The Santa Rosa Press Democrat just posted the sidebar I wrote for their Sunday paper. It’s on Donte Whitner’s tone-setting knockout hit on New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas on the opening drive of Saturday’s 36-32 Niners win. I spoke to Whitner in a group and one-on-one afterward in the locker room and he had very interesting things to say about the play. To read my article, click here.
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Great free agency pickup in this guy.
Two 49er fans shot by Saints fans in the South
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/16522914/football-game-sparks-lead-to-double-shooting-victim-says
Stupid thug. It sounds like he had issues anyways. And would have shot anybody for any reason. A parolle with a gun. Whats new.
Our defense is unreal!! They just punish people. Pierre Thomas won’t be available for interviews for a few days. He likely won’t remember anything anyway. Whitner put him to sleep. WOW!!
i can get behind that….the “Sleeper” or some such nonsense to go along with “pain and suffering” in PW and bowman
Whitner also almost cost the 49ers the game, when he took a horrible angle on Graham, allowing him to score the go ahead TD.
If it wasn’t for Smith bailing him out, he would’ve gone from a hero of the game, to goat.
The Smith who bailed Whitner out is ALEX Smith, btw. Jordan, ALEX Smith.
Did he look like he was wetting his pants out there tonight?
I didn’t think he did, but, hey, that’s just me.
Exgolfer,
The defense had five turnovers. It should have been a blowout. Stop finger pointing, fantastic game but we never should have needed a comeback, let alone two.
BigP don’t start with that nonsense. It should have been a blowout, they shouldn’t have scored in the end (twice) to force to make a GW drive…but would have it been as fun if it was just one sided? Nope. Enjoy the win and stay quiet with any of the negativity that’s for ExGolfer too
Big P,
Was what I said not true? Are you saying that Whitner defensed that particular play well?
I didn’t say Whitner had a bad game [he had a great game], I was just noting that one play that was far below par.
BTW, the defense had three turnovers, and the special teams had two. What is it you usually say about having your facts straight?
Three defensive turnovers are great, as far as they go. But even with three TO’s, the defense allowed 32 points. Aside from the opening game against GB [34 points], that’s the most the Saints have scored all year on grass. The defense definitely played great at times, but when they were needed the most [4th quarter], they gave up 18 points. On top of that, they allowed almost 500 yards of offense. I’m just not sure by which scale you judge the game the defense played as great. The defense played well enough to win, but not great, IMO.
The ST’s were great, though.
It seems clear to me that the offense, lead by Alex Smith, bailed the defense out in the biggest game of the year. We should all just accept and revel in that.
@exgolfer
I read your post as you intended it.
Don’t mind BigP. He has issues admitting things.
Here is how I take it now:
If BigP comes at you, you probably wrote something right and told the truth as best one can. lol
DS,
Big P is OK, although he is always right, in his opinion anyway.
@ex
Maybe.
I am ok.
BigP is ok
DS + BigP though are not ok.
No hard feelings. Just the way life is.
Ha! I know what you mean.
That hit was unbelievable!!! It looked PT went unconscious. But I loved the way Whitner just got up and walked away like it was nothing. That nastiness scared the Saints receivers in the first half lol!
Alex is good too. Are we still a QB away from a playoff win?
@KT:
Are you going to get your money?
ExGolfer,
Everybody knew the Saints would be able to score, and they did. If you get 5 turnovers you should blow a team out. They had 20 points off of those turnovers? Fantastic finish. Epic. Just don’t slight the D in the process, if it wasn’t for them we don’t win this game.
Big P,
Can you please address directly how you can say the defense played great game? Giving up 32 points to a team that committed five TO’s is not great defense. Think about it, the Saints gave up FIVE possessions, and STILL scored 32 points.
Giving up not one, but two, late fourth quarter TD’s with the game on the line, is not great defense. Ask those guys and I’ll bet they would tell you that. The defense played great at times on Saturday, but overall only did just enough to win, and that’s all.
No big deal, the defense lead the way all year. No slight against them, they’re truly a great unit, IMO the best in the NFL. It just wasn’t their best day on Saturday.
Thankfully, it was the offense’s day to bail out the defense.
And, yes, it was an epic finish. More pure excitement than in ’81. Although, that game was slightly more satisfying for me, only because I hated the Cowboys so much [they beat the 49ers in the playoffs three years in a row in the early 70's].
