The New Orleans-San Francisco game is a lot of things. Crawfish versus crab cakes. Bayou versus bay. Hedonism versus, er, hedonism. When it comes down to football, though, it's the Saints' No. 1 offense versus the Niners' killer defense. With Drew Brees and his single-season record for passing yards, bettors are disregarding the conventional wisdom that great defense beats great offense. The visiting Saints (and who would have guessed it would have been the 49ers hosting New Orleans in a playoff game at the beginning of the season?) are marching into San Francisco favored by three points. Cocky Saints fans might want to take a look at Bill Barnwell's excellent preview of the game over at Grantland, though. He points out that the Saints, perhaps the second coming of the Greatest Show on Turf, actually score fewer points in away games than the Niners and their field goal-happy offense score at home. I'll be live blogging the telecast from my San Francisco home, where a few 49ers fans are joining me. I'll relay their glee and despair, and will pass along their explanation of why the Niners drafted Alex Smith 23 spots before Aaron Rodgers.  The Fox crew is giving the home team no love. Even though Jimmy Johnson and Howie Long think the Saints won't be able to run over the Niners as they did the Lions last week, only Michael Strahan picks San Francisco to win.  It's a beautiful day in San Francisco, 62 degrees and few clouds in the sky. The red-and-gold faithful are crammed into creakly ol' Candlestick Park, and the local electricity folks should be glad this is a day game because during the 49ers' last Monday Night Football game, the lights went out. Twice.  Local boy Huey Lewis just finished up the national anthem, and we're ready for some football.  The Niners win the toss and defer. 49ers MVP David Akers boots it deep into the end zone, so Brees and Co. will take over at the 20.  The Saints are bringing their version of the West Coast offense to San Francisco, and so far they're having no trouble moving the ball. Brees hits three receivers on short routes, including running back Darren Sproles twice, to move the ball on midfield.  After the Niners stuff Chris Ivory to bring up a third-and-5, the Niners get a bad break when Brees misses Jimmy Graham on a deep route on the right sideline ... but SF gets called for pass interference.  The Saints now have it on the San Francisco 15.  FUMBLE! On third-and-6 from the San Francisco 7, Drew makes a short pass to the right to Pierre Thomas. As he turns toward the end zone, Donte Whitner slams his helmet into Thomas's, and the ball comes loose. After the officials untangle the pile, they call it 49ers ball.  Thomas got hit hard on that play, and he might have been knocked unconscious for a second. Play was stopped for a minute, but now Alex Smith and the San Francisco take the field.  The Niners quickly get it out of their own end zone after a quick pass to Michael Crabtree. Then Frank Gore takes a pitch to the left, cuts back inside and rips off a 15 yard run to their own 31.  I think Alex Smith just got booed by his own fans as he threw incomplete to Kevin Williams, who had a defender standing in front of him. He makes up on the next play by hitting Ted Ginn for 11 yards and a first down.  He promptly reminds everyone why he was considered a capital-B Bust for several years as he throws behind Ginn and then loses the ball as he gets sacked by Roman Harper as the Saints send the house at him. Fortunately for the home crowd, Frank Gore falls on it.  Pro Bowler Andy Lee punts to Saints, who will start on their own 19.  As Tony Siragusa said in the pregame, defense wins championships. Sproles drops a pass in the left flat as he gets hammered by Parys Haralson, Ivory gets stuffed for no gain on a run, and then the superstar rookie Aldon Smith chases Brees down from behind for an 11-yard sack. Ginn returns Morestead's 60-yard punt to the San Francisco 46, which is very nearly David Akers range.  Touchdown Niners! Alex Smith hits Vernon Davis in stride, and the big tight end breaks a tackle to romp in for a 49-yard touchdown!  After Akers boots in the extra point, we see replays of Davis scoring the touchdown and then dunking the ball through the goalpost to celebrate. Yeah, Davis is a big, bad man -- 6-foot-3, 250 pounds -- and fast, so it won't be fun for the Saints "defense" to figure how to defend him. He's bigger than their secondary and faster than their linebackers.  