New Orleans Saints: Super Bowl XLIV Champions!

Updated 3:23 P.M.:The NFL has a rule that if a receiver commits a "second act" while trying to reach the ball over the goal line and is successful in the act, then that act will overrule the fact that a receiver dropped the ball. As in the case with Lance Moore's two point conversion last night, Moore was ruled to have committed that "second act" thus overturning the original incomplete pass call. A strange rule that I did not know, nor do I really understand what constitutes a "second act." I hope that rule and the "complete the play" rule is looked at and changed in the off season.

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Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints took a lot of time to get going in Super Bowl XLIV, but when they did it was memorable.

Both teams needed to shake off the early jittery feeling everybody gets when playing in the Super Bowl. Marques Colston and Pierre Garcon each dropped passes early. New Orleans did not get too Manning in the first half and the Colts took an early 10-0 lead.

On the Colts first touchdown drive, Addai carried most of the load and the Saints missed a lot of tackles. On the Addai 29-yard run, Saints corner Jabarie Greer was injured on the tackle. Greer's replacement comes in and is matched up on Pierre Garcon. Garcon fakes like hes going outside, and the corner takes away the outside move like he should with safety help over the top on the inside. Garcon then comes inside and runs straight up the seem where Safety Roman Harper gave up on the deep route and let Garcon run right by him when his responsibility is deep. Bad play by the safety there and the Colts look on their way to a route.

The Saints responded with a field goal on their next possession, and then came the game changer. On 3rd and 4 Manning threw a dart to Pierre Garcon that looks to be going to the house, and Garcon dropped the ball. Colts go 3 and out and punt. The Saints drive all the way down and have 1st and goal from the 3 yard line. They commit a penalty, but get it to 2rd and goal on the 1. At this point if your Sean Payton, you either know or not if you are going on 4th down and if you are you attempt a pass on either 3rd or 4th down. They don't pass on either down and the Colts stuff them. On plays that close to the goal line, all 11 defensive players are so close to the line of scrimmage it is impossible to get everyone blocked. On 4th down linebacker Garry Bracket and corner Tim Jennings were unblocked and stopped Pierre Thomas short.

So Manning is getting into his bread and butter, 2 minutes and 2 timeouts. But what do the Colts do? They play conservative and run 3 times up the middle. They gave up thinking they get the ball back after the half no matter what. The Colts punt and the Saints sneak in another field goal as time expired to make it 10-6.

Opening the second half, the Saints go for the jugular. Payton calls for the onside kick after having to think about it for 30 minutes during an elongated Super Bowl halftime. The gamble, which will go down as one of the gutsiest calls in Super Bowl history, paid off as the Saints drove right down the field and took the lead 13-10.

The Colts come back and answer like they normally do. The Saints played soft coverage and missed a tone of tackles on the drive that lead to the Colts retaking the lead 17-13.

Dwight Freeney and the Colts defense was very effective in the first half getting to Drew Brees and disrupting what the Saints tried to do. During the second half, the Colts defense hindered significantly without Dwight Freeney after he came out in the 3rd quarter and would not return. Brees was on fire in the second half, but still losing. They kick another field goal to make it 17-16.

