Rickh

For all of you old enough to remember the Joe Montana/Steve Young days....

This looks just like the match-ups back in the early '90's. The Saints were absolutely LIGHTS OUT with the best LB tandem the NFL has ever seen. The Saints defense was absolutely fierce. The offense, with all apologies to Bobby Hebert, was pedestrian. Its no wonder that our biggest offensive weapon at that time was Morten Anderson. While on the other side, the "west coast" offense was a new invention and Montana ran it like a master. Those were usually very good games but with one exception that damn Montana won it in the fourth quarter and we would gripe about how close we almost came.

This is the exact opposite. The Saints are now the veteran, play off team with one of the best offenses in history and the Niners are an upstart group with a strong defense. IMHO the Niner's D hasn't been as strong lately and haven't been totally dominant against playoff caliber teams. They are getting the good press though despite showing cracks down the stretch of the season.


If history holds, with our new roles in place, It'll be a contested game until the fourth quarter but Brees & Co. will break hearts in the fourth quarter in SF. Their defense will hang for a while but fade under the relentless continued attacks from the Saints offense.


Saints 35 / Niners 17

AlaskaSaints

I just want an aspirin-free game!

If I ever get cut while slicing a lime for a cocktail...

I'm gonna bleed to death during a Saints game!!!!!!


Alaska

WhoDat!656

Great comparison; only difference is 49ers aren't be tortured by having to play the Saints twice a year like we did back then.

I believe that if the Saints had a halfway decent offensive coordinator instead of the dog-food eating moron we had in Carl Smith, the Saints would have won more games back then.

I would make the argument that until Drew Brees arrived, with the possible exception of Chris Everett, Bobby Hebert was the Saints best QB. Although my hatred of the Falcons really took off when Hebert decided to perch his a$$ with the rest of those canaries!!

The Saints had a decent run game with Hilliard, Heyward, (RIP), Mayes.

Eric Martin would probably blush if someone used his name and fast in the same sentence, but he could catch anything, including a cold from a fan in the nosebleed section.

Hoby Brenner was no Jimmy Graham, but he was servicable.

Except for guys getting mad when an illiterate drug addict spits on them, the O-line did a decent job protecting the QB.

And I still almost get a woody when I see highlights of the Dome Patrol and fantasize of them being on the same team as the current Saints.

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Budsdrinker

That's why I drink American beer(Budweiser). No sharp objects around me during a Saints game.

Rickh

We were (I guess you could say this of the whole league) much more run-oriented back then. That was a good RB tandem back in those days.

I gotta tell you though that Archie Manning's offense back in the late '70's (Wes Chandler, Chuck Muncie) was quite a bit better than what we had when Hebert was around. The defense though, was SO BAD back then. It was bad. Carl Smith was an airhead and I imagine that a different O-coordinator would have made a big difference.

Budsdrinker

Tony Galbreath was no slouch either. Yeah Carl Smith was Mora's downfall.

halloween 65

Yea!! The good ole' West days, man I'm glad there over. The Dome Patrol was great, Muncie, Galbreath he!! of a set of backs, Hebert, never cared for that trader. There have been some good ones we have had thru the years but I'll take what we have now over those days. But the funny thing about all of this, we still get the same amount of respect today as we did then, none!!!!!

Rickh

It was worse back in the day bro....

Think about how much news you hear about the Browns today. That's about how much coverage the Saints used to get.

In '09 I thought I had died and gone to heaven when the NFL Network did 6-8 hours of programming just on the Saints. I still can't believe it sometimes...

Euphoria

Yeah I just want this to be a good warm up for the real SB the following week against GB or NY.

SaintsBro

You know, it's kinda funny you should mention the historical/flashback thing because, I have been feeling that all week, too.

I've watched a few of their games and I've actually kinda been thinking all year, that the 49ers DO sorta look and feel like an old 1970s era football team in a number of ways....other people have no doubt said this same thing, I'm sure I didn't invent this, but they just sorta LOOK old school out there...running the ball, big bad defense, a lot of short 8 yard passes where the guy has to dive for the ball, he falls down or slides to the ground as soon as he catches it...all the 49ers plays look like they should be happening in slow motion, with that deep-voiced NFL films announcer talking over them...meanwhile the Saints look like a football team that has teleported into the league from ten years in the future.... awesome offensive pyrotechnics, amazing QB footwork instead of "scrambling", a fast speedy little running back, one-armed catches, plays that push the limits of the field and space and what the eye can see.... Gruden is right, the Saints offense looks like a video game. That is why I think this should be an interesting game to watch, it's like the football of the past meets the football of the future.