INTERCEPTION! After Brees takes over, he makes two quick throws for a first down, and then is intercepted as he throws deep over the center of the field.  It was Dashon Goldson with the interception, and he returned it 42 yards to the New Orleans 4, where he's gangtackled by a group of Saints who normally don't tackle.  Smith takes over at the 4.  TOUCHDOWN 49ERS! After Smith throws it away on first and second down, Smith hits Crabtree on a quick slant for the score. Akers hits the extra point, and the Niners fans sitting with me here literally cannot believe it.  Going back to the interception, it seemed very un-Brees like. In the shotgun with an empty backfield, he had plenty of time. It appears that he just didn't see Goldson sitting back in center field, and the safety just cut across to intercept the pass.  ANOTHER SAINTS TURNOVER! Roby muffs the kickoff, and as he picks it up to run it back, he fumbles again. The 49ers fall on it at the New Orleans 13.  "Is this is a dream?" asks my WSJ colleague Amir Efrati. The favored Saints have just committed their third turnover of the quarter, with the last two giving San Francisco the ball inside the red zone. And with Smith playing like, well, Drew Brees, and Frank Gore being Frank Gore, the Niners will have a chance to make it a three-possession game at the beginning of the second quarter.  The Saints' fumble turns into only three points, as New Orleans forces Smith to throw it away after a short Frank Gore run and a four-yard pass to tight end Justin Peelie. The 49ers bring in automatic Akers, who easily makes the 25-yard field goal.  The Saints take over at their own 20, and Brees quickly hits on three straight passes Meachem, Collins and then Marques Colston to move the ball to the San Francisco 44.  The 49ers aren't pressuring Brees at all, rushing only three or four at a time.  Another lost fumble for New Orleans?!? That's the ruling on the field as Sproles gets stripped by Whitner after a short pass, but it looks pretty clear that this ruling will be overturned, since Sproles's knee hit the ground before the ball came loose. Still, Payton has to throw the red flag to challenge the play. The referees are reviewing.  Looking at another replay, it looks as if both Sproles's knee and shoulder were down before the football came out.  Here comes the official with the call: "With clear possession, the receiver's knee was down." New Orleans keeps the ball around the San Francisco 40.  TOUCHDOWN SAINTS! Brees does his thang, finding Colston over the middle for 11 yards and a first down, before hitting Jimmy Graham for 16 yards by the left sideline. Then he finds Graham again, leaping over the middle of the end zone to put the Saints on the scoreboard.  Kasay adds the PAT to make it a 10-point game.  Brees moved the ball so fast that I didn't have time to point out that the Saints nearly gave the ball away again. Just before the touchdown pass, Chris Ivory got stripped on a two-yard run, but they fell on it.  They're not getting much on runs anyway, so they might as well just pass it.  Now this game is looking like what we expected it to. The Niners lose a yard on a screen to Gore, who then rushes for no gain. On third down, Gore falls just short of a first down on a short pass, so the 49ers send Pro Bowler Andy Lee out to punt.  "Well, the momentum has definitely changed," my Niner-fan buddies murmur.  The Saints will take over at his own 34.  This is why Brees has a 99 rating in Madden 12. Brees quickly hits Colston, with Goldson on his back foot, to move the ball to midfield. After a short run and throwing the ball away on second down, he finds Arrington wild open on a third-and-7 to get a first down at the San Francisco 32.  The 49ers fans I'm hanging out with? Yeah, not so chatty any more.  TOUCHDOWN SAINTS! Brees lofts it to Colston on the right sideline, and he somehow manages to get two feet in and to hit the pylon for the score.  After Kasay kicks the extra point, we're treated to a few more replays of the pretty pass and catch. Brees put it perfectly on Colston's outside shoulder, even with Niners defender Chris Culliver all over him. Colston got his left foot inbounds and then kicked the end-zone pylon with his right for the touchdown.  