50 NFC Divisional Playoff: Niners-Saints Takeaways

50) Count "Wow, I'm glad the Fox 3-man team with Tony Siragusa is doing this game" as another sentence that has never been heard in English

49) The hit on Pierre Thomas and subsequent fumble more of less changed the entire game and season

48) It's only helmet to helmet if the offensive player is a QB or WR

47) That's the Vernon Davis that I overpaid for in fantasy football, and in other news, I hate Vernon Davis

46) If you want a game to get away from you, fumbling the kickoff after giving up a touchdown is pretty solid

45) Down 17-0 after 17 minutes, Darren Sproles was initially ruled a fumble and overturned, which was one of those game-saving calls

44) Saints Fan is getting pretty tired of losing as a favorite on the road to the NFC West champion

43) Jimmy Graham recovered from an early injury to catch Brees' first touchdown of the game, absorbed a head hit, and spiked with earthbound anger to make it a game

42) Just in case we couldn't guess that 62 degrees, sunny and no wind is good weather, Siragusa confirmed it

41) The Saints forcing a three and out on the next possession didn't exactly keep Niner Fan from fearing the big comeback

40) Adrian Arrington is so inexperienced as a Saints WR, he didn't even know to over-demonstrate what down it was after a big drive-sustaining catch

39) The Niners have the kind of defense that makes you wonder if Sproles will survive the game

38) The Brees to Colston touchdown was absolute perfection, and one of those plays that makes a defense feel futile

37) Siragusa praised the Saints' DL for tipping a ball that they didn't actually tip

36) On consecutive plays, Michael Crabtree proved he's no Darius Heyward-Bey

35) The arm punt pick "tackle" by Devery Henderson on Terrell Brown wa a 25-yard play

34) Andy Lee has had better halfs, and that's meaningful when you operate with as little margin for the error as the Niners do

33) Both teams furiously gave up chances to score before the end of the half, just to ensure that a close final score could be traced back to these moments of regret

32) The Niners had a +4 turnover half at home, and only led by 3 at the half, which was noted by every single broadcaster covering the game

31) Malcolm Jenkins made a perfect pass defense and a sack to force a punt, proving once more that Smith doesn't have much in the way of elusiveness

30) As good as Sproles looked last week, that's as bad as he looked this week, and that fumbled punt was just a killer

29) Siragusa praised Brees for knowing where Sproles was on a screen pass, as if the play required telepathy, rather than a knowledge of the play book

28) The Niners chose to try an end around, followed by a backwards RB lateral to the QB, rather than try to, well, run the damn ball when the running game was working

27) Carlos Rogers made a perfect play on a deep ball to Arrington, which meant that, in this era of football, he was lucky to avoid DPI

26) On second thought, perhaps Niner Fan does remember how to cheer loud after all

25) The Saints receivers either got separation off the line or not at all, and throwing at Rogers really didn't make a lot of sense

24) Ted Ginn Jr. was called for an obvious pick on a play that was also probably intentional grounding, then fell down as if he was shot

23) The next play was the exact same flag, which isn't a sequence you should see at the high school level, let alone the NFL

22) The Saints clearly missed Thomas in this game, as Chris Ivory just isn't the same caliber of RB

21) Colston has the numbers and look of a #1WR, but true #1s make the seam route not-touchdown pass early in the fourth

20) John Kasey hit a 48-yard figgie, which is the longest in Saints' postseason history, which kind of tells you that their postseason history is not extensive

19) Patrick Robinson dropped a gift INT that would have provided 40+ yards of field position

18) After 49 minutes, a defensive line should not dominate the way the Niners did against a team that throws as much as the Saints

17) You really can't play DE a lot better than Justin Smith did in this game

16) When the Niners finally gave Gore a carry, he went for 42 and a near game-ending gallop

15) The Gore deflection catch was one more instance of how the bounces were going the Niners' way

14) Had this David Akers kicked for the Eagles last year, he'd still be in town, and the Packers might not be defending champions

13) When you stop the Saints from going deep, they are a lot less terrifying

12) You'd never know, from Brees' body language and line calls, that he had gotten the crap beaten out of him today

11) On third and one, the Saints ran Sproles into the middle and got it, mostly because they didn't spend forever in setting up the play

10) With just one play, Sproles nearly redeemed his whole damn day

9) Seriously, words can't express how much Vernon Davis killed me this year, and then he has a game like this

8) Harbaugh is such a genius, he had 12 men in the huddle in crunch time, just to set the Saints up for that crazy good Smith bootleg touchdown run

7) Had Smith pulled a Brian Westbrook at the 2, this game would have ended with a lot less drama

6) The Jimmy Graham touchdown was all kinds of crazy manly, and one more proof, not that you needed it, that TEs now rule the earth

5) The throw from Smith to Davis for the game-winning score reminded me, seriously, of Steve Young to Terrell Owens to beat the Packers, with the exception that Davis remained conscious

4) Having this many lead changes in the last five minutes of a game can't be good for the heart

3) This game was so good, I almost didn't mind blowing my bet and having Davis rub in his awful year in my face

2) With this performance, Smith can go back to sucking for 2-3 years and still keep the starting job

1) If the Niners have to go on the road next week, they are losing (unless, of course, they have a ridiculous edge in turnovers again)