No slight on the defense intended, just stating things as they are. In crunch time the defense gave it up and the offense bailed them out, twice. That’s just a fact.
exgolfer,
I thought the D played very well all things considered. You have to put it into perspective. The Saints have a prolific offense. The turned the ball over five times, and still scored 32 points. That is how good they are. I expected it to be a higher scoring game and it was. I just felt that the Saints would keep attacking, which they did. That is their mindset. Harbaugh’s mindset is more conservative until he doesn’t have a choice. I said a few weeks back that I didn’t think the Saints or the Packers would try to run a lot against the Niners front seven, and the Saints didn’t. I said I thought they would drop back and sling it, and they did, 63 times. That was even more than what I had imagined. The D held up well until the end of the game. I think our outlook is different because I expected the Saints to score more points than most people did. I couldn’t believe we weren’t up by more points after all of those turnovers. At the end of the day it was one of the best, if not the best game I have ever watched. You saw the closing performance from Alex that fans have always hoped for. It was incredible. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy. It just doesn’t happen unless Pierre Thomas gets knocked out and Drew Brees throws picks. Five turnovers should provide more than a six point cushion for the defense, that is a fact. Sorry it took me so long to reply, I’m helping with homework and changing diapers.
No problem on the timing of the reply. Thanks for the answer. I had the homework part, too. The diapers are six years in the rear view. It does end, though, eventually.
I watched the fourth quarter again today. I still have trouble believing what happened. Amazing.
I have faith in JH and Co. They’ll have the team ready with a great game plan for the Giants.
pain and suffering ……
whitner the deliverer of the epi-center…….. mr. earthquake
If we’re naming plays that one has to be called “The Knock Out”
clearly in the genre of your boxing analogies for sure
With all the boxing references in the last couple days – did anyone catch what Aldon Smith was wearing in his post game interview?
A white t-shirt with that famous photo of Ali standing over Sonny Liston after he’d just knocked him out.
Nice, I didn’t see that, but how appropriate. We knocked out a giant.
The 49ers D is the PAIN TRAIN!!
How many RBs have the Niner’s D taken out this season?
At least three. Best, Blount, and Pierre. Sproules is tough little son of a gun, they pounded on him.
He is so short that it is hard to get low on him. Hell of player though.
Steven Jackson in the last regular season game, too.
mccoy, blount, best, jones (dallas), jackson, pierre, I feel like there’s one more.
Don’t forget about pw takin out Ariel foster in the preseason! Lol
Arien. My spell check changed it on me!
wasnt that hit an illegal helmet to helmet hit?
I don’t think it counts with runners like i does with the QB and ‘defenseless” WR.
Good point, Dad, I hadn’t thought of that. Otherwise, I guess every O and D lineman would be guilty every play!
Make room in the trophy case, the Harbaugh era has begun!
Whitner looked like a madman headhunter in the beginning of the game. Really did set the tone. Loved how he just walked away and didn’t even look back after knocking PT!! I kept waiting for smokey from Friday to run in and yell “you got knocked the f*ck out”
That is the exact line I was thinking of when Whitner hit Thomas.
What I was mad about was that the NFL guys were ignoring how that fumble prevented definite points from being scored.
They only focused on Points off Turnovers. But failed to bring up Points prevented (nearly guaranteed) by turnovers. They only mentioned it at the time. But, for the rest of the day, they only focused on points from turnovers.
Yet another reason why I don’t much care for stats.
Stats are not for me either DS, I do believe the Niners scored 20 points off those 4 turnovers, I cant find anything wrong with that. Only problem I had with the whole game was some of the play calling.
@undercenter
I thought it was less (16). Oh well, who cares. Niners won. That is what matters.
Also, one more thing about stats:
You can’t numerate skill. You can use numbers in all sorts of things (video game football), but in real life skill…you can’t use a number. Stats tries to do that, and that is and always will be wrong.
Grant, Could you please clarify why the hit was not an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit? It looked illegal to me. That said, I think the helmet-to-helmet rules are are bad and need amending. Whitner was coming up for a tackle, not coming to hit Thomas in the head. The head hit was unintentional, just part of the play. A great Ronnie Lott play. But it seems many of the flagged hits are just as unintentional. What are the rules?
I believe it’s only a penalty for helmet to helmet if it’s a defenseless receiver.
@hedges
1. He’s not a QB
2. He was not a defenseless WR. He had time to make a move and protect himself.
3. It’s the playoffs.
4. He’s a QB.
I would like to know why it is ok for the offensive player who is running full speed to lower his head. If that hits a defenders helmet, why isn’t it a penalty on both of them? Afterall the offensive player lead with his helmet, and could injure the defender just like the defender can injure the offensive player.
It was Tatum like…ah,the good old days.
The new days arent so bad either.
As the song says, Stan, these ARE the good old days!
Can’t wait to laugh at Greg Cosell’s detailed explanation of how Harbaugh protected Alex Smith with play calling to win the game. I’d like to also give a shout out to Jamie Dukes of NFL network who has watched his credibility reach an all time low with Alex Smith’s play this year.
To paraphrase Deion, “Donte Whitner was hitting the Saints like someone slapped his grandmother before the game.”