By Pat Yasinskas

Thoughts on the New Orleans Saints’ 36-32 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday at Candlestick Park.

What it means: You can’t defy conventional wisdom. In a game that will go down as a postseason classic, the Saints broke almost every rule and tradition. But they still lost in the end, as tight end Vernon Davis scored a touchdown with 9 seconds remaining. That capped a game that had four lead changes in the final 3 minutes, 53 seconds. The Saints came painfully close to proving they could win on the road, outdoors and in the postseason. They almost showed you can turn the ball over five times and still win. They also came close to proving wrong the old adage that defense wins championships. But there were no miracles this time.

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By Pat Yasinskas

Drew Brees is capable of many great things. But you can’t go to the miracle well 63 times in a game and expect it to produce every time.

That was proved Saturday as Brees and the New Orleans Saints lost 36-32 in a divisional playoff game to the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park.

History will tell us this was one of the best games in playoff annals, coming as it did with four lead changes in the final 5 minutes and San Francisco’s winning touchdown with 9 seconds remaining. History will be right, because this game was exciting all the way around.

But the surrounding hysteria might get in the way of history, so let’s go ahead and go on the record with one very important item that cannot be overlooked: You can’t go deep into the postseason with Brees and Brees alone.

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Hey Guys.. did you see that a good friend of the Who Dat Nation, Jennifer Hale is in San Fran ??

Well make sure you check out her FaceBook page during the game for lots of info!

CLICK HERE to go to her page.

By Pat Yasinskas

	The Saints’ defense has been stingy at times this season. But it needs more consistency to win a title.

For two full seasons now, Drew Brees has been showing up for games with a kid brother in tow.

We’re talking about the New Orleans Saints’ defense. It’s just good enough to go out there and stand on the field while Brees is on the sideline. But it’s not nearly good enough to win games on its own.

Brees and the offense have done the heavy lifting last season and this season, and the Saints have won a lot of games. But, if the Saints are going to get back to being Super Bowl champions like they were in the 2009 season, the little brother is going to have to grow up in a hurry and carry his weight.

Maybe it comes in Saturday’s divisional-round playoff game at San Francisco. Maybe it comes in the NFC Championship Game, or maybe it comes in the Super Bowl.

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By Pat Yasinskas

ESPN.com

The New Orleans Saints didn’t get much healthier as they went through practice Thursday before leaving for San Francisco.

Receiver Lance Moore (hamstring) missed another day of practice. Tight end John Gilmore (toe) and linebacker Jonathan Vilma (knee) also did not practice.

Strong safety Roman Harper (ankle) did return to practice but only on a limited basis. Linebacker Jonathan Casillas (knee) also was limited. Receiver Robert Meachem also is listed on the report with a knee injury, but he has participated in practice each of the past two days.

Police Expect More Public Drinking During Super Bowl

Drinking Alcohol In Public Actually Legal, Excise Police Say

INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis may feel more like Las Vegas during the Super Bowl because people will be allowed to publicly drink outside of bars, authorities said.Indiana excise police said there’s actually no law in place forbidding drinking alcohol in public as long as the person drinking is 21 and not already intoxicated.”You can take a drink outside of a bar, if it’s in the original container that it’s served in,” excise police spokesman Travis Thickstun said.

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By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports

METAIRIE, La. – There are 53 men on the New Orleans Saints’ active roster. Nineteen of them share a similar background – they went undrafted coming out of college. Six more Saints were picked in the seventh round (most by other teams), meaning 25 active players, or more than 47 percent of New Orleans’ team, got here the hard way.

It’s not uncommon for guys who don’t get drafted to still make the league and even flourish – no one wanted the game’s top back right now, Arian Foster of the Houston Texans. Tom Brady was famously the 199th player taken in his draft.

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By Pat Yasinskas

Three things to know about next Saturday’s New Orleans Saints–San Francisco 49ers divisional playoff game:

1. On a roll: The Saints have not lost since Oct. 30 when they inexplicably dropped a game to St. Louis. Although that loss was a big reason why the Saints now have to go on the road, it brought about some positives. The Saints made some major adjustments in their pass protection to give tackles Jermon Bushrod and Zach Strief help. Since then, the offense has been unstoppable. Everyone talks about the passing game and that’s understandable. But the running game has been almost as impressive with Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory sharing the carries. People like to label the Saints a “dome’’ team, but that’s not necessarily true. With this running game, the Saints can also play outdoors and still be able to move the ball if the weather is an obstacle.

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By Pat Yasinskas
Thoughts on the New Orleans Saints’ 45-28 victory against the Detroit Lions at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Saturday night.

What it means: It wasn’t quite as easy as the final score would suggest. The Lions led early and much of the game was competitive. The Saints were far from perfect and the offense turned the ball over twice in the first half. But this was still a solid win against a good team. That’s a lot better than what happened last year when the Saints got beat by Seattle in the first round of the playoffs. The Saints had plenty of momentum carrying over from the regular season and they only built on that.

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