I wanted to provide my congratulations to the Saints for winning the Super Bowl last night, 31-17. As a doubter of them, I can say it was a well earned win in my eyes and a very entertaining game to watch as a fan. I must say, I'm happy the Saints won, its great for a city that has been down and out all too often. Not to mention, its the first Super Bowl victory ever for the city of New Orleans so its a major feat in that regard as well. As a citizen of the Cleveland area, I can certainly relate to that. It was really great to see how that team has rallied around the city, especially in the Sean Payton era, and for them to bring a trophy home is just awesome. With all this said, I'd like to take some time to play analyst and mentioned some of the things I found interesting throughout the game:
- Drew Brees was masterful. He had 32 completions (tied for a Super Bowl record), almost 300 yards, and played literally flawlessly. He spread the ball around so well and adjusted when noticing that the Colts came prepared to cover the deep pass. He took advantage with short and intermediate passes instead.
- Reggie Bush was conspicuously absent from most of the game. He had only 5 carries and 4 catches. He did have a pretty productive 63 offensive yards, but really didn't get as many touches as one would expect. He wasn't really heard from in the playoffs outside of the Divisional game against the Cardinals. Pierre Thomas played a pretty significant role instead with 9 catches, he really carried the load as far as RBs went for New Orleans.
- Passing was kind of the law of the land in this game. This shouldn't be much of a surprise really considering the teams and personnel involved, but still, usually defense and running the ball lead to championships. These 2 teams threw the ball a total of 84 times. They only ran it about 20. What makes this a little baffling is that Joseph Addai ran the ball pretty well in the first half for the Colts, but then they got away from him. I don't know if the Saints made adjustments to discourage the run or if Peyton Manning just decided to put the game on his own shoulders, but Addai seemed to disappear mostly in the second half. He did carry is 13 times for 77 yards, for a healthy average of almost 6 yards a carry.
- Peyton Manning returned to his old flaw. If Manning is challenged in the playoffs, he will falter. Think about it. All those years he never could get over the hump of facing the Patriots. The one year he gets to the Super Bowl in '06 he faced the clearly inferior Chicago Bears, hence the championship ring. Otherwise, he never gets it done in the playoffs because he can't handle the challenge. Peyton Manning is a great quarterback on most days, but when its all on the line, and he's facing a worthy opponent, I somewhat question him.
- Dwight Freeney played his heart out. The Colts defensive end played really well in the first half, and the Colts kind of went as he went yesterday. He wasn't the same player in the second half as the guy that one-arm body slammed Brees in the first. The Colts weren't the same team either. He admitted the extended halftime aided to the stiffening and discomfort in his ankle. I think that's a fair assessment, and definitely a shame if true. There's no reason a bunch of 60 year old guys with guitars should have an effect on the outcome of the Super Bowl. That's how the ball bounced though.
- Gregg Williams did it again. He came with a very well prepared plan for the Colts, it was brilliant really. He noticed how Peyton Manning figured out the Jets scheme by the middle of the 2nd quarter in the AFC Championship game, and figured he'd come with 3 different schemes. 1 for the first half, 1 for the 3rd quarter, and 1 for the 4th. He kept Manning on his toes and let his players execute. Plus, he let his players do what they do best, apply pressure and create turnovers, that's what sealed the game with Tracy Porter's pick 6.
- Tracy Porter for playoffs MVP. The last 2 games of the season he virtually sealed wins by picking off 2 future hall of famers.
- Sean Payton was excellent. A lot is being made of going for it in the 2nd quarter at the 1 yard line. I don't care so much about that, they got the 3 points after all. The onside kick to start the 2nd half was hella gutsy though. It was a great call and something they must've picked up on in the Colts special teams. It was a great move to keep the ball out of Peyton Manning's hands. That's what Payton executed best on all game, keeping it out of 18's hands.
So yeah, congrats to the Saints. I'm sure they'll celebrate this one down there. It was an excellent end to the NFL season.
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