The 49ers run a quintessentially 49ers drive, as they move the ball down to midfield with their thunder-and-lightning running-back tandem of Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter. But Michael Crabtree drops two straight passes on the left side, prompting boos from the home crowd. Yeah, San Francisco is more like Philadelphia than you think.  The Saints send the house after Smith on third down, who loses 10 on the sack. Lee comes on to punt.  Lee's punt bounces into the end zone, and on the first play from the 20, Brees temporarily becomes Tim Tebow, throwing the ball directly into the ground. It looks as if he thought about tucking it at the last second but couldn't stop.  Brees dumps it to Sproles for two yards on second down, bringing up an important third-and-8 when we come back from the two-minute warning. This is a big play for the 49ers, who might be able to add to the the lead before halftime. They'll also get the ball after halftime, unless Sean Payton decides to pull off a sequel to his onside-kick-during-the-playoffs thing.  INTERCEPTION 49ERS! Tarell Brown leaps over Devery Henderson as Brees tries to go deep. The ball is downed around the San Francisco 30.  The Niners fans I'm hanging out were leaping around as Brown initially returned the ball to midfield, but he was downed by contact. Well, Henderson sort of tapped Brown as he was going down.  The turnover -- New Orleans' fourth of the half -- isn't that huge for the 49ers, as the Saints would've punted anyway on an incompletion. But that has fired up the 49ers sidelines.  Alex Smith is running his version of the two-minute offense, which during the regular season meant gaining 20 yards and punting.  And that is exactly what has happened. Short passes to Vernon Davis and Kyle Williams get them to the 43, but two incomplete passes and a short pass to Davis gives them a fourth down at the 50.  Now the Saints will have a chance to tie the game before halftime.  After a fair-caught punt, Brees takes over the at the 15. Colston catches the ball but out of bounds, and then the 49ers cut down Darren Sproles on a screen pass for a four-yard loss.  Jim Harbaugh smells blood and calls a timeout, hoping to get the ball back once more. It pays off, as the Saints seem to run the exact same screen pass, but to the right side, for a short gain.  The 49ers call their second timeout and Morestead comes out to punt from his own goal line.  FUMBLE! Saints recover! After taking over on their own 45, Smith gets stripped as he tries to scramble on second down. Saints recover at midfield.  The Saints have it on the San Francisco 45, but because they have no timeouts, all they can hope for is a quick pass and to spike the ball for Kasay field-goal try.  Brees misses Henderson deep, and then averts a sack by pitching it toward Graham just before he hits the deck.  Harbaugh takes a weird time-out with four seconds left, when the only play the Saints could possibly run is throwing it in the end zone.  On third-and-10, Brees gets pressured and throws it away as the clock ticks to zero.  No onside kick to start the half as the Saints boot it for a touchback.  Despite the score, the game has been kind of what we've expected. The Saints have outgained the 49ers about 200 yards to 150 yards and would likely be dominating if they didn't shoot themselves in the foot with four turnovers. Brees has looked fine, while Smith and Gore have done a workmanlike job for the San Francisco offense.  The 49ers get a quick first down after a short Crabtree catch and after Gore plows ahead to convert on third-and-1.  But the drive immediately stalls as Smith misses a well-covered Vernon Davis, and Hunter gets just a yard on second down. The Saints continue their strategy of sending the house on third down get Smith again. Lee comes out to punt.  ANOTHER FUMBLE FOR THE SAINTS! Sproles fumbles after a short return, and it looks as if he just dropped it before getting rammed by a Niner! The fifth turnover for the Saints!  You know that NFL Fantasy Football commercial, in which the song "Bad Day" plays as a bunch of fantasy-football losers cry? That must be what Sean Payton must be feeling like right now.  The 49ers recover on the New Orleans 22. The consensus among the Niners fans I'm sitting with: They HAVE to score this drive.  