History, not the resurgent San Francisco 49ers, might be the biggest obstacle facing the surging New Orleans Saints in their NFC divisional playoff game this weekend.

In order to move closer to their second Super Bowl appearance in three seasons, the Saints must win their first-ever playoff road game Saturday against the 49ers, who return to the postseason for the first time in nine years.

After winning its final eight regular-season games then overcoming a four-point halftime deficit to beat Detroit 45-28 in last weekend's wild-card round, New Orleans (14-3) looks very much like a Super Bowl contender as the NFC's No. 3 seed.

"We just focus on winning," coach Sean Payton said.

The Saints have averaged 37.6 points while winning four of their last five postseason games, including the 31-17 victory over Indianapolis in Super Bowl XLIV. However, New Orleans' lone defeat during that span came when they were upset 41-36 at Seattle last season.

New Orleans is 0-4 in playoff road games, joining Cincinnati (0-5) as the only teams to lose all of their postseason contests away from home.

Whether or not New Orleans' dubious playoff road history will linger Saturday remains to be seen, but Payton does not believe it makes a difference.

"You win 13, 14 games now, and you're trying to find something," he said. "When you start playing well on the road and home, you're probably a better team and we've been able to do that."

New Orleans was 5-3 away from the Superdome in 2011, but nothing seemed to come easy.

The Saints rallied to beat Carolina 30-27 on Oct. 9, then lost 26-20 at Tampa Bay a week later. They also lost 31-21 to the then-winless Rams in St. Louis.

New Orleans needed overtime to win 26-23 at Atlanta and 22-17 at Tennessee on a red-zone stand that ended with a sack. The Saints' five lowest-scoring games came away from home.

Now, they must face a San Francisco team that gave up 10.9 points per game while going 7-1 at home in 2011.

"This will be a good challenge for us," Payton said. "Not just playing on the road, but traveling west."

The 49ers (13-3), who won the NFC West and earned the NFC's No. 2 seed under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh, are back in the playoffs for the first time since losing 31-6 at Tampa Bay in 2002.

"You tend to be a little jealous of the guys that are playing in the playoffs," 49ers safety Donte Whitner said. "We'll be one of eight teams, and hopefully after we'll be one of four. We're going to enjoy this."

Though this is the first playoff meeting between the teams, New Orleans has averaged 31.0 points during a six-game winning streak over San Francisco that dates to a 38-0 home loss Jan. 6, 2002. Two of those victories came at Candlestick Park, including 25-22 on Sept. 20, 2010, in the most recent matchup.

Drew Brees has completed 67.4 percent of his passes for 1,475 yards with 12 touchdowns and two interceptions while going 5-0 against the 49ers.

Brees, who needs one TD pass to match Johnny Unitas' record of at least one in 49 straight games, was 33 of 43 for 466 yards and three touchdowns as New Orleans set a playoff record with 466 total yards against the Lions.

Darren Sproles rushed for 51 yards and two TDs while Marques Colston caught seven passes for 120.

"We were pulling out all the stops," Brees said. "We play aggressive. We're not going to apologize for that. We're not going to pull the reins back. It's pedal to the metal."

Brees will certainly take that approach on the road where he's completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 758 yards with four TDs and one interception in playoff losses at Chicago and Seattle.

While the Saints' high-powered offense is likely to provide the stiffest test of the season for San Francisco's daunting defense that ranked fourth in the NFL allowing 308.2 total yards, their own defensive performance could be the difference this weekend.

The Saints have allowed at least 34 points in each of their last three road playoff games and yielded an average of 165.5 yards on the ground all-time away from home in the postseason.

Behind Frank Gore , San Francisco ranked eighth in league averaging 127.8 rushing yards. With 7,625 career yards, Gore is the NFL's all-time leading rusher without a postseason appearance.

"There are a number of things that (the 49ers) do offensively, but they've been very consistent at being physical up front and blocking with power and finding ways to create big plays in the running game," said Payton, whose team ranked 12th giving up 108.6 yards per game on the ground.

Though Gore ran for 1,211 yards and eight touchdowns this season, he averaged 53.6 and scored three times in his final eight games. He's averaged 68.8 yards and scored once in four games versus New Orleans.

San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith set career highs in completion percentage (61.4), passing yards (3,144) and passer rating (90.7), but faces a Saints defense that had the second-most blitzes in the league with 365.

"I had a great season up to this point, but (that) just got us a ticket to the dance like everybody else," Smith said.

He's posted a 65.0 passer rating while throwing three touchdowns and five interceptions in three games against the Saints.

Stingy 49ers hold down Drew Brees, Saints 36-32

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- In one triumphant afternoon, playoff first-timer Alex Smith joined a pair of 49ers Hall of Fame quarterbacks with his own indelible postseason moment.

Joe Montana had "The Catch." Steve Young had "The Catch II." Now, Smith added another epic play to the 49ers' storied history: "The Grab."

Smith completed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Vernon Davis with 9 seconds left just after Drew Brees had put the high-powered Saints ahead, and resurgent San Francisco capitalized on five New Orleans turnovers for a thrilling 36-32 playoff victory Saturday.

"You've got to call it `The Grab,"' Davis said of his play. "We were down. I had to make it happen to take my teammates where we want to go."

What a way to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of "The Catch."

Montana to Dwight Clark then. Smith to Davis now.

Smith ran for a 28-yard TD with 2:11 left and threw another scoring pass to Davis in the first quarter. Coach Jim Harbaugh's NFC West champions (14-3) proved that a hard-hitting, stingy defense can still win in the modern, wide-open NFL by holding off one of league's most dynamic offenses.

"This is huge for us," Davis said. "It's history, legendary, anything you can describe."

