SmashMouth

Under coach Sean Payton, it has never been the Saints’ style to spell out how important it is to exact revenge on an opponent who has knocked them around and foiled their goals in the past. So, on the day they host the San Francisco 49ers, let me do it for them.

No other moment more plainly illustrates the perception this football-crazed country has of Payton’s Saints and coach Jim Harbaugh’s 49ers than the one that occurred when New Orleans running back Pierre Thomas caught a short pass on his team’s first possession and collided with San Francisco safety Donte Whitner at the 2-yard line Jan. 14, 2012, at Candlestick Park. Few in New Orleans have forgotten what occurred next: Thomas fumbled after his helmet was hammered by Whitner’s, and the 49ers recovered.

Thomas immediately left the game. The 49ers went on to intercept Drew Brees twice and snatched away two more fumbles to win the divisional-round playoff game 36-32, eliminating a Saints offense that set the NFL record for yards in a season (7,474) but on that day ran the ball for a paltry 37 yards.

Renewed was the oft-heard debate about whether Payton’s Saints were a finesse team whose playmakers would wilt in the face of a hard-hitting defense. The Saints couldn’t silence that talk in 2012, when Payton was suspended for the year in the wake of the bounty scandal. New Orleans had the most porous defense in league history, and the 49ers returned two Brees interceptions for touchdowns to triumph 31-21 in Week 12.

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