Originally posted by NYniner85:
Top 3 game of all-time for me... without question
From this sides perspective. The most painful Saints game for me. That stung worse than the Minnesota Miracle or the Rams no call game. Absolutely brutal.
Again from this sides perspective, the Saints were an absolute juggernaut on offense that year. They set major team and individual records. There were only 2 times in my life I thought the Saints were the best team in football. 2009 and sometime around week 14 of 2011. We won 9 in a row heading into San Fran.
Niners jumped on top of us early. 17-0. Just stifling defense. Game slowly evened out heading into an epic 4th quarter.
With 5 minutes left in the game I thought we had lost. But then we scored! Up 24-23 with 4 minutes left!
Niners score a TD...Damn I thought we were going to win.
But! - Jimmy Graham busted loose and we all jumped up with joy.
Then it happened. Greg Williams sent the house on a 9 person blitz and Alex Smith hit the TE for a huge gain. The rest is history.
4 touchdowns in the last 4:11 of regulation.
The worst part about the ending was that the game went long. Almost seconds after regulation- the network switched to live action of the afternoon game. Poof. It was gone.
Our dream season ended. Packers would get upset by the Giants. We would have hosted the NFC Championship game with a chance to see Brees vs Brady. The fall out was Bountygate and it meant our 2012 season was lost before it even started. The end of an era.
