What a game in New Orleans. The 49ers won a back-and-forth contest Sunday 48-46 and moved to 11-2 on the season and back to the top of the NFC.
Here’s our running list of observations and notes from throughout the game.
– DJ Jones and Marcell Harris were both in on a run stop to start the game. Those two need big games to slow down this New Orleans offense. Good start for them.
– Harris missed a tackle on the next play, a 9-yard gain on a catch by Alvin Kamara.
– Richard Sherman exited early with an apparent arm injury. Drew Brees quickly attacked that side of the field. Brees is getting the ball out quick to thwart the 49ers’ pass rush.
– Sherman is back. Bosa got pressure and forced a bad throw on Brees’ first five-step drop of the game.
– Whew. Huge hit by Dre Greenlaw on a screen sets New Orleans up in a . thrid-and-10. Brees hit tight end Jared Cook for a 38-yard touchdown. Another missed tackle by Harris.
– Jimmy Garoppolo drills his first two throws in to Emmanuel Sanders for 50 yards. They’ve both been on the money in tight windows. Good sign early for the 49ers’ quarterback.
– A 25-yard catch-and-run by Deebo Samuel puts the 49ers at the 5. Capitalizing in the red zone is vital.
– An incompletion to Samuel then a failed wild cat formation with Richie James at quarterback. Tough start to the red zone trip.
– There it is. Kendrick Bourne from six yards out and it’s all tied at 7 in New . Orleans. Bourne did a great job of boxing out Saints CB Marshon Lattimore, and Garoppolo put the throw in a good spot. Garoppolo was sensational on the first series. He was four-of-five for 81 yards and a touchdown.
– A huge return for the Saints off the touchdown puts them at their own 46 after the TD.
– The Saints went backwards on their first play thanks to Bosa and K’Waun Williams blowing up a toss. Bosa is having his way with Saints left tackle Terron Armstead.
– Another long touchdown to Cook. Easy work for the Saints. A hit to Cook’s head by Ahkello Witherspoon gave the Saints an opportunity to go for a two-point conversion on the 1-yard line. Fred Warner sniffed out a run to Taysom Hill and stuffed it. Saints lead 13-7.
– Two runs, a penalty, a sack and the 49ers’ second series is over. This might get out of hand.
– Another long return on the punt puts the Saints at the 49ers’ 30-yard-line. And they’re quickly inside the 5. This is the worst the 49ers have looked all year.
– Touchdown to a tight end again. Looks like Harris blew an assignment. He was late to get over there. New Orleans leads 20-7.
– Well then. A 75-yard bomb from Garoppolo to Sanders makes it 20-14. That’s one way to get back in the game. Sanders has three receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown. What answer.
– The amount of missed tackles in this game is embarrassing for the 49ers defense. It’s at all three levels and reminiscent of last year.
– Lot of injuries early. Dee Ford is questionable with his hamstring injury. Nick Bosa missed some plays with a knee. Richard Sherman missed time with an arm injury. Ahkello Witherspoon had to exit with a shoulder ailment. Tough trip to New Orleans so far.
– The 49ers got the Saints into a fourth-and-goal from inside the 1. They somehow let Drew Brees go up and over the pile, which is something he does a lot. San Francisco’s defense got distracted by pre-snap motion from Taysom Hill. 27-14, Saints.
– A 21-yard completion to Deebo Samuel opens a pivotal series for San Francisco. They have to score here and keep pace while their defense figures it out.
– WOW. A sweep to Deebo Samuel, with the reverse to Emmanuel Sanders, who aired out a throw to Raheem Mostert for a 35-yard touchdown. It’s 27-21. What a throw by Sanders who had defenders baring down on him when he let it fly. Nobody was near Mostert though and he found an easy score.
– Huge stop on third-and-1 by Nick Bosa on a run by backup quarterback Taysom Hill. Bosa even got held on the play and still got the tackle-for-loss to force the Saints’ first punt of the day.
– Third-and-10, no problem for the 49ers. Garoppolo hit George Kittle for 20 yards. What a terrific catch-and-run by the tight end.
– Welcome back Matt Breida. His first carry since Week 10 goes for 28 yards down to the Saints’ 32. That’s the big-play ability the 49ers have missed with Breida out.
– Shanahan is in his bag. A handoff to Kyle Juszczyk acts as an option play and he tosses to Mostert for an 18-yard gain down to New Orleans’ 5, but a false start on Garrett Celek moved them to the 10 for first-and-goal.
– 10-yard run for Raheem Mostert and the 49ers lead it 28-27 with 42 seconds left in the half. Unreal half by the offense, and Mostert. He has 60 rushing yards, 35 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
– The Saints tried to set up a screen, but DeForest Buckner sniffed it out to bring up a third-and-9 with six seconds left. What a huge play, because if he doesn’t get there it might’ve gone for a big gain.
– It’s 15 yards from Garoppolo to Sanders to open the second half. Sanders is up to 147 yards receiving.
– And there it is. A pass off Sanders’ hands falls into the hands of a Saints linebacker for an interception. That’s all on Sanders. Brutal.
– Big-time stop by the 49ers who forced a 55-yard field goal. Saints lead 30-28, but a field goal is a win for the San Francisco defense after the giveaway.
– Third-and-1, the 49ers tried to run and Coleman got swallowed up for a loss. The 49ers front got completely dominated on that play. They’ll punt.