Peyton takes over in the 3rd quarter and the possession carry's over to the 4th quarter. Its now 4th and 2 for the Colts on the Saints 46. They go for it, and make it. The play was a slant to Wayne that he juggled but caught. The coverage was pressed but I have a problem with the fact that Wayne was not bumped at the line of scrimmage. I feel that if Porter would have bumped Wayne at the line it would have significantly impacted the decision Manning made their. Manning saw it and converted. Then the Saints defense came up big blowing up a screen play on 2nd and 8, and on 3rd down Manning sees a great match up which is WR Austin Collie on a MLB Jonathon Vilma. Collie ran up the seem and was matched stride for stride with the linebacker Vilma who broke up the play. Incredible coverage on a WR by a middle linebacker which is usually a clear miss match. This left Matt Stover a 51-yard field goal attempt that he misses. I do not agree with the call to kick their. I would have gone for it in that situation, but would not have a problem with a punt. The Saints dominated field position all night and backing them up their would have given a reason for them to be a little skeptical. Instead the Saints took advantage of their field position, Brees stayed hot and drove right down the field and scored to take the lead 22-7. The Saints go for the 2 point conversion to go up 7 with 5 minutes to play, good decision. Brees throws an out to Lance Moore who catches the ball, falls down, extends the ball passed the plane, appears to be bobbling the ball, and is ultimately drops it. The play is ruled incomplete on the field and is challenged by Payton, good challenge. The rule states that if a player completing a pass in the endzone falls to the ground, the players must maintain possession through the play regardless if he has broken the plane or not. The play on the field was overturned and the attempt was ruled successful, contradictory to what the rule says. Its a fascinating call that I can not wait for the NFL to explain.

None the less the Saints now lead 24-17 with a little over 5 minutes left. The Colts start driving downfield and get to 3rd and 5 on the Saints 31. The Saints called a blitz, Reggie Wayne and Manning adjust to the blitz to a sight adjustment they and every other teams run a hundred times throughout the year. Tracy Porter notices it, sees it, intercepts it, and takes it to the house. Ball Game. A lot of analysts are blaming Reggie Wayne for giving up on the route and not running it at full speed. Who is to blame on that play, no one will ever know because neither Peyton Manning or Reggie Wayne will tell you. Now the Saints have a headlock on the game up 2 touchdowns with 3 minutes left.

The Colts drive down the field again easily, this time because the Saints are guarding against the big play and giving up the underneath routes which the Colts took which also chewed up a lot of clock. The Colts got the ball to the Saints 3 yard line, but took a timeout. An unnecessary timeout that you could tell Manning after he took regretted it and tried to act like he didn't call it. You don't want to call a timeout in that situation because you want to be able to onside kick and be able to get the call back regardless if you recover the kick or not. But in order to do that you need all 3 of your timeouts, and the Colts blew one after that play. The Colts then attempt a pass which falls incomplete, then for some dumb reason run on 3rd down which is stopped so now they can't take another timeout so they hurry up the 4th down play which Wayne drops and the Saints take over and knee it to end the game.

A crazy and memorable Super Bowl on many levels. The Colts did not play the way they're known to play. They played conservative in the final two minutes of the first half and played confused in the final 3 minutes. Credit the MVP Drew Brees who played an outstanding game 32/39 for 288 and 2 touchdowns. Flawless performance by a very very underrated quarterback who the Chargers moved on from and the Dolphins thought was done 5 years ago.

Congratulations to the city of New Orleans and all Saints fans on being Super Bowl XLIV Champions!



Comments...

The UNhyped Super Bowl XLIV Preview

The only story this week leading up to Super Bowl XLIV is...there is no story. The only thing creating any buzz is whether or not Colts DE Dwight Freeney will play in the game and at what level of strength.

There is no doubt in my mind that he will suit up for the game even if he does not play a down. My guess is he will be around 70%, which is probably more effective than his replacement would be. Just the presence of Freeney on the field forces the Saints to be aware of where he is and adjust to him. If the Saints treat him lightly and don't pay attention to him early in the game, look for him to have an impact and make a big play.

On the opposite side, what are the Saints going to do to stop Peyton Manning? Better question is, WHAT HAS ANYONE done to stop Peyton Manning? The answer is really nothing. He's had an answer to just about every possible scenario defenses have thrown at him this season. When teams have blitzed and blitzed often, as the Jets did in the AFC title game, Peyton adjusted and quietly put up 30 points while throwing for 377 yards and 3 touchdowns. When teams stick with the conventional rush, he stands in the pocket with all day to throw and eventually dinks and dunks and then throws on a dime where you think there is no spot to put it. Realizing all this, the best scenario to attack the Colts offense is something I heard from an analyst this week. For the first half have one game plan and in the second half, have an entirely different game plan. This way whatever adjustments Manning has made will have no effect on what your plans are. Easier said than done because if your first game plan fails, your down by 3 scores before you even know what hit you.