Brees completed a 66-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham with 1:37 left and the Saints seemed poised to rally from an early 17-point deficit when Smith and Davis delivered once more. It was a wild back-and-forth finish featuring an impressive passing duel over the waning moments.

Their highlight show came in the opposite end zone from where Clark caught a stretched-out 6-yard pass from Montana on Jan. 10, 1982. Saturday's game-winner by a leaping Davis - who plowed over a defender as he landed - came in the same end zone where Steve Young hit Terrell Owens for a winning TD with 3 seconds left in a 30-27 wild-card win over the Packers in the 1999 playoffs. T.O.'s grab became known as "The Catch II."

San Francisco triumphed in its first playoff game in nine years and will move on to face the New York Giants or defending champion Green Bay Packers , who play Sunday. A win by the Giants would give the 49ers the home field.

The 49ers pulled off another last-second win in a season full of them - and on a day former coach George Seifert served as honorary captain for the coin toss. San Francisco came from behind for five victories during the regular season, four on the road.

Smith helped the Niners become the first team in NFL history to score two lead-changing touchdowns in the final 3 minutes to win a playoff game, according to STATS LLC.

Davis, who wept on the sideline afterward days after saying he was overwhelmed early on by Harbaugh's thick playbook, finished with seven catches for 180 yards. It was the most yards receiving by a tight end in a playoff game. He averaged 25.7 yards per catch.

Smith found Davis for a 47-yard completion on a cross to the left sideline with 31 seconds left and Smith then connected with Frank Gore to put the Niners on the 14 for third down. Davis produced on a play they call "Vernon Post" - one they worked on all week, just from the right side instead of the left where it worked Saturday.

Brees came up big down the stretch just as he did throughout a record-setting season, also hitting Darren Sproles for a 44-yard TD with 4:02 remaining - one of Sproles' 15 catches for 119 yards.

"It stings right now because of the expectation level that we had coming into this tournament and understanding that if we win here we're into the NFC championship game and anything can happen," Brees said. "That's tough. Tough to swallow at this point."

With Donte Whitner bringing the bruising hits and Dashon Goldson , Patrick Willis and their defensive mates pressuring Brees and forcing turnovers from every angle, surprising San Francisco is a win away from returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since capturing the proud franchise's fifth championship after the 1994 season.

Brees, whose team was coming off consecutive 600-yard games, completed 40 of 63 passes for 462 yards and four touchdowns and was sacked three times. He also threw two interceptions, his first in the postseason in five years, and New Orleans (14-4) fell short again in its quest to get back to the Super Bowl after winning it all two years ago. The Saints are still searching for the first postseason road victory in franchise history after falling to 0-5.

"Kind of an unbelievable game the way it went back and forth," New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. "It's obviously a difficult game to lose."

How far these 49ers have come since that 24-3 trouncing they took back in August at the Superdome in the teams' exhibition opener. Now, Harbaugh's "Who's got it better than us? No-body!" group is drawing comparisons to the good ol' days of Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott and Steve Young. And of course, Dwight Clark, who came through with "The Catch" to beat Dallas in the NFC title game on Jan. 10, 1982.

All-Pro David Akers , the Niners' most experienced playoff veteran whose 44 field goals set a single-season record, kicked three more when it mattered most - from 25, 41 and 37 yards.

The underdog 49ers made the big plays on both sides of the ball and on special teams.

"Guys were so confident, as long as we had time we had a shot," Smith said.

They also had a towel-waving sellout crowd of 69,732 behind them at Candlestick Park on a beautiful sunny winter day in the Bay Area. It was 62 degrees at kickoff.

Who Dat? It's the Saints headed home to the Big Easy empty-handed.

A year ago, New Orleans came out West and suffered a stunning loss to the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks in the NFC wild-card round.

The Saints had lost five fumbles all season, then gave three away Saturday against San Francisco's opportunistic defense that pressured all day.

Harbaugh's theme "don't overcook it," rang true as the 49ers relied on what got them here - perhaps the league's best defense and special teams.

Brees drove the Saints close to the goal line on their opening drive but Pierre Thomas lost that fumble and was lost for the game to a head injury after being hit by Whitner. Two other turnovers came on special teams.

Smith, the 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick booed so often his first six seasons, hit Davis on a 49-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and then Michael Crabtree on a 4-yard TD strike as the 49ers jumped out to a quick 17-0 lead. He finished 24 for 42 for 299 yards with a 103.2 passer rating.

"It shows he's becoming an elite quarterback. I'm glad the world could see what he did today," Willis said.

Smith and his offense were determined to make their mark on these playoffs after being overlooked all season, and showed a little flair of their own. Davis dunked the football over the goal post after his score to make the Niners' most significant game on the NFL's big stage since rallying to stun the New York Giants 39-38 in January 2003.

Brees threw two first-half interceptions and had his NFL-record streak of 226 postseason passes without an interception snapped on Goldson's pick in the opening quarter. Brees' streak dated to the NFC championship game against Chicago five years ago.

But he hit a well-guarded Graham for a leaping 14-yard touchdown catch at the 9:32 mark of the second quarter, then had a 25-yard TD completion to Marques Colston to send the Saints into halftime trailing only 17-14.

Any momentum New Orleans gained was hurt when Colin Jones forced return man Sproles to fumble after the 49ers punted on their first possession of the second half. That set up Akers' second field goal of the day.

Notes: Brees finished the regular season and playoffs with 6,404 yards passing, surpassing Marino's 6,085 on the way to the Super Bowl in the 1984 season. ... 49ers WR Ted Ginn Jr., nursing a tender left ankle, left for the locker room before halftime and didn't return.

© 2011 STATS LLC