– HUGE. DJ Jones forced a fumble on running back Alvin Kamara and Buckner recovered at the Saints’ 20. That’s a massive play in this game.
– George Kittle got in the end zone two plays later. Garoppolo found him on play action for a five-yard touchdown after a 15-yard completion to Kyle Juszczyk. The 49ers have the lead again 35-30.
– The 49ers got the Saints in a fourth-and-1, but Hill bowled forward for a first down. New Orleans is winning the line of scrimmage on both sides right now.
– Nearly another takeaway. Fred Warner tipped a pass in the air, but it fell just beyond the diving K’Waun Williams. That would’ve been massive.
– Third-and-4, the Saints take a shot to Michael Thomas. Ahkello Witherspoon played perfect coverage. That’s very impressive. Another field goal by the Saints cuts the 49ers lead to 35-33.
– Oof. Garoppolo got crushed as he threw. The ball floated to the middle of the field, but it fell to the turf. That could’ve been a disaster.
– This time Garoppolo gets sacked. Not a good series for the offense when they badly needed an extended drive.
– More great starting field position for the Saints. They get the ball at midfield trailing by 2. The 49ers defense needs a stop in the worst way.
– Deonte Harris is killing San Francisco in the return game and as a receiver.
– Huge offensive pass interference negates a Saints first down and instead puts them in third-and-18. Bosa tipped away a swing pass intended for Kamara. What a play by the rookie.
– The Saints tried a fake punt and Tarvarius Moore had perfect coverage. There was no flag because in a punt formation, pass interference doesn’t exist for the player on the outside. San Francisco takes over at their own 45. An extended drive with less than a minute left in the third quarter is absolutely essential.
– A first-down run by Mostert was negated by a block in the back. It’ll be second-and-11 instead to start the fourth quarter. Eight penalties, 56 yards for the 49ers. One penalty for 10 yards on the Saints.
– Another sack, but Chauncey Gardner-Johnson held George Kittle and drew a flag. That’s another huge flag on New Orleans.
– Third-and-6, Garoppolo finds Bourne with pressure caving in. Bourne made a nice move after the catch to dive across the first-down marker.
– Another money throw from Garoppolo on third-and-5. This time it’s Samuel for 16 yards. The rookie is very quickly showing why he was taken No. 36 overall. It was a slow start to his rookie season, but he’s been dominant the last five games.
– Another huge penalty on a brutal hit to the head on Juszczyk. Garoppolo scrambled and extended the play nicely before finding his fullback short of the first down, but the flag on Gardner-Johnson extended the drive again for San Francisco. This has been the ideal series for the 49ers, but they have to get in the end zone with first-and-goal from the 6.
– Wow. Garoppolo again to Bourne on second-and-goal. The 49ers ate 6:57 on the 14-play, 55-yard drive. What a throw into tight coverage, and Bourne made an excellent contested catch. It’s 42-33, San Francisco with 8:59 left.
– It’s the 49ers’ turn for a bad penalty. Richard Sherman got flagged for defensive holding to negate a third-down sack by Solomon Thomas. Then Michael Thomas caught a 49-yard bomb to get into the red zone. Thomas scored two plays later. That’s the one player the 49ers couldn’t let beat them, and they did. Just an inexcusable defensive breakdown. It’s 42-40.
– Massive play by Garoppolo on a third-and-5 to scramble right and dive across the first-down marker. And it’s an inexplicable drop by Kittle on first-and-10. The 49ers had an easy first down and the tight end couldn’t hang on.
– Deebo again! A 31-yard run all the way down to the New Orleans 34 with the clock winding under 4 minutes.
– Second-and-6, Breida gets the first down, but he cut up the field to stay in bounds and keep the clock winding under 3 minutes. Having a fresh Breida to close this game is huge.
– Disaster. A sack by the Saints puts the 49ers into third-and-16. Then Samuel ran out of bounds on a screen with 2:28 left so New Orleans didn’t have to burn a timeout. That is an absolute catastrophe for San Francisco.
– Robbie Gould hits the field goal to make it 45-40, 49ers. There’s way too much time left and the Saints have a timeout. 2:19 left, and New Orleans has the ball at their own 24.
– A big catch-and-run for 11 on first down.
– Emmanuel Moseley hit Drew Brees on a blitz on the ensuing first down and the pass floated to the middle of the field. Emmanuel Moseley had to knock it away from Thomas who nearly came down with it anyway.
– Now a huge catch-and-run by Ted Ginn gets it to the 49ers’ 29 thanks to confusion in the secondary with Richard Sherman exiting.
– Thomas fell and Ahkello Witherspoon had a ball bounce off his hands. It would’ve been a game-sealing interception.
– Pass interference now on Moseley. This has been an abhorrent series by the 49ers’ secondary.
– More missed tackles leads to an easy 18-yard go-ahead touchdown. New Orleans leads 46-45 after a missed two-point conversion attempt. The 49ers have a shot here with 53 seconds and all three timeouts with the ball on the 25.
– Complete to Kittle for eight yards. They need their tight end to come up big.
– Incomplete intended for Sanders.
– Incomplete to Kittle. Fourth-and-2.
– KITTLE!!!!!! He goes for 38 yards on fourth-and-2, plus a facemask to put it at the Saints’ 14-yard line.
– Gould drills the 30-yard field goal and the 49ers win it. Un. Be. Lievable.