|
 Many
football fans, leading with their head,
viewed the Indianapolis Colts as the better
team coming into Super Bowl XLIV.
But when all the multi-colored confetti had
rained down on Sun Life Stadium, after the
New Orleans Saints took down the favored
Colts 31-17, the game turned out to be about
heart.
This game shows the NFL is too good to risk
a stoppage for labor issues, writes Gene
Wojciechowski. Story
That Drew Brees outplayed a quarterback
legend in Peyton Manning is just one of the
things we learned about this Super Bowl,
writes John Clayton. Story
It was the uncannily accurate Brees and the
ability of his receivers to break open that
made the difference in the end, writes Len
Pasquarelli.
After the Saints won their first National
Football League championship 43 years after
they played their first game they talked
about the once-ravaged city they represent.
"We play for so much more than ourselves,"
said Saints quarterback Drew Brees with his
brown hair matted to his forehead. "We
played for our city. We played for the
entire Gulf Coast region. We played for the
entire Who Dat nation that has been behind
us every step of the way."
Brees referenced trying to rebuild New
Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and a
football franchise, too. Burn those bags.
Put the S back in front of those Ain'ts.
These Saints, finally, are Superb.
"It means everything," Brees said. "We're
here because of their strength and
everything they fought through here the last
few years. They've given us so much support,
so we owe it all to our fans."
Cool Brees
Saints QB Drew Brees completed 32 of his 39
passes for 288 yards with two TDs. His 32
completions are tied for the most in Super
Bowl history.
Most Completions
Super Bowl History Drew Brees, NO XLIV 32*
Tom Brady, NE XXXVIII 32*
Peyton Manning, IND XLIV 31
Kurt Warner, ARI XLIII 31
Jim Kelly, BUF XXVIII 31
Donovan McNabb, PHI XXXIX 30
* Won game
 Peyton
Manning may have been the regular-season
MVP, but on this given Sunday, Brees was
better. Lifting his team from a 10-point
deficit, Brees completed 32 of 39 passes for
288 yards and two touchdowns to tie the
Super Bowl record for completions on his way
to winning the game's MVP honors.
We have seen Manning and Reggie Wayne make
so many plays over the years, at first it
was hard to grasp what had happened when
cornerback Tracy Porter stepped between
them. Hurried by the Saints' blitz, Manning
fired a pass to the slanting Wayne, but
Porter broke first. He gathered the ball in
and sprinted toward the goal line as the
pro-Saints crowd roared. Manning, the only
one who could have stopped him, gave a
half-hearted effort.
It was a resounding 74-yard interception
return with 3:12 left to seal the Saints'
victory.
"Made a great play," a red-faced Manning
said after the game. "Made a great play.
Corner made a heck of a play."
Later, when the interception was raised
again, Manning was similarly terse.
"Certainly disappointing," he allowed. "Very
disappointing. Disappointing."
Porter's interception was the finishing
blow, but head coach Sean Payton's bold call
for an onside kick to open the second half
might have been the play that changed the
game.
"We were really excited when he made the
call," said linebacker Jonathan Casillas,
who was on the field when teammate Chris
Reis recovered the ball. "That changed
everything."
The ball, kicked expertly by Thomas Morstead,
bounced off the hands of the Colts' Hank
Baskett to set up the Saints' offense.
"We're going to be aggressive, Payton said.
"We'd seen the onside kick all week and guys
executed it well. It turned out to be a big
change of possession."
Instead of defending against Manning
who finished the game completing 31 of 45
for 333 yards the Saints drove 58
yards for a touchdown. Running back Pierre
Thomas caught a 16-yard scoring pass from
Brees and, very suddenly, the Saints had
their first lead of the game.
The Colts are perceived as a one-man team,
and the fact that their running game was
ranked dead last in the NFL this season only
underlines their dependence on Manning.
But nursing a tenuous 3-0 lead in the first
quarter, the Colts put together a muscular
drive worthy of a champion. Starting on
their own 4-yard line, Manning went not to
Wayne or Dallas Clark, but to running backs
Donald Brown and Joseph Addai.
Brown caught a short flip from Manning and
turned it into an 11-yard gain. Addai roared
through a huge hole and went 16 yards, and
after an incomplete pass, another 11. On
third-and-1 at the Saints' 49, Addai broke a
would-be tackle by linebacker Jonathan Vilma
and made safety Darren Sharper look silly.