We get another Alex Smith Special, as the Niners go three and out. On third down, Smith throws to Crabtree, who literally has a defender on his back. Crabtree drops it and out comes Akers.  The kick is up and down the middle. The Niners are up six, but the Saints must be feeling good that they can go ahead on their next drive despite five turnovers today.  As Akers boots another touchback, we'd like to point this out: Before there was Tebow, there was Akers. Check out his Twitter feed.  We're still waiting to come back from the TV timeout, so we'd like to welcome everyone who can't watch this game live on TV. Special shout out to Joe G., a die-hard 49ers fan who's trapped in a library. You'd better be doing something important, since this is the biggest Niners game since T.O. was in red and gold.  One thing's for sure: Brees ain't gonna stop throwing. The 49ers somehow forget to cover Colston in the middle of the field, and Brees hits him for a 31-yard catch-and-run. New Orleans has it at the San Francisco 41 now.  Really weird play, as Brees tries call a timeout before taking the snap on third-for-8. He apparently doesn't get it, so he snaps the ball and overthrows Sproles in the flat. But Payton complains about not getting the timeout, and the officials appear to give the Saints the timeout after the fact.  It doesn't do much good, as Justin Smith comes up the middle and blasts Brees for a nine-yard sack.  Morestead punts to Ginn, who takes it at the 12 and returns to his own 19.  Harbaugh trick play alert! On second-and-7, Gore takes a pitch to the right and then tosses it back to Smith to the right! Or tries to, at least. He throws a wobbler to Smith's ankles that the QB can't handle, so Smith just rolls on it for a six-yard loss.  Smith dumps it to Gore for a six-yard gain on third down, so Lee comes out to punt it.  He gets a friendly roll, and the Niners down it inside the New Orleans 15.  After getting tricky on offense, the Niners get tricky on defense, sending just two rushers after Brees as he takes over on first-and-10 on his own 14. After standing in the pocket for perhaps literally 10 seconds, he heaves it into double coverage, where it's almost intercepted.  He makes up for that on the next play by hitting Henderson for 18 yards and, two plays later, finding Graham for 12. Saints have it at midfield.  San Francisco defensive back Carlos Rogers just made a touchdown-saving play. Adrian Arrington got behind him inside the 15-yard line, but Rogers manages to make up ground quickly and stick his left hand up to deflect the ball at the last second.  After a timeout, Arrington drops a pass on third-and-10 that would've been short anyway. Morestead comes out to punt.  For the most part, the shots New Orleans have taken downfield haven't worked. Much of their gains have come from receivers catching balls on 10- or 15-yard routes and then running.  The Quarterback Who Was Drafted 23 Picks Before Aaron Rodgers is still struggling to move the ball. Smith does hit fullback Bruce Miller for 15 yards, after Hunter gains nothing on first down, Smith overthrows Ginn -- who gets called for offensive pass interference, which the Saints decline -- and then overthrows Davis.  The 49ers got called for a second straight offensive pass interference, this one on Hunter, but the Saints decline. Fox cuts to Harbaugh, who is leaning an arm on one knee, while sticking his tongue out. First there was Tebowing. We bring you Harbaughing.  Lee punts it to the New Orleans 34.  The third quarter ends after Brees hits Sproles for 12, Ivory rushes for 5 and Henderson makes a 10-yard grab.  It still feels like anyone's games right now. New Orleans hasn't had a huge problem moving the ball, outgaining San Francisco 307 yards to 186. But besides the turnovers, the Saints have stalled at midfield a couple of times and had to punt.  My 49ers-fan friends are definitely worried as New Orleans threatens at the San Francisco 27.  The Niners come up with a big stop again! After stuffing Ivory for a two-yard loss, Brees heaves into what seems like quadruple coverage at the goal line. Colston manages to get a hand on it somehow, but the ball falls for an incompletion.  Kasay comes out and nails the 48-yarder to cut San Francisco's lead to three.  