Jimmy Garoppolo on Sunday decisively delivered a fourth-down pass to George Kittle with time running out and the veteran tight end vigorously galloped up the sideline, embracing an opportunity to defiantly jerk his head back and forth as a Saints defender grabbed his face mask.
“Run through people, but have a good time doing it,” Kittle said of his mindset, which seemed to be contagious across his team.
With that adrenaline-fueled play — which netted 53 yards after a Saints’ penalty — Drew Brees’ late-game heroics moments earlier were virtually undone and the 49ers took a crucial step toward securing the top playoff spot in the National Football Conference.
Photo: AFP
Robbie Gould kicked a 30-yard field goal as time expired, sending San Francisco players streaming onto the Superdome turf to celebrate a 48-46 victory over New Orleans.
Garoppolo finished with 349 yards and four touchdown passes. His clutch connection with Kittle on fourth-and-two from the San Francisco 33 was his 26th and final completion of 35 attempts.
“I know a lot of people are still looking at him to see what kind of player he is, but I’m telling you he’s a baller,” 49ers receiver Emmanuel Sanders said. “When you’ve got somebody like Jimmy with the personality he has, and the hard work he puts in, in the clutch moments, he’s not going to fold.”
The Saints took their final lead on Brees’ fifth touchdown pass of the game — an 18-yarder to Tre’Quan Smith with 53 seconds left, but Brees’ pass on an attempted two-point conversion fell incomplete, leaving New Orleans’ lead at one point.
“This was like a heavyweight boxing match, just trading punches all game long,” Brees said. “We had a chance to win, and so did they. Unfortunately, they were the ones who came out on top.”
Sanders had a 75-yard touchdown in he which fell backward making a catch, got up and broke safety Vonn Bell’s tackle on his way to the end zone.
He later added his second career touchdown pass after taking a toss on a reverse and finding running back Raheem Mostert wide open down the right for a 35-yard score.
“We knew we were going to have to do some things like that because it’s a very, very sound defense,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We knew we had to take some risks.”
Two of Garoppolo’s touchdown passes went to Kendrick Bourne. Sanders finished with seven catches for 157 yards.
Brees finished 29 of 40 for 349 yards and also dived across the goal-line for a touchdown. Michael Thomas caught 11 passes for 134 yards and a score, but the Saints (10-3), who already are the South Division champions, were done in by a few critical failures.
Alvin Kamara’s fumble, recovered by DeForest Buckner on the New Orleans 20, set up Garoppolo’s five-yard touchdown pass to Kittle in the third quarter.
An aggressive and risky decision by Saints coach Sean Payton backfired at the end of the third quarter when Taysom Hill’s long pass on a fake punt fell incomplete.
Elsewhere, Lamar Jackson threw three touchdown passes as the Baltimore Ravens became the American Football Conference’s first team to clinch a playoff berth following a 24-17 win over the Buffalo Bills, while the Kansas City Chiefs clinched the West Division with a 23-16 victory over the New England Patriots.
The Rams sank the Seahawks 28-12, the Titans thrashed the Raiders 42-21, the Steelers silenced the Cardinals 23-17, the Chargers crushed the Jaguars 45-10, the Packers pipped the Redskins 20-15 and the Buccaneers beat the Colts 38-35.
The Falcons downed the Panthers 40-20, the Broncos tamed the Texans 38-24, the Browns beat the Bengals 27-19, the Jets edged the Dolphins 22-21 and the Vikings vanquished the Lions 20-7.
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