Super Bowl XLIV: Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints

Super Bowl XLIV promised to be a shoot-out affair due to the high-powered offenses led by the Colts' Peyton Manning and the Saints' Drew Brees.

It was the Saints' first Super Bowl appearance, and it showed in the first quarter when they spotted the Colts a 10-0 lead. 

But the Saints came storming back by outscoring the Colts 31-7 from that point, going on to win convincingly, 31-17. To my way of thinking, New Orleans coach Sean Payton out-coached Jim Caldwell of the Colts, and that was one of the keys to how this game unfolded.

From the onside kick to open up the second half, to going for it on fourth down, throwing the challenge flag to overturn the decision on the two point play, Peyton continually dialed up the right calls, and had the conviction and mentality to play for a win.

There was not much that was conservative about him in the game, something that would have been easy to do noting the significance of the event.

The win will do wonders for the morale and pride of New Orlean's citizens for their city and for their team.

If one city deserved to win and help heal from its wounds, it was New Orleans.

I am happy for the city and for their fans.

Super Bowl XLIV Held True to Form of Recent Super Bowls

The last two Super Bowls, XLII and XLIII, saw the lowest number of combined rushing attempts by both teams in the history of the Super Bowl. The running game is just not that big of a factor any more.

Recognizing this trend, I believed the Saints secondary would be a factor in the game, as noted in the article I wrote back on Jan. 27th.

In that article, I predicted a Saints win with the following summary:

The bottom line appears to be who can take better care of the ball. The Colts defense created only one turnover against the Jets, but had four against Baltimore. The Saints defense excels here, with five against the Vikings and two against the Cardinals.

With the top-two seeded teams advancing to the Super Bowl, each team knows how to win, even if they don't always apply the old-time NFL standards for playing championship football. I will still be interested to tune in and see what each team does and how they choose to attack their opponents.

What do I think will happen? My prediction is that the Colts' problems in the running game will play into the New Orleans secondary ball-hawks, and Darren Sharper in particular. The Saints' pass defense will create some turnovers that will ultimately lead the Saints to an upset win. What do you think?

In retrospect, I had the right idea, just identified the wrong Saints secondary player.

Surprises from the Game and Observations

The article had asked the question: Where had the old NFL Championship style of smash-mouth football gone? You know, a really good ground game and tough defense. This year's top two teams have basically been pass-oriented attacks that have some rushing abilities, but to say they are strong running teams is just not true.

Both defenses are athletic and can create turnovers, but to say they are in the same class as the Ravens defense, or the old Chicago Bears defense, or the Steel Curtain, as examples, is just not the case.

I was surprised to note that Joseph Addai amassed 77 yards in rushing and his 26-yard scamper in the game turned out to be his longest gain of the year. I also wonder if the Saints rushing total of 51 yards is the lowest ever for a Super Bowl winning team?

Brees excelled at distributing the ball, as he found eight different receivers during the contest.

But the play of the game for me was the interception return by Tracy Porter and bringing it back the final 74 yards to score the touchdown that buried the Colts and took some of the shine off of the star that belongs to Peyton Manning.

Ex-Bills Players Win a Super Bowl Ring

As the featured columnist for the Buffalo Bills, I am happy to note that former Bills players won their first Super Bowl ring yesterday, as CB Jabari Greer and defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove played key roles in the Saints defense. Their leader and defensive coordinator, ex-Bills Head Coach Gregg Williams, also gets a Super Bowl ring.

In fact, either way there were going to be ex-Bills getting a ring, as the Colts have two former Bills players on their coaching staff: QB coach Frank Reich and TE coach Pete Metzelaars.

Finally, I couldn't help but have a flashback as I kept seeing Garrett Hartley kick one 40-plus-yard field goal after another, and they were all straight and right down the middle. My flashback was of course involving Scott Norwood. So, the Saints' Hartley kept them in the game and set a record in the process for most Super Bowl kicks from 40 yards or longer.