Well, SF is a bad team this year, but the coaches did have one moment of brilliance today. New Orleans, in its 2-minute drill, got to the SF 8 yard line with the clock stopped and no timeouts, 8 seconds left in the half. Clearly, the next play would likely be a throw to the end zone because of no time outs. The Saints put three wideouts on the right side of the formation. SF had defenders right across the line of scrimmage from each of the receivers. When the ball was snapped, the defenders immediately wrapped their arms around the receivers and prevented them from going anywhere. Brees, with no one to throw to, threw the ball away with 4 seconds left. The refs called defensive holding on all three defenders, moving the ball to the 4 yard line with an automatic first down. But, with so little time for another attempt to throw it to the end zone, it forced New Orleans to kick the field goal. So SF was happy to intentionally take a meaningless penalty, preventing a possible touchdown in exchange for running critical seconds off the clock and forcing a field goal attempt. The commentators were laughing about the play, calling it a genius thing to do. I expect to see it more often now unless they change the rules somehow to deal with it. I realize it's pretty much a weaselly thing to do, but you have to admire the thought that went into it.
Missed this game's outcome. Was the FG to tie and they went to OT? Or did the 49ers just lessen the deficit of the loss?
This was the end of the first half. It helped SF keep the game close when NO looked to be running away with it. The Niners did draw to within 31-23 early in the 4th quarter, but fell apart after that.
