Harbaugh's hunch about Saints pays off for 49ers

SANTA CLARA – The 49ers chose wisely.

The team focused its bye-week preparations on the New Orleans Saints, and they will come marching into Candlestick Park next weekend after beating Detroit 45-28 Saturday in an NFC wild-card game.

The 49ers could have faced one of three teams – the Saints, New York Giants or Atlanta Falcons – and they raised eyebrows by singling out the Saints as the team they expected to host next Saturday in an NFC divisional playoff game. Most teams in that situation would avoid zeroing in on one opponent to not motivate the others.

The tack, like everything coach Jim Harbaugh does, likely had a bit of strategy behind it.

Looking ahead to the Saints served to not only flatter – and soften – the New Orleans squad, it might have been aimed to inspire their opponent, the Lions, to topple perhaps the league's hottest team. The Saints have won nine straight games. Had the Lions won, they would have played at Green Bay next weekend.

Harbaugh on Friday said he and his staff would watch the game from team headquarters, where they ostensibly were working on the game plan against the Saints.

"The team is playing at as high a level as anybody in football," Harbaugh said of New Orleans. "The quarterback (Drew Brees) – it's just a master of the obvious stating something like this – is playing as well or better than anybody who has ever played the game. It's a great team."

His players echoed that sentiment last week. Defensive end Justin Smith said he and teammates watched game film of the Saints on Friday.

"Their timing routes, their back-shoulder fades – we paused the film, and the ball's halfway down the field, and the guy's still running straight," Smith said of the Saints' proficiency in the passing game. "So they do some pretty awesome stuff on offense.

"Defensively, we know we're going to have to pressure Brees, hit him, make him uncomfortable."

The game promises to be a classic strength-vs.-strength contest. San Francisco's defense finished the regular season No. 1 against the run and No. 2 in points allowed. New Orleans, meanwhile, had the top-rated offense, which averaged 334 yards through the air. Brees had 466 passing yards and three touchdowns against the Lions.

Although the 49ers did not play the Saints in the regular season, they kicked off the exhibition season in New Orleans.

Blitzing typically is done sparingly in the preseason. The Saints, however, called all-out blitzes throughout the game and recorded six sacks in their 24-3 victory.

San Francisco's starting quarterback, Alex Smith, absorbed several big hits in the opening quarter, and the Aug. 12 game is likely to be raised inside the 49ers' locker room and meeting rooms this week.

• Read more articles by Matthew Barrows

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