This title may become a recurring theme to the blog, like its own special form of post, but I digress.
Most American football fans were probably captivated last night by the NFC Conference Championship game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints. I know I certainly was. It was a heck of an entertaining game, with a proper combination of offense and defense to keep it very interesting. For those that may not know, the Saints won in overtime, 31-28 on a Garrett Hartley field goal. Hartley's a man that's gone from goat to hero this year after missing the majority of the regular season by being suspended, I believe for violating the league substance abuse policy, but its a great story for him to come back. Here's some more stories and thoughts I had about the game:
- Vikings Dominance: The Vikings REALLY should have won this game. They had 200+ more total yards then the Saints, who couldn't get anything done on 3rd and short let alone any third down whatsoever (there's even question to if Pierre Thomas really crossed the 1st Down marker in overtime on 4th and short). They also led time of possession and seemed to march the ball down field at will. However, they turned it over 5 times, and fumbled a grand total of 6, they lost 3 of them. They moved the ball great but scored less touchdowns than turnovers.
- Vikings still had a chance to win... The Vikings were at about the Saints 33 yard line with little time left in regulation. Brett Favre rolled right and instead of taking the 7 yards in front of him, and sliding down to protect the ball, he tried to thread the needle to Sydney Rice across the field. It was a killer mistake as the ball was intercepted by Tracy Porter, killing any hopes of a regulation victory for the Vikes. Even if Favre just gets 5 yards, its a 45 yard field goal. A very workable try for 13 year verteran Ryan Longwell, one of the most respected kickers in the league. There's no guarantee he would have made it, but it would've been pretty good odds. In retrospect though, I get why Favre threw it. He'd been able to squeeze balls in all day, and he's fearless back there. Plus, he hurt his leg in the 3rd quarter, who knows how his hobble for yardage would have turned out. Could he even slide on his leg? We don't know.
- Everyone's gonna remember the late interception... which is a shame. Favre played a really gutsy game and most of the 2nd half on one good leg. He DID throw for 310 yards in the game. He had such a wonderful season and to see him revert back to some old poor tendencies and to have it result in the Vikings downfall is very disappointing.
- Some credit must go to the Saints defense. Jonathon Vilma spearheaded it yesterday. 5 tackles, a pick, and a forced fumble were all clutch to the Saints success.
- The Saints came in knowing what they had to do... They knew the Vikes were very potent offensively and that they'd move the ball well. They also knew Minnesota has ball security problems. Adrian Peterson fumbles a lot (he did thrice), Favre has the gunslinger reputation (2 picks). They took advantage. They went after the ball every chance they got, and surprisingly they did it in a very calculated way that didn't result in a lot of big Vikings plays. Big ups to Gregg Williams, Saints defensive coordinator, for putting together an excellent game plan.
- Saints offense didn't really impress... If I were the Saints I'd be worried about the Colts. They won't give up the turnovers and therefore the field position that the Vikings did. The Saints struggled moving the ball, as aforementioned, and its somewhat perplexing for the NFL's best offense this year. And so much for the emergence of Reggie Bush... 7 carries equated 8 yards yesterday.
- Overall though, congrats to the Colts and Saints. They deserve this, they've been the 2 most dominant teams all season. Its wonderful to the see Saints franchise in their first Super Bowl, its a fanbase that suffered for a lot of years and is finally at the pinnacle of success. And I'm sure Peyton Manning & Co. will be in rare form as usual in 2 weeks, this Super Bowl honestly has the potential to be a very entertaining type game.
-Hype
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