Recap San Francisco 49ers vs New Orleans Saints - Fourth Quarter
In the final seconds of the third quarter the 49ers had possession on their 27 yard. San Francisco took a 51 yard punt which was returned 43 yards by Reggie Bush. When the fourth quarter began the Saints were at the 35 yard line.
Brees started off with a 6 yard pass followed by a yard rush by Pierre Thomas. When the Saints got to the 28 yard line they opted for the Field goal. Garret Hartley took the kick. The 46 yard field goal was good and the Saints raised their lead to 5.
When the 49ers offence began the drive, Frank Gore started it off with back-to-back 10 yard rushes to take San Francisco to the 40 yard line. Smith completed a 9 yard pass and the rest of the drive was carried by 29 yard penalty
on Roman Harper for defensive pass interference. The 49ers were almost into the redzone but then things started to look up for the Saints. Jo-Lonn Dunbar got a hand on a pass intended for Michael Crabtree. The ball eventually landed in the hands of Tracy Porter
who carried it for a 5 yards gain.
The Saints still couldn’t capitalize on the turnover. They lost 5 yards in the very next play to fall back to their 15 yard line. Brees completed another 7 yards pass and then got into punt formation. Thomas Morstead took the 58
yards punt. When the 49ers returned to offence they had very little success. They were stopped at the 45 yard line. San Francisco took the punt there in a play that injured Reggie Bush.
Reggie caught the ball but fumbled it. He jumped at it again and a group of Saints and 49ers piled up on top of him. While Reggie was on the ground Ahmad Brooks fell on top of his leg which twisted under Brooks. Reggie tried to
walk off the field but in the end had to be helped off without putting any weight on the injured knee.
The subsequent New Orleans drive was not getting anywhere either so the Saints took the punt. San Francisco Cornerback Phillip Adams muffed the ball 17 yards from the endzone. Saints’ wide receiver Courtney Roby pounced on the
ball before Adams could on the 14 yard line. The Saints drive continued and Pierre Thomas took two yards in the next play followed by an 8 yard pass to wide receiver Marques Colston and another 3 yard rush by Thomas to put New Orleans just one yard short of
the endzone. Both the Saints and the 49ers took timeouts.
When play resumed the Heath Evans was denied a rush by the 49ers defence. New Orleans then took another time out and returned in the field goal formation. The field goal was good. The Saints were now 22 against the 49ers 14 points.
When San Francisco regained possession it was all Smith. Only two minutes remained in the game and Smith was in a hurry. The quarterback started with a 16 yard pass, followed it up with 12 yard run and another pass for 15 yards.
Smith missed the next play in what would otherwise have been a perfect drive. The quarterback continued racking in yards. In the next three plays Smith covered 32 yards completing all three passes. In 7 plays Smith had brought San Francisco to the 7 yard line.
Frank Gore finished the drive with a 7 yard touchdown run.
The 49ers were a point short of the Saints so they opted for the two-point conversion. Smith passed to Vernon Davis, however initially the attempt was ruled no good. The Ruling was challenged and overturned and the attempted succeeded.
With that the teams were tied. Just slightly more than a minute remained in the final quarter.
Final drive of the game with just a minute and 14 seconds remaining started at the New Orleans 30 yard line. After 22 yards in two plays, the Saints took a timeout. After one failed pass attempt at Marques, Brees threw another
30 yard pass at him which was caught. The Saints had made it into the redzone. Only 20 seconds remained. The Saints gained 4 yards and lost 5 in a penalty to go back to the 19 yard line. The field goal was the best option now.
Garrett Hartley took the kick and with the 37 yard field goal the Saints took a 3 yard lead in the final 2 seconds of the game. The ball missed the defence by mere inches. Regardless, the field goal was good. The Saints had won
the game.
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