Tobias-Reiper

From my perspective, I wouldn't say the D kept the Saints in the game, but rather the conservative SF offense kept the Saints in the game. Let's face it, we all know any other team in the playoffs would've gotten 21 points out of 3 turnovers inside the Saints 20. The other 2 turnovers were as good as punts.

But really, I want to focus on what happened not on the last drive, but in the entire 4th quarter. The game is 17-20 at this point. Here's how the 4th quarter played out.

* SF starts at their 28, Saints defense allows a 42 yard run by Gore, SF ends up scoring a FG -- 17-23
* Saints score TD -- 24-23
* SF starts at their 20, Saints defense allows pass plays of of 13 and 37 yards, then a 28 yard run by Alex Smith for a TD, fail 2-pt conversion -- 24-29. That's 78 yards and a TD on 3 plays. That drive had 5 plays total.
* Saints score TD, 2-pt conversion -- 32-29
* SF starts at their 15, with 1:37 left in the game, then the Saints defense allows plays of 7, 11, 47, 6, and a 14 yard TD pass, with 9 seconds to spare. The other 2 plays on that drive were an incomplete pass and a spike to stop the clock.

So, it is not just the very last drive. You cannot allow a team to march 80 yards down the field on 3 consecutive possessions in the 4th quarter. Or even more to the point, in the playoffs, you cannot allow an offense as average as the SF offense to march 80 yards on 3 consecutive possessions and score points in the 4th quarter with the ease the Saints defense allowed the SF offense to move up the field.

Count me in on that "glad GW is gone" number.

'Cause the simple man pays the thrills, the bills and the pills that kill