49ers go marching in. almost.

So I don't get to see that many 49er games down here so to see them recover from that debacle up in Seattle and show some fight on national TV gave me the warm fuzzies.  Losing though was maddening.

Key Moments Of The Game 1: Our backup center hiked the ball 10 feet above Alex Smith into the endzone, resulting in an early 2 point hole.  The subsequent punt, short field and TD essentially gave the Saints a 9 point lead.  Wonderful, lets post the Saints a 9 point lead to start the game, as if we were the ones who had just won the Superbowl.

KMOTG2: Down 9-7 with a minute left in the half with an assured halftime lead (after at least a short FG) pretty much in the bag, Walker fumbles it away inside their 10 yard line!  BENCH HIM!  UGH.

KMOTG3: 3rd Quarter, Alex Smith completes 2 successive passes of 30 yards and 40 yards to Crabtree and Vernon Davis.  For a dink and dunk guy, it was shocking to say the least.  Drive results in 14-9 lead.

KMOTG4: Down 19-14, Smith drives the 49ers down the field to the Saints 10.  Pass is tipped and intercepted.  Ugh.  We literally turned the ball over 3 times when in scoring position.

KMOTG5: Late in the 4th, Niners force a Saints punt which is completely and embarrassingly muffed by a rookie returner.  It literally goes in the space between his hands and chest and sticks to the turf like a Mickelson 9 iron.  CUT HIM!  Saints recover in scoring position.

KMOTG6: Saints are inside 49ers 5 yard line.  Stout Niner D stuffs them 3 times, including Patrick Willis' near-play-of-the-game stonewall tackle on 3rd and 1, to force a field goal and keeps the score within reach (8 points), 2 minutes left.

KMOTG7: Alex Smith's near legendary 2 minute drive - they go down the field and score a TD and a 2 point conversion.  Brought back memories of Joe Montana. Yes, I just said Montana, haha.  The only problem is that with 1:20 left and already inside their 10, I knew we had to use some clock.  You cannot give the SB MVP a minute to score a game-winning FG.  Brees is too good.  We had to score with no time left.  We didn't, then they did.

So the 49ers lost last night to a partially tipped FG in the last second.  Frustrating yes, but honestly, our valiant performance salvaged our season.  This whole deal could've gone up in flames after the Seahawks travesty but Singletary managed to regroup the troops and show some fight.  Hopefully they're worked out the OC communication issues.  Personally I think its not a communication issue, its probably a we-have-a-dumb-offensive-coordinator issue.  But, hey, we adequately solved the problem last night.  If you noticed, Alex Smith was wearing a QB playbook on his sleeve so he can be his own OC when necessary.  Anyway, we're only 1 game back in a terrible division so we just need to win most of the division games.  Twice vs Rams, at home vs Seahawks, twice vs Cardinals?  Very doable.  Also, we broke reggie bushleague's leg.  I love the niners.

Alex played one of the better games of his career.  Of the 4 turnovers, only one was his fault - a swing pass that was too high for Gore and intercepted.  Otherwise, he showed poise and mastery of the offense.  If we can move the ball this well vs the Saints, maybe he can still be the QB of the future.

These 4 Alex Smith (and Frank Gore) drives game me a lot of hope:
2nd Quarter: 12 plays, 82 yards, near 6 minutes, TD.
2nd Quarter: 9 plays, 76 yards, near 6 minutes, fumbled away inside 10.
3rd Quarter: 6 plays, 86 yards, near 4 minutes, TD.
2 Min left: 8 plays, 82 yards, 1 minute, (only 1 timeout used), TD.