2012 NFC Divisional Playoffs New Orleans Saints vs. San Francisco 49ers

New Orleans Saints 

vs. 

San Francisco 49ers

Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET, Candlestick Park

The Quarterbacks

Brees

Smith

There will be no comparisons when matching up the two healthy quarterbacks in this game? Drew Brees set the single season passing record with 5476 yards passing eclipsing Dan Marino and almost getting to the 6000 yard monumental goal.  He also scored 46 touchdowns this season with 14 interceptions. Brees has been here before and taken them all the way and won the Super Bowl. Distribution of the ball is his weapon of choice, beware secondary. They were 1st in passing and 6th in rushing on the year so defensive signal calling will have their work to do!
The 49ers do have a capable quarterback Alex Smith under center to get the job done. He will need to limit the turnovers and use the clock to his advantage. They have a very balanced offense 3193 yards passing, 2044 yards rushing for the season. The 29th in passing in the league shows you that Smith needs to keep the lanes open for rushing which was 8th overall this season.

Huge Advantage - Saints

Running Backs

Sproles

Gore

Thomas

Hunter

The running backs for the Saints are used to set up the pass or get the tough short yards on third down. Darren Sproles has been a spark plug to the offense by stretching the defense in fear of the sweeps and catches out of the backfield. Sproles only had 603 yards rushing which led the team, but he had 710 yards receiving to add to his overall totals. Where he did his real damage though was in kick returns on special teams, his 1089 yards helped tremendously in getting good field position for Brees and company. The injury to Mark Ingram led to more touches for veteran Pierre Thomas and 562 yards rushing and 425 yards receiving showed he accepted the workload.

The 49ers will look to push the ball slower than the Saints by pounding the ball at them. Frank Gore had another stellar season with 1211 yards rushing. A punishing back that has a nose for the end zone when the opportunity arises had eight touchdowns this year. He did have some help in rookie Kendall Hunter and his 473 yards from scrimmage. Neither back is proficient in the passing game so the trenches is where they will live or die.

Slight Advantage - Saints

Wide Receivers

Colston

Crabtree

Meachem

Swain

The high powered electrify offense comes from the air and catching the missiles are Marques Colston 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns on 80 receptions helped the veteran earn his wings. The loss of Lance Moore took a blow, but the arsenal never let up with Robert Meachem stepping up and receiving 620 yards and six touchdowns. These numbers for a team that passes for over 5,000 yards seem bleak but Brees finds the player to catch the ball that will win.

Injuries and bad drafts have led to a week receiving corp for the 49ers. Michael Crabtree their leader only had 874 yards and 4 touchdowns. A far cry from what you would expect from a prospected future star. This weekend we will see Brett Swain on the side looking to capitalize on his opportunity on the big stage. He only had 2 catches in the regular season, so we have little to go on for preparation. Double teaming Crabtree might open lanes and leave islands for Smith and Swain to work.

Giant Advantage - Saints

Tight Ends

Graham

Davis

This season has been for the Saints the Jimmie Graham show. A mind boggling 99 receptions from a tight end with 1310 receiving yards leading the team and 11 touchdowns. Will the 16th ranked defense of the 49ers be able to game plan an offense where the tight end is their leading scorer? Brees will be looking all day for his favorite receiver.

Can Vernon Davis take a personal challenge and defeat the tight end war. He did have 67 receptions for 792 yards in the regular season. With a decimated receiving corp we may see plenty of balls going in his direction.

Advantage - No Brainer Saints 

Prediction Ravens 38 - Texans 17

Now fans time to show your pride!

Make sure to click on player links for more insight like official websites, foundations and interesting news!

2012 NFL NFC Wild Card Playoff Matchup: New Orleans Saints vs. Detroit Lions

New Orleans Saints vs. Detroit Lions 

Saturday. 8:00 p.m. ET, Mercedes-Benz Superdome

Airplanes and blimps won't be the only things flying all night in New Orleans! Drew Brees the captain of the offensive juggarnaut passed Dan Marino for the all time passing yards in a season with 5476 yards. Matthew Stafford was right on his heals connecting for 5038 yards. What do we take from this in our preview? The quarterback's are making all the noise in this preview to the match up in the NFC Wild Card game. These two quarterbacks combined for 10,514 yards of passing in 2011! Both surpassed the 5,000 mark only done 5 times in the history of the NFL. Maybe next year one of these quarterbacks may pass 6000 yards?

