SAN FRANCISCO — What a way to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of “The Catch.”
Joe Montana to Dwight Clark then. Alex Smith to Vernon Davis now.
Smith completed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Davis with nine seconds left just after Drew Brees had put the high-powered Saints ahead, and resurgent San Francisco capitalized on five New Orleans turnovers for a thrilling 36-32 playoff victory Saturday.
“This is huge for us,” Davis said. “It’s history, legendary, anything you can describe.”
Smith ran for a 28-yard TD with 2:11 left and threw another scoring pass to Davis in the first quarter. Coach Jim Harbaugh’s NFC West champions (14-3) proved that a hard-hitting, stingy defense can still win in the modern, wide-open NFL by holding off one of league’s most dynamic offenses.
Brees completed a 66-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham with 1:37 left, and the Saints seemed poised to rally from an early 17-point deficit when Smith and Davis delivered once more. It was a wild back-and-forth finish featuring an impressive passing duel over the waning moments.
Their highlight show came in the opposite end zone from where Clark stretched out to catch a 6-yard pass from Montana on Jan. 10, 1982. Saturday’s game-winner by a leaping Davis — who plowed over a defender as he landed — came in the same end zone where Steve Young hit Terrell Owens for a winning TD with three seconds left in a 30-27 wild-card win over the Packers in the 1999 playoffs. T.O.’s grab became known as “The Catch II.”
How about this one?
“You’ve got to call it the grab,” Davis said of his play. “We were down. I had to make it happen to take my teammates where we want to go.”
San Francisco triumphed in its first playoff game in nine years and will move on to face the New York Giants or defending champion Green Bay Packers, who play today. A win by the Giants would give the 49ers the home field.
Davis, who wept on the sideline afterward, days after saying he was overwhelmed early by Harbaugh’s thick playbook, finished with seven catches for 180 yards. It was the most yards receiving by a tight end in a playoff game. He averaged 25.7 yards per catch.
Brees came up big down the stretch just as he did throughout a record-setting season, also hitting Darren Sproles for a 44-yard TD with 4:02 remaining — one of Sproles’ 15 catches for 119 yards.
“It stings right now because of the expectation level that we had coming into this tournament and understanding that if we win here we’re into the NFC championship game and anything can happen,” Brees said.
The 49ers also showed that defense can still dominate in the days of big passers like Brees.
Brees, whose team was coming off consecutive 600-yard games, completed 40-of-63 passes for 462 yards and four touchdowns and was sacked three times. He also threw two interceptions, his first in the postseason in five years, and New Orleans (14-4) fell short again in its quest to get back to the Super Bowl after winning it all two years ago.
Key moment
With his team trailing 32-29 after New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees had given the Saints the lead on a 66-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham with 1:37 remaining, San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith got his team into position for the winning touchdown when he hooked up with Vernon Davis on a 47-yard completion. Three plays later, Smith threw the game-winning touchdown to Davis.