Hunter returns Kasay's kickoff to the 49ers 28. We should point out that Ginn had to be helped off the field during San Francisco's last possession. Ginn is fast, so his absence may hurt the 49ers on both offense and special teams.  If I were at Candlestick Park, here's what I'd ask Harbaugh after the game: Why is Smith throwing so much? He's 15 of 29 for 160 yards. Meanwhile, superstar running back Frank Gore has rushed only nine times for 41 yards, while Hunter has had it four times for 17.  Another three and out for the 49ers fans, and boy does it sound quiet at Candlestick. Smith found Crabtree for five yards, and Gore gained just one on second down. On third and short, the Saints blitz as usual. Smith gets jittery -- as usual -- and fires a pass to a well-covered receiver -- as usual -- in Kyle Williams. He deflects the ball and it floats in the air for a second, and the Saints just narrowly miss grabbing the interception.  Lee comes out for his eighth punt. Boom, this one is a beauty. Sproles returns it from his own 5 to the 18.  Niners get the ball back after a sick Justin Smith sack that saw him pull Brees down deep in NO territory while driving his blocker backwards.  Harbaugh must be reading this live blog for advice! Gore gets it on first down, takes it up and the middle, and makes a couple of cuts to break into the open field for a 42-yard gain! The Niners now have it at the Saints 22.  Ah, the story of the 49ers' season. After getting it to the 22, they gain just four yards on two rushing plays (okay, maybe my advice wasn't so good), before Alex Smith throws a pass that gets deflected twice at the line before being caught by Gore, who loses a yard.  Automatic Akers trots out and easily makes the 37-yarder to make the lead six points again.  Here we go. Sproles returns Akers' kick to the 21, and Brees takes the field with a chance to go ahead and to further burnish his playoff resume.  He dumps it to Sproles for a one-yard gain on first down, and then misses Henderson on second.  On third down, Henderson runs 13 yards and cuts to the right sideline, and Brees hits him before Henderson falls out of bounds.  First and 10 for the Saints on their own 35.  It is edgy in this San Francisco household, as Brees completes a quick pass to Colston, for 11 yards, and Meachem, for 4. He hits Sproles by the left sideline for about nine yards, and Sproles runs it up to the middle for another first down at the New Orleans 44.  TOUCHDOWN SAINTS! The 49ers blitz, and Brees dumps to Sproles over the middle. He finds blockers, makes a few cuts and scampers in for a 44-yard touchdown! And just like that, the Saints are about to go ahead!  Out of nowhere, the Saints have the lead.  The 49ers sent heat on that play and left the middle of the field open. Sproles had plenty of open field, as well as a monster block from Jimmy Graham, who de-cleated Tarrell Brown just before Sproles found the end zone.  Candlestick is quiet, and so are the 49ers fans at my house. How much confidence do they have in the 49er offense? "Not at all," Amir says.  After a touchback, Smith takes over and finds Hunter, who runs for a 13-yard gain.  On first-and-10 from his own 33, Smith's gets deflected at the line.  Big play, Smith to Davis!! Smith finds his big tight end on one-on-one matchup on the left sideline, and he floats a beautiful pass. Davis gets knocked out at the New Orleans 30. They're already in Akers range.  After the ugliness of the first half, the second half has become a real beauty. San Francisco seems content to milk the clock, as Gore and Hunter rush for eight yards to second up third-and-2 at the New Orleans 23.  Oh boy, big penalty for the 49ers, who get sent back five years for sending 12 men into the huddle. Harbaugh stares at the sky and it appears as if he thinks about throwing his headset to the ground, but suddenly remembers he has to call plays.  "You've got to be (expletive) kidding me," says one of my 49er-fan friends.  This sets up a big third-and-7 for San Francisco.  TOUCHDOWN 49ERS!!! SF calls for quarterback run! Smith takes it in the shotgun and scampers down the left sideline for a 28-yard scoring run!  The officials are looking to see whether Smith stepped out of bounds before the end zone, but it sure doesn't look as if he did. The crowd is muted as the officials head under the hood.  