The Saints are the Saints, and they’re pretty good at scoring points quickly, so they climbed back into this game with two quick second-quarter touchdowns.

Still, New Orleans being down by more than those two touchdowns and surrendering 17 unanswered points while giving up four turnovers was staggering, and it wasn’t very Saints of them at all.

Also staggering: these numbers…

• Drew Brees averaged 6.2 yards per pass attempt. He averaged 8.3 throughout the season.
• Over his last 321 pass attempts prior to today Brees had thrown three interceptions, a streak that spans over the Saints’ last eight games, five of which were interception free. In 33 first half attempts, he threw two picks.
• The Saints lost two fumbles in just the first quarter and have now also lost four during the playoffs after losing only five throughout the regular season.
• Put another way that’s far more shocking, New Orleans ran 1,198 plays over their 17 games this year prior to today and lost seven fumbles, meaning they fumbled on 0.58 percent of their plays. Today they ran 45 plays in the first half including kickoff and punt returns, and lost two fumbles for 4.4 percent.
• The 49ers are averaged six yards per carry with 48 yards on eight carries split between Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter. That’s nearly two yards more than their season average (4.1, ranked 19th in the league).
• Alex Smith had just five games all year in which he threw two or more touchdown passes. He threw two in the first quarter.
• Vernon Davis finished the half with 82 receiving yards after averaging 49.5 throughout the season, and having only three games with more than 70 yards.