Putting all that aside, the Saints must get to Manning, but not at all costs. They must get to him with their conventional front, knock passes down at the line of scrimmage, and make him do the one thing he does not do well...scramble. Of the 3 Manning quarterbacks, Peyton by far has the worst feet. He takes a lot of 3 step drops, gets rid of the ball quickly, and does not take hits. Look for the Saints to play a lot of press coverage to try and offset some of that and try and make Peyton move around a little bit.

The Saints offense this season has been spectacular, averaging over 30 points a game and 400 yards of offense per game, and not all of it through the air. Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush, and Mike Bell have combined for over 1,600 rushing yards this season. Drew Brees continued his resurgence throwing for over 4,300 passing yards and over 70% completion during the regular season. The Saints have one of if not the most complete offenses in the NFL, but the Colts have a very underrated defense. Freeney and Mathis have disrupted quarterbacks all year, and the Colts have stopped the run without their most effective run stopper, safety Bob Sanders. The Cots in the postseason faced 2 teams who's strength was clearly running the football. They stopped it by bringing safeties down in the box and playing a lot of single high. The Colts will not do that in this game. They were burned in the AFC Championship game by the Jets through the air on a couple of plays that they wont allow the Saints to do in the Super Bowl. The Saints will score points, but not at the rate Manning and the Colts will.

Prediction: Colts 35 Saints 31

Comments...

Championship Sunday Recap

Colts 30 Jets 17

If you would have told me early in the week the Colts would score 30 points, I would have told you the Colts would win.

If you would have told me early in the week the Jets would not rush for 100 yards, I would have told you the Jets would lose.

If you would have told me early in the week the Colts would score 30 points, I would have told you the Colts would win.

With those combined circumstances coming true on Sunday, it would be hard for the Jets to win, but they came close. They had Peyton confused early and they tried some different disguise coverages that worked to perfection on the first 2 Colt drives. Then Donald Strickland got injured on the Colts third drive, and Peyton took advantage of Lito Sheppard who looked like a completely different person from last week. He was awful. Garcon catches the ball for a big gain, but the Colts commit a false start and come away with only 3 points. On the very next play after the kickoff, the Jets hit the big play in the passing game I said they would need if they wanted to win. They run a SLO-GO with Edwards on Powers replacement Lacey for an 80 yard TD to put the Jets on top. The Colts respond on their next drive with a FG again to cut the lead to 1. The Jets drive right down the field and answer thanks in part to a Wild Cat pass by Brad Smith that lead to a Keller TD and the Jets are up 8. The Jets are smelling blood. The Colts drives are stalling and the Jets are looking to blow it open. On the Colts next possession, Pace comes flying into the backfield and hits Addai before he even has a chance to secure the hand-off from Peyton and the Jets recover the fumble at the Colt 29. This is where the Jets need to punch it home. They commit a false start penalty at the most inopportune time on 1-10 and they settle for a field goal. Great teams make the most of their opponents mistakes. The Jets did not. Now Manning has a little over 2 minutes left in the half and he begins to feel it, he hits Collie in the seem who was covered by Drew Coleman who had great position, but got greedy and laid out for the ball looking for an INT but missed. What are you doing there son? You are with the receiver stride for stride and had more of a chance for the INT if you hadn't dove for it. Its a play he will look back on and ultimately regret. Peyton hits Collie again in the endzone where he was wide open where Rex said there was some "miscommunication" and the Colts were right back in it.