What a beautiful call. The Saints tried to overload the right side of the 49ers offensive line, and Smith just took it the other way. The left guard led the charge down the sideline and delivered a nasty block around the San Francisco 10 to spring Smith for the touchdown. Fox is saying it's the longest run of his career.  The referee has emerged. The play is confirmed. Touchdown 49ers.  Now here comes the big two-point conversion.  The Saints stop Gore on the two-point conversion! That seemed like an uninspired play following the touchdown. Smith was in the shotgun, and it appeared as if he changed the play at the line of scrimmage. Gore took the draw to the left side and got stopped at least a yard short.  Here we go. Brees will get the ball back with two timeouts and the two-minute warning.  Darren Sproles should have taken a knee. He takes it deep in the end zone and gets ankle tackled at his own 12. Brees and his cadre of receivers come out. The Candlestick crowd is on its feet.  Brees fires a quick screen pass to Sproles on the left. He gets a couple of blocks and a first down at the New Orleans 22. The teams trot to the sidelines for the two-minute warning.  Empty backfield. Brees floats it to Colston, but it's too high for him. Second-and-10 for Brees.  Brees finds Colston this time by the right sideline. The receiver steps out for a 13-yard gain and a first down at the New Orleans 34.  TOUCHDOWN SAINTS!!! Brees throws into double coverage at midfield, but Graham comes up with it! He breaks a couple of tackles and scampers into the endzone!  The Saints will go for two to make it a three-point game. Brees rolls out to the right and finds a wide-open Sproles to convert the play. Too easy.  Candlestick is stunned, as is the army of 49ers fans in my house. But the good news for the Niners is that they need only a field goal to tie it. The have one timeout left and perhaps the league's best kicker in Akers.  Ginn fields the kickoff deep in the end zone and, perhaps trying to do a bit too much, returns it to his own 15.  Smith dumps it to Gore, who gains seven over the middle. Meanwhile, 30 seconds run off the clock.  Another short pass down the middle to Gore, who gets 11 this time. The ball is at the San Francisco 33, but there are only 40 seconds left now after Smith throws incomplete on the next play.  BIG PLAY! SMITH TO DAVIS AGAIN! Smith hits Davis in stride by the left sideline, and he sprints to the Saints 20!  Another dumpoff to Gore. He gets seven to the Saints 13. But time ticks off the clock. Smith rushes up to spike the ball with 14 seconds left.  TOUCHDOWN 49ERS! Smith hits Davis on a slant over the middle. He gets hammered but hangs on! The Niners are up by three with nine seconds left!  Akers adds on the extra point! The Saints can't believe it! Neither can the 49ers fans. This brings back memories of Terrell Owens's big reception against the Green Bay Packers, right here, more than a decade go.  And just as T.O. cried after that change, Davis is doing so now. Harbaugh gives him a big hug.  Where did that come from? Smith looked terrible for much of the day, and is just 24 for 42 in the game. As one of my friends just said, "There's a little bit of Tebow in him."  Akers squibs it, and the Saints can't do much besides return the ball to their own 13. Here we go. Brees gets one chance.  Add this one to the annals of 49ers playoff history. Brees passes short to the right, and a couple of laterals keep the Saints alive before the Niners defenders collapse on them.  Wow. Montana to Clark. Young to Owens. And now Smith to Davis? Candlestick has had its share of famous catches in past decades and, despite the thin resumes of the latest quarterback-receiver combo, this one might rank up there, in part because of its unlikeliness.  The 49ers will now either host the Giants or head to Green Bay to revive their long-dormant rivalry with the Packers.  For the Saints, it's another playoff disappointment on the road to an NFC West team. Last year it was Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch, and this year, it was, well, themselves with their five turnovers.
Minute-by-minute analysis of the NFC divisional playoff matchup between New Orleans and San Francisco. A wild fourth quarter saw four lead changes in the final four minutes. San Francisco took the final lead with nine seconds left.