Twenty-six yards and three plays later,
Manning hoisted one to Pierre Garcon for a
seemingly simple 19-yard touchdown.
Passing Them By
Colts QB Peyton Manning went 31-for-45 with
333 yards a TD and interception, falling to
1-1 in Super Bowls and 9-9 overall in the
postseason. Manning did become the third QB
in postseason history to surpass 5,000
postseason passing yards.
Most Postseason
Passing Yards Brett Favre 5,855
Joe Montana 5,772
Peyton Manning 5,164
John Elway 4,964
Actually, it was vintage Manning.
 Cornerback
Jabari Greer, hurt on a previous play, was
on the sideline. Garcon turned backup safety
Usama Young completely around and floated
into the end zone with a comfortable margin.
The Colts, who tied the longest scoring
drive in Super Bowl history, led 10-0 with
36 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Saints came back with a spirited drive
and a 46-yard field goal by Garrett Hartley.
It might have been more, but Dwight Freeney
reached out and touched Brees on third down,
forcing the Saints to kick. Freeney's right
ankle, the subject of rampant pre-game
speculation after a week of zero practice,
was not enough to render him ineffective. He
bullied left tackle Jermon Bushrod, pushing
him backward, then snagged a handful of
Brees' jersey for a sack.
Squandering a first-and-goal at the Colts'
3, New Orleans failed on fourth down. After
stopping the Colts with a three-and-out, the
Saints stabilized the game when Hartley
drilled a 44-yard field goal to make it 10-6
as time ran out.
The expected shootout was developing into a
surprising defensive standoff. Naturally,
the second half began with an onside kick.
Payton, after getting wrecked on two
conservative goal-line run calls, went for
the trick play out of the box and with just
over three minutes into the second half,
after Thomas' touchdown, it was a very
different game 13-10, Saints.
But, of course, Manning is Manning.
Completing two critical balls to tight end
Clark along the way, Manning presided over a
terrific drive. Addai, spinning a full 360
degrees, ran 4-yards for a score with 6:15
left in the third quarter to put the Colts
back on top 17-13.
Game on.
The Saints came right back and Hartley's
47-yard field goal closed the gap to one
point.
Indianapolis moved down the field, picking
up a fourth-and-2 at the Saints' 46 when
Wayne caught a 14-yard slant. But just when
it looked like the Colts would distance
themselves, Vilma (seven tackles, two for
losses) made two terrific plays a
tackle for a loss followed by some deft
coverage of Colts wide receiver Austin
Collie down by the end zone. Matt Stover's
51-yard field goal attempt was wide left.
Brees was again masterful, moving the Saints
down the field. He hit tight end Jeremy
Shockey with a two-yard touchdown pass on
the right side to give the Saints a 22-17
lead with 5:42 to play.
New Orleans was then compelled to go for
two. Lance Moore had the ball in his grasp
over the goal line momentarily before it
came loose. The play was called incomplete,
but Payton challenged the call and replays
showed the catch was good for a two-point
conversion, and the Saints had a seven-point
lead.
 With
the Colts driving, Porter made his
game-changing play and the team that once
trailed by 10 was up by 14 for good.
The Colts drove, but Manning's last-gasp
pass, a seemingly quite catchable throw,
glanced off the hands of Wayne near the end
zone, and the Colts were formally done.
Some 700 miles away from Sun Life Stadium,
it was All Saints Night on Bourbon Street as
the French Quarter rocked with something
approaching Mardi Gras intensity. The New
Orleans Times-Picayune reported that the
Saints will be honored in a parade on
Tuesday.
"Just to think of the road we've all
traveled, the adversity we've all faced,"
Brees said. "It's unbelievable. I mean, are
you kidding me? Four years ago, whoever
thought this would be happening? Eighty-five
percent of the city was under water. Most
people left not knowing if New Orleans would
ever come back, or if the organization would
ever come back.
"We just all looked at one another and said,
'We're going to rebuild together. We are
going to lean on each other.' That's what
we've done the last four years and this is
the culmination in all that belief."
This will be the first Super Bowl telecast
solely digitally in the United States after
the U.S. digital transition on June 12,
2009.
Super Bowl 43
Highlights |
