San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh has claimed that wide receiver Michael Crabtree is the "greatest catcher of all time".

Crabtree played a major part in the 49ers' 23-20 playoff win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, making eight catches for 125 yards, including one 17-yard reception during the game-winning drive that resulted in a last-gasp field goal for his side.

Those figures were made even more impressive by the freezing conditions the match was played in, and Harbaugh was effusive in his praise of the 26-year-old.

"People talked about cold weather and it would be a tough-to-catch ball, but the greatest catcher of all time, Michael Crabtree, catches everything," Harbaugh told reporters.

"It's unbelievable. In the northern snowlands down to the tropics and sunny scenes, he's catching the football. Wherever they throw a football, he'll be catching it.

"If my life depended on it and someone had to catch a ball, I'd enlist Michael Crabtree to do it."

Despite Harbaugh's praise, the stats actually reveal that Crabtree has dropped 5.9% of passes since his introduction to the NFL in 2009, ranking 64th out of the 69 receivers to have played in that time.