ball to stop the clock. On the next play, he threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Davis with nine seconds left, who managed to hang onto the ball despite a hard hit from Roman Harper while he was still in mid-air, earning San Francisco their first conference championship game since 1997.

Smith threw for 299 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, while adding 28 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He was the first quarterback in NFL playoff history to lead two go-ahead touchdowns in the final three minutes of a game.[14] Davis caught seven passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns, breaking Kellen Winslow's NFL postseason record for receiving yards (166) by a tight end.[15] Gore rushed for 89 yards and caught seven passes for 38. For the Saints, Brees completed 40 of 63 passes for 462 yards and four touchdowns, with two interceptions. His top target was Sproles, who caught an NFL playoff record 15 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown, while adding 59 more yards on rushing and special teams returns. Graham caught five passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns, while Colston caught nine passes for 136 yards and one score.

Davis' game-winning touchdown catch occurred four days after the 30th anniversary of The Catch – Joe Montana's touchdown pass to Dwight Clark in the 1981 NFC Championship against the Cowboys – known as the most famous play in 49ers history. San Francisco had another famous playoff win in the 1998 Wild Card round against the Packers on a last second touchdown pass from Steve Young to Terrell Owens known as The Catch II. Sports writers and 49ers fans dubbed Davis' catch as The Catch III, also considering that all three times, the 49ers were trailing with less than a minute to go at Candlestick Park and facing 3rd and 3. The league later seconded the moniker on social media.[16][17]

My Thoughts on the game…

This game was an epic game in general and then when you add in that it took place on the anniversary of the original Catch that took place at Candlestick as the Niners beat the Cowboys. This one was a back and forth battle that was Sean Payton and Jim Harbaughthrowing championship blows at each other all game. The 49ers went up 14-0 early only to have the Saints get back to 17-14 by halftime. The Niners extended the lead to 6 going into the 4th and that is when all hell broke loose. As the teams traded FG’s late my heart jumped out of my chest because the Saints were good and the defense looked tired. My hero ended up being a melined TE and QB most people had given up on as they finished a 85 yard 7 play drive for the game winning touchdown as time expired. Game of the year in 2012 as far as i am concerned. 

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, January 5). Jim Harbaugh. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:42, January 6, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jim_Harbaugh&oldid=1193761848

Wikipedia contributors. (2023, August 2). 2011–12 NFL playoffs. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:42, January 6, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2011%E2%80%9312_NFL_playoffs&oldid=1168469831