Recap San Francisco 49ers vs New Orleans Saints - First Half
Too close for comfort for the Saints. The Saints were favourites for tonight’s game and the 49ers weren’t expected to be able to put up much of a fight against the World Champions but they did more than just put up a fight. They pushed the Saints to their
limits.
After the kickoff the 49ers started at the 10 yard line and moved up to the 15 with one and four yard rushes by Frank Gore. Then disaster struck. Offensive Guard David Baas threw the ball way over the top of 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. The quarterback
had absolutely no hope of rescuing the ball. He chased after it into the endzone and threw it out of bounds. The first San Francisco drive ended after just two plays and gave saints their first points (2 safety points).
New Orleans started their drive from the 49ers’ 46 yard line. With just 46 yards to go to touchdown and a psychological upper hand over San Francisco, the Saints took it forward slowly and calmly. Saints quarterback Drew Brees passed 25 yards, Pierre Thomas
rushed 8 and Reggie Bush another 3 to take the Saints just six yards from the endzone. Reggie Bush was simply spectacular. The 49ers’ Patrick Willis stood between Reggie and the endzone in the final play of the drive. Reggie faked a move towards the outside
and Willis followed. Reggie then cut back inside quicker that Willis could, leaving him behind almost tumbling over himself. On the other end Brees waited patiently while the offensive line fought off San Francisco. In a split second when Reggie was open Brees
threw a perfect pass at him which he received flawlessly and waltzed in for touchdown.
Any other team by this time, hardly 5 minutes into the first quarter and having conceded scores twice already, would have started to feel beaten down. But San Francisco fans wanted their players to fight to the finish and that they did. But it was a long
road till things started looking up for the 49ers. Before that there would be another blow for San Francisco in the form of an interception. Three Short lived drives after that touchdown San Francisco had possession again. 27 yards from the endzone Smith threw
a short left pass at Frank Gore. Smith had to hurry though because while he waited for Gore to be ready to receive the New Orleans defence was streaking in on him from his right.
Under pressure, Smith was off target. The pass was wide of Gore and he was only just able to get his hand on it. As the ball evaded Gore it ended up in the hands of Saints Safety Roman Harper. Harper took the ball 6 yards before he was taken down by Gore.
The 49ers defence wasn’t just looking on either. After the interception Drew Brees started at the New Orleans 32 yard line and advanced to the San Francisco 49 yard line in 4 plays. That’s as far as he would go. In the next play the 49ers defence stepped
up their game. 49ers defensive end Ahmad Brooks had his eyes set on the Brees and he wouldn’t be denied his prize by the Saints’ offensive line. First up was offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod who was just shrugged off by Brooks moving on to tight end David Thomas
who was meted out a similar treatment. Brooks came around from the back. Brees had red uniforms all around him as 4 other 49ers were all over him looking to take him down.
But it was Brooks who would sack Brees and as soon as he did, defensive tackle Justin Smith and linebacker Parys Haralson piled up on Brees. All three had broken through the Saints’ offensive line.
The sack pushed back the Saints 7 yards and they then opted to punt the ball in the final 35 seconds of the first quarter. As possession returned to the 49ers they took 2 timeouts in the final two plays while the clock ticked down to zero. In 3 plays before
the quarter ended San Francisco moved 21 yards. The quarter ended without any points for the 49ers and 9 for the Saints. Though the interception would have left the 49ers a little more pumped up then they were when the quarter started.
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