Advantage  - Saints

Brees

Stafford

Taking a look into the running game we see the versatility of the backs for the Saints in Darren Sproles and his ability to catch out of the backfield. In the 16 regular season games Sproles rushed for 603 yards on 87 carries, 86 catches for 710 yards receiving and with return yards of kicks at 1383 yards that is 2696 yards of total offensive threat. He is not alone in the back field of the Saints Chris Ivory has stepped up and the grinder Pierre Thomas combined had 936 yards to give the offense balance in the backfield.
The Lions battled through injury all year with the running game. When healthy the running backs produced just had to baby them along all year. The first blow was the loss of Jahvid Best there future for the season. So, they reached into the past and pulled Kevin Smith off the couch and found a solid performer until he got the injury bug. He is probable in this game if able to get 20 carries he could be a factor in keeping Brees of the field and giving space to Stafford to get the ball down field.

Advantage - Saints

K. Smith

Sproles

P. Thomas

Ivory

The receiving corps on both sides of the ball are dangerous. The Saints lead out with healthy a Marques Colston, a playoff receiver looking to add to his playoff stats. Lance Moore will be out for the game so Robert Meachem may get a few catches down field. He had 9 catches over 20+ yards and 6 touchdown passes in the regular season. Devery Henderson will also burn the secondary he had 6 catches over 20+ yards.
The Lions take pride in their elite receivers and none is better than All-pro Calvin Johnson. Calvin caught 96 passes for 1,681 yards and 16 touchdowns. So, keeping the double teams on Megatron might be the Saints best defensive option. When double teaming Calvin that opens up the other side of the field and Nate Burleson and Titus Young know how to pick up the slack.

Slight Advantage - Lions

C. Johnson

Colston

Meachem

Burleson

Henderson

Young

The two offenses would not be in the elite without the play of their tight ends The play of Jimmie Graham was legendary 99 receptions for 1320 yards receiving (2nd in NFL) with 11 touchdowns. All of the rceptions were not short passes out of the back field some of them were bombs that the 6'6", 260lb TE just took from the secondary all year. In their last meeting with the Lions on 12/4 he did not catch a touchdown pass, so watch for it.

The Lions had an early injury bug but that left and Stafford found Brandon Pettigrew as ann asset to keep the safeties honest. He did end the season with 777 yards receiving but his presence was more than that for the Lions offense.

Advantage - Saints

Graham

Pettigrew

Prediction Saints 45 - Lions 21

*Blowout Alert*

So fans lets stand up and cheer for your team to win!

Who will be the first 6000 yards single season passer in the NFL?

Drew Brees and Tom Brady passed Dan Marino for the all-time single season NFL passing yards. Dan Marino carried the mark of 5,084 yards since 1984 when he broke Dan Fouts's 4,802 set in 1981. The ever changing NFL is more pass oriented over the past couple years due to the offensive play calling, limited great running backs and defensive pass interfence calls . The corners and defensive back are struggling to find the right balance between the contact and no contact in the views of the officials.  

In the 2011 season 3 players passed the 5,000 mark Drew Brees (5,476), Tom Brady (5,235) and Matthew Stafford (5,038). With just 67 more passing yards Eli Manning (4,933) would have been the fourth.

Here is the list on the Top 10 all-time single season passing yard leaders. See if you can maybe determine the 2012 and beyond!

1. Drew Brees - 5,476

2. Tom Brady - 5,235

3. Dan Marino* - 5,084

4. Drew Brees - 5,069

5. Matthew Stafford - 5,038

6. Eli Manning - 4,933

7. Kurt Warner* - 4,830

8. Tom Brady - 4,806

9. Dan Fouts*- 4,802

10. Matt Schaub - 4,770

Drew Brees and Tom Brady are in the top 10 twice and seems to be the front runner in the chase to 6000 yards passing in a single season.

Dan Marino, Dan Fouts and Kurt Warner have all retired with much accolades in the game of football and the NFL.

The other young guns on the hunt with individual goals could add the 6000 yard mark is Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning and Matt Shaub.

All of these quarterback still playing in today's NFL have a shot at the 6000 yard goal if the defenses continue to get calls against them. These future hall of fame canidates will continue to sling the football down field to grab that 60, 70 or 80 yard pass play. What are the consequenses? A completed pass (plus), a pass interfence call (plus) or an occasional interception deep in your territory (Fail). I will take the odds everytime and so will these players.

The odds are even greater for the pocket passers who are protected by the roughing the passer call that they can with a good offensive line sit back and rip the secondary all day.

We as football fans want touchdowns! Who wants to see a one yard quarterback sneak? A long pass of 30 yards or more for a TD is like a homerun in baseball. Chicks dig the long ball not a sacrifice bunt.

I will be ready for the opening of the season next year to see if we will hit the mark.

 Will we see an emerging prospect next year?

Phillip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers or mabye Andrew Luck?

Let's all Cheer them on!