In the second half, Shonn Greene got injured after 2 plays and would not return. The Jets again did not deviate from their offensive identity. They stuck with the running game with Thomas Jones who was fighting an injury and doesn't have the explosiveness that Greene has. The Jets on their first drive missed a 52 yard FG, Peyton drives down the field again and scores, and the feeling Jets fans know all too well began to take effect. The Jets did not move the ball offensively in the 2nd half as well as they did in the first half, but don't blame the Jets offense, credit the Colts defense. The Colts defense committed to the run for the entire game. They did not let the Braylon Edwards TD or the Brad Smith Wild Cat pass to Cotchery effect their game plan. They knew if they took away the Jets running game they would not win.

The Jets lost this game because of their defense. The Garcon and Collie were running uncovered in the secondary all game long and the Jets had no answer for it. Now what can cover that up is a pass rush. The Jets sacked Manning on the first 2 drives, they never sacked him again. The only thing that covers up shaky coverage is a pass rush, and the Jets did not have it. Manning dinked and dunked and caught fire, throwing for 377 and 3 TD's and the Jets had no answer. Ball game.

Saints 31 Vikings 28

This had to be one of the sloppiest championship games I have ever seen. Neither team looked like they wanted to win the game. Adrian Peterson's fumbling issues continued, Reggie Bush muffed a punt, and interceptions took place that were mind boggling.

At the end of the half, Reggie Bush muffed at his own 10 yard line that the Vikings recover. 2 plays later, Favre and Peterson have exchange problems and the Saints recover to keep the score tied at the half.

Lets fast forward to the Vikings final drive. The score tied at 28. 1-10 and the 21. The Vikings execute a perfect drive combining the run and pass to get the ball down to the Saints 33 yard line. The Vikings call a timeout with 19 seconds left. They come out of the timeout, and they have 12 men in the huddle. 12 MEN IN THE HUDDLE, AFTER A TIMEOUT! Now they are on the outer boundary of field goal range. Favre rolls right on a boot, has a bout 15 yards ahead of him to run out of bounds. What does he do? He sees Sidney Rice open in the middle of the field. He throws across his body, forces the ball to Rice, and is intercepted. This is a play that defines Brett Favre. He has the safe play right in front of him right there for the taking to put it in the hands of one of the most reliable kickers in the league. Now if Favre had not come out of the game earlier to get his ankle tapped up after the abuse he was taking, would he have run? Probably not. Favre was manhandled all day, but the Saints did not have a single sack.

Game goes to overtime, Saints win the toss. After 2 first downs, the Saints have 1-10 from the Vikings 41. Brees overthrows his receiver on the left sideline, but the back judge calls a dumb penalty on the Vikings linebacker on a ball that is clearly uncatchable. The Saints get another 1st down, and Hartley kicks the game winner from 40 to send the Saints to their first Super Bowl. I could not be any happier for the people of New Orleans, Drew Brees and Sean Payton.

But the better team lost this game. Its been said over and over and over again that the team that commits the most mistakes usually does not win, and the team that makes the most of their opponents mistakes usually does. The Vikings made the most mistakes, and the Saints made the most of their opportunities.

Your thoughts about Championship Sunday in Comments

AFC Championship Preview

In Week 16, the Jets limped into Indianapolis at 8-7 with a slim glimmer of hope that with 2 wins and help they would be eligible for the playoffs after losing a heart breaker at home to Altanta 7 days earlier.

The Colts were a freight train rolling in at 14-0 looking to make history. 4 days before the game even kicks-off, Colts President and General Manager Bill Polian decided to not play his starters for the entire game and pull the plug on the pursuit of perfection. Midway through the 3rd quarter with the Colts leading 15-9, Peyton Manning hit the bench. In the first play of the second series that Peyton came out, backup Curtis Painter, playing his first ever NFL game, gets sacked, fumbles, Jets recovered for a Touchdown. After that play, it was all Jets. The Colts defense basically laid down the rest of the game.

The Jets have said since then that they didn't get any credit for the win. What kind of credit are you looking for? The Jets played a team with a quarterback that had zero NFL experience and a defense that did not play the entire game. Credit should be given to where credit is deserved, and the Jets deserve credit in that they showed up for the game, and that's about it.

