Defensive San Francisco 49ers and attacking New Orleans Saints ready for matchup–NFL Playoff Preview
The structure of the National Football League (NFL) season is narrowed down to an alley where only one of the competing teams can progress. One loss and you are out! Get a win, and you will be playing for a conference championship final.
Entering the compressed pathway are two top teams of their respective divisions – San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints – which are going to faceoff at the Candlestick Park on Saturday, January 14, 2012.
The matchup
The 49ers won 13 games in the regular season to dominate the National Football Conference (NFC) – West division and enter the playoffs for the first time after 2002. They earned a home-field advantage and a first-week bye in the postseason.
On the other hand, the Saints were slightly behind the 49ers. They too won 13 games in the regular season, but entered the next round as third seeded team, which did not give them a first-week bye.
The Saints might be thankful for not earning the bye as they got a good practice last week when they defeated Detroit Lions to qualify for the matchup against the 49ers.
The Saints’ side has one of the league’s strongest offensive units. Their quarterback, Drew Brees, who is also the leading passer in the season and have most number of touchdowns, is in exploding form.
Against Lions, he finished with 466 yards and three touchdowns. One wonders what is coming for the 49ers!
On paper, the game seems evenly poised.
The aggressive Saints’ offence is up against the league’s top defensive side.
The 49ers have performed remarkably well in the season, which has been dominated by the quarterbacks. The sturdy defence has contained almost all the opponents giving away league lowest 77.3 rushing yards per game on an average.
Besides, the 49ers have only allowed one rushing touchdown in the season. Brees might be a dangerous quarterback to deal with, but the 49ers defence is nurtured to control and block the receivers.
Mutual respect
Both these teams also played a preseason game in which the Saints managed a victory.
One might expect a furious exchange of words and trash-talking before the game, which is not rare in this league.
However, both the coaches have paid respect to each other and acknowledged that these two sides deserved to reach this far in the season.
“Our team goes into this game confident and bold and with a great amount of respect for the New Orleans Saints team as well. Great amount of respect for who they are, what they do, and what they’re capable of,” 49ers’ coach, Jim Harbaugh, remarked.
The same level of respect was exhibited by Saints’ coach, Sean Payton, who commented about the 49ers that:
“They’ve been very consistent. They’re physical and they’re very well-coached. They’re very discipline. I think the effort, the tackling, and the fundamentals -- it’s impressive week in and week out when you watch them play. It’s why they’re one of the
top five defenses in our league.”
With two solid teams, having expertise to counter each other’s move, a thrilling encounter is certainly on the cards.
Whoever wins the battle, there is not denying the fact that these two teams deserve credit for working hard and registering their names in the top eight teams of the league.
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