And suddenly, it came down to one play, five yards, one championship, one destiny with 1:50 left. Arriving in shotgun, Kaepernick took the snap as Dannell Ellerbe shot through the center of the line on a blitz and forced him to release the ball a second before he wanted, throwing high and long into the corner for Crabtree one more time.
“I always thought they were going to run,” said Pees, shaking his head after the game. “I really did. All of those pressures were called for the run, not the pass. The only pressure that was called for a pass was the two-point conversion play [on the previous drive], where we made him throw it hot, and over his head. That was a pass pressure, but it was also a pressure that came up for when they run the quarterback draw, so we had that covered.
All those pressures down on the five-yard line were run pressures that really hurt the pass.
“We’ve got to be one-on-one in that situation. Here’s the thing: we were not going to let them run it in on us, period. We got beat in Washington because we let them run it in on us. We got beat at Philadelphia because I let him run it in on us, the quarterback. They weren’t going to run it in on us again.”
Defended again by Jimmy Smith, there was a hand battle happening with Crabtree early in the play and the ball sailed long and onto the turf at the Superdome. Jim Harbaugh raced down the sideline screaming for a pass interference call, making demonstrative holding signs with his arms and hands, waving wildly. Crabtree got up from the ground looking for a flag that never came. “There was no question in my mind there was a pass interference, and then a hold on the last play,” the 49ers coach said after the game. Crabtree said, “When somebody grabs you, you always expect a call. But you can’t whine to the refs. It is what it is.”
Ed Reed said, “I knew it was going there. We called an all-out blitz. As you see on the tape, I didn’t go because I wanted to make sure I had eyes on the quarterback just in case he took off with it. Once he gave Crabtree that signal, I had a feeling it was going over there. Jimmy Smith did a great job. I didn’t need any help. I just wanted to discourage the throw. He threw it too far out of bounds.”
The two stars on the play – Ellerbe, who forced Kaepernick to throw it or be mauled, and Smith, who sparred with Crabtree on the play of his life, were an interesting duo.
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Ellerbe, who was second on the team in tackles with 89, was an undrafted free agent in 2009, completely groomed in the Ravens system. He was a lunch pail guy who was disciplined by Harbaugh and who learned from Ray Lewis how to be an NFL player. It was Ellerbe, and not Lewis, who was shooting through that gap on Kaepernick with everything they’d worked for on the line.
Smith came from the opposite end of the NFL food chain, a first-round draft pick completing his second season. He had been slow-to-develop and hindered by injuries. Clearly, Smith was targeted on all three plays and walked away unscarred.
Reed picked the ball up and did the Squirrel Dance for Lewis in the end zone.
“The most exciting thing ever was the conversations that we were having at the goal line,” Lewis later said. “Nobody ever panicked, everybody looked at each other, and there was no panic. When you have that, when your back is against the wall, and they have three more plays at the goal line, and if we all do our jobs, they won’t get in. For us to stand up like that, it is just a testament of what we’ve been [through] and how much trust we had all year with each other. To me, that was one of the most amazing goal-line stands I’ve ever been a part of in my career.”
Ngata, who watched from the sideline in agony over not being able to be a part of the biggest goal line stand in the history of the franchise, was also shocked by the play calls. “I’m actually surprised they didn’t try to run it with Frank Gore, really,” Ngata said. “He was definitely getting hot in the fourth quarter and hurt us bad with some running game. I was surprised that they decided to pass it more or pass it all four downs instead of trying to run it with Frank Gore, who is probably the most dangerous guy.”
Any celebrating after the stop of the 49ers was still premature.
The Ravens took over at the 5, but it still wasn’t over without some offensive progress with 1:46 still remaining and the Niners holding one timeout. Rice ran for two years and Pierce got no gain on the next play. On third down, it was Vonta Leach running into the line and burning clock down to just 12 seconds.
Sam Koch lined up to punt but was told to burn as much clock as possible in the end zone while surrendering a two-point safety with a five-point lead and so little time remaining. A free kick would be a safer way to end the game. Koch obliged, milking the clock by running to the corner of the end zone and waiting for every blocker on the line to hold and tackle their man. A penalty here didn’t matter. The Ravens were trying to surrender the safety, anyway. The play looked more like a wrestling match.