4 weeks later, we have come full-circle and the match-up we have all been hoping for has finally come true. A chance for the Jets to solidify that they in fact are better. A chance for the Colts to show that perfection is not worth the sacrifice of a Super Bowl berth.

For statistical purposes in the Week 16 game, we will only visit the first half. The Jets attempted 16 rushes for 58 yards. They put up 3 points and had two 3 and outs on 5 first half possessions (1 at the end of the half). The Jets on offense did nothing to solidify themselves in the game.

The Jets are a totally different team then they were 4 weeks ago. The running game has been a force with the emergence of Shaun Greene in week 17 and the 2 playoff games. How the Jets win this game is very very simple. Lets start on offense. The line has finally emerged as one of the best in the NFL and they have a great fullback. They should be lining up in some power formations, lot of 2 tight end sets, and lot of I-formation. The Colts know the Jets are built to run the ball. So the Jets should just say "O.K. here it is, line up and stop us." And the Colts do not line up as well on defense man for man than the Jets in the running game. The Colts are in the bottom 3rd in the NFL in rushing defense, averaging 126 ypg. The Jets need to create opportunities to pass the ball when the Colts are thinking run, and run the ball when they are thinking pass. How do you do that? You stay out of predictable down and distances. Positive yardage on 1st and 2nd down, creating manageable 3rd down situations. The Colts feed off of their pass rush with Freeney and Mathis, so if the Jets can keep them on their heels and make them commit to the run, this will create the opportunities for Sanchez to get some big chunks of yardage in the passing game because there is going to come a time in the game when the Jets are going to have to throw if they want to win.

For the Jets on defense, it all revolves around one thing...PASS RUSH! The Jets live and die by how often they get to the quarterback. Not necessarily sacks, but pressure and penetration. They made Phillip Rivers day last Sunday a bad one and forced him to throw when he wasn't ready or his receivers weren't ready. Different situation this week, but they need similar results. Peyton is an expert on identifying defenses and calling them out to his line for pass protection. If you've ever watched the Colts or the NFL, you know that Peyton calls more signals at the line of scrimmage than almost any other quarterback. The Jets need to confuse Manning, not an easy thing to do. But teams who have had success against him in the past during the playoffs that confuse Manning run a 3-4 defense. Go back to the days when Bellichick and New England faced the Colts in '04 and '05. The Pats held the Colts to 17 points in 2 playoff games.

The Colts have one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game and a suspect running game. Rex Ryan pointed out this week that when you have a cornerback as good as Derelle Revis is, it puts you in a situation where you can put him 1 on 1 with their number 1 receiver, rather than double cover the number 1 receiver and put the best cornerback on the number 2 receiver. He says that this entices the ball to be thrown to the number 1 reciever and with a corner like Revis, Rex feels he and the receiver both have an equal chance of coming down with the ball. This has worked out quiet effectively for the Jets this year. Revis has shut down Randy Moss, Chad OchoCinco, Andre Johnson, Steve Smith, and Marques Colston. But the Colts also have the best tight end in football this year in Dallas Clark. What do you do with him? Do you put a linebacker on him? Do you put Kerry Rhodes on him? Do you bring in an extra corner to cover him? That decision will be a difficult but the best choice would be to bring in an extra DB. That allows you to disguise the coverage better and be able to send him on the pass rush to get to Manning. The Jets have had problems this season getting to the quarterback with a conventional pass rush. They blitz 58% of the time, way more than the rest of the league. I believe Lito Sheppard will handle Pierre Garcon, so look for the key match-up to be Dallas Clark on whoever the Jets decide to cover him.

