“This is huge for us” said San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Alex Smith. “It’s history, legendary, anything you can describe.” Smith was commenting on his 14-yard touchdown pass in the last 9 seconds of the NFL Division Championship game on Saturday at Candlestick Park in San Francisco that allowed receiver Vernon Davis to score the winning touchdown against a good New Orleans Saints team. The Associated Press has likened the play to other famous last seconds play-off game winning passes in the same stadium of Quarterbacks Joe Montana in 1982 and Steve Young in 1999. Now former Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh, famous for building up that football program (and costing some Stanford fans to actually lose bets on winning games on point spreads because of his habit of shaving down scoring opportunities late in college games for the sake of “sportsmanship”) is on the cusp of joining the field of iconic winning 49ers coaches from Buck Shaw to Dick Nolan, Bill Walsh, and George Seifert, all “Coaches of the Year.”
Perhaps a little lost in the commotion was the generally excellent job and season of Saints Quarterback Drew Brees, who completed 40 of 63 passes for 462 yards with four touchdowns. Though intercepted twice, Brees had previously not thrown any interception in five years of post-season play, and the turnovers proved costly. The lead in the game jerked back and forth and was a thriller till the end.
The win for the 49ers was their first in a playoff in nine years. They will now face either the New York Giants or the Green Bay Packers in the next playoff game on January 22 leading to the Superbowl on February 5 to be played in Indianapolis.
Speak Your Mind