Red Right Tight, Sprint Right Option. And the rest is San Francisco 49ers history.

The 1981 NFC Championship between the Dallas Cowboys, dubbed America's Team, and the upstart Niners was a game about respect. And Dwight Clark's incredible "Catch" earned it, and then some.

Against the surging New Orleans Saints, the 2011 San Francisco 49ers will look to do the same in the first playoff game for the franchise in nine years.

Funny thing, it had been a nine-year playoff drought for those 1981 Niners, too. And both San Francisco squads went 13-3, after managing 6-10 the year before.

1981 was the third year of head coach Bill Walsh's tenure, turning around the franchise slowly and starting to put together the building blocks for a dynasty.

Quarterback Joe Montana, drafted in 1979, would put together the first fourth-quarter comeback victory of his NFL career against the Saints, a 38-35 thriller on Dec. 7, 1980. Rickey Jackson was a rookie linebacker that season and would go on to win a Super Bowl with the 49ers in 1994.

Walsh would then select defensive backs in consecutive years, grabbing Keena Turner in 1980 and Ronnie Lott the following draft.

Meanwhile, 2011 is Year One of the Jim Harbaugh era, as both he and Walsh before him arrived in San Francisco after leading the Stanford Cardinal football program down the 101 freeway in Palo Alto.

Harbaugh went defense early in his first draft, nabbing Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Aldon Smith, before claiming quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the following round.

Walsh and Harbaugh have been master motivators during their respective resurgent campaigns. After beating the Cowboys in Week 6 of 1981, San Francisco's victory highlights were conspicuously absent from the Monday Night Football halftime show a day later. 

Walsh would later write that he felt showing the 49ers winning would rub off luster from a rare Sunday night, nationally-televised Dallas-Los Angeles Rams matchup a week later. Walsh used this as a motivating factor for his team, who felt they were disrespected.

Harbaugh's mantra through 2011 has been, "Who's got it better than us? Nobody!" This was reflective of his childhood memories, growing up having to share a room with his brother John, the current head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

In 1981, the 49ers had a top-10 offense, while New Orleans has a top-five offense in 2011. But ironically, the Saints had the worst-ranked offense in the league 30 years ago.

However, the Niners from 30 seasons back gave up the second fewest points in the NFL at 15.6 points per game allowed. In addition, San Francisco was tops in giveaway-takeaway differential with a +23 showing in 1981. 

Sound familiar?

Back then, the Saints played in the same NFC West division as the 49ers. In part to all of those divisional games, the 49ers own the overall series 45-24 over New Orleans.

The last time these two teams faced each other was 2010's home-opener. In a Monday night showdown in Week 2, the Saints edged San Francisco 25-22 on a field goal as the final gun sounded.

Drew Brees threw for over 250 yards and two touchdowns in that game, and he's never lost to the Niners. But New Orleans couldn't run the football against San Francisco that night, as Pierre Thomas averaged 2.6 yards per carry on 18 rushes.

49ers quarterback Alex Smith is the key to San Francisco earning respect in 2011, just as Joe Montana was in 1981.
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Frank Gore had over 100 yards on the ground and a touchdown in that game, while Alex Smith had 275 yards through the air and a touchdown. But Smith also coughed up two interceptions, something that cannot be afforded in the 49ers-Saints divisional playoff matchup in 2011.

To give Smith credit, he had four two-interception games last season (all losses), while only throwing five total interceptions this season.

Smith is no Montana. But like Walsh before him, Harbaugh won't put Smith into a situation that he isn't comfortable with. The same formula all season is what the 49ers need to stick with.

But the Niner Faithful should feel optimism in knowing that Smith can handle the two-minute drill very effectively. It's something Montana had to do in that fateful NFC Championship playoff 30 years ago at Candlestick.

And the 49ers defense might do just enough to keep the game close for Smith to be forced into making history repeat itself in 2011.

Are the 49ers' receivers listening?