For the Colts to win, I think it comes down to one thing...get up by 2 scores. If the Colts are up at any point in the game by more than 2 scores, I think it would be extremely hard for the Jets to overcome. What the Colts can not do is become one dimensional on offense. They must keep the Jets guessing and stick to the game plan. Mix in the run in a few unconventional places early in the game. Do not become predictable like the Chargers did last week.

If you've ever watched an NFL films highlight of the Colts, you would know that Peyton Manning always has 2 plays for each play, a running play and a passing play. If Peyton gets to the line of scrimmage and does not think the original play called looks like it will work, he will change the play. Also the Colts run a lot of no huddle, so if the Jets get into a situation where they have bad personnel on the field, Manning will get his team to the line quickly and get the snap off and keep running plays until he can't. Those two things are what put Peyton Manning ahead of a lot of great quarterbacks who have played the game. The Jets are going to need to be very aware of those 2 things to have a chance this Sunday.

Prediction: Jets 20 Colts 17

Make your predictions and thoughts on this game in Comments. Saints/Vikings preview tomorrow

Recapping NFL Divisional Playoff Weekend

They saved the best for last this weekend as 3 of the games again were snoozers and one had some pretty good excitement. Lets take a look at all 4.

Saints 45 Cardinals 15

As I wrote last week, I expected Boldin to play and unfortunately he did not and it was a burden on the Cards offense this past week. Warner was roughed up badly by the Saints defense that played much better than they have going into the playoffs. The Cards need to invest some money into the offensive line and defense in the offseason or they are going to continue to have problems. I expect the defensive coordinator for Arizona to be fired and for them to hire a big time coach to call defense because Ken Whisenhunt has an offensive background and seems clueless with what to do with that defense that lacks personnel to play the defense they are playing. Will Warner retire or not? No one knows at this point, but I expect Matt Lienart to have a great NFL career. The Saints did everything right on Sunday, and it appears that Reggie Bush has re-established himself in the Saints offense and specials. More on the Saints later in the week

Colts 20 Ravens 3

I did not give the Ravens a shot at all to win last week and rightfully so because Flacco was awful. Everyone knew they were going to have to pass the ball more to win, which they attempted to do passing 35 times, however Flacco threw 2 INTs. But the play of this game was Ed Reed's interception and subsequent fumble. I know Ed Reed is a dynamic football player trying to make a play for his team with his offense struggling, but how does he not go out of bounds on that INT return? Defensive players play defense for a reason, if you watch defensive backs hold the ball after interceptions or fumbles, they hold them like a loaf of bread. Ed Reed did not hold the ball "high and tight" as coaches like to call it. It was a game changing play that would have given the Ravens huge momentum, but the game ended for them on that play. Peyton was as good as he needed to be, he wasn't great but he did what he had to do to win. If the Colts are going to win next week, they are going to have to run the ball better than they did against the Ravens. More on that matchup later in the week.

Vikings 34 Cowgirls 3

I said this game would come down to the Dallas offense against the Vikings defense and it turned out to be true. Flozell Adams left the game in the second quarter, and on the 2nd play after he left, Jared Allen went right around Jason Witten and got the strip sack. Not that Flozell was playing great anyway, but what it did was take Jason Witten out of the game and force Dallas to use him in pass protection. So now one of the primary Dallas weapons has been totally neutralized which releases the safeties to double on the outside. It was an unfortunate break for Dallas and certainly something that the Vikings took advantage of. Now as far as the Vikings going for it on 4th and 3 from the 11 with 2 minutes to go in the game up by 24. Questionable? Yes. Bush league? Maybe. The decision is not bush league, but the celebration by Favre and Shiancoe was bush league. Act like you've scored before! You show no respect for your opponent when you act like that. Favre was a pinhead who is no straight shooter either.

Jets 17 Chargers 14

The J-E-T-S- JETS! JETS! JETS! are on their way to the AFC Championship for the first time since 1998. The Jets did what they do to win, rushing and defense. The offense went 3 and out on their first 4 possessions. But to the Jets credit, they stuck to what they do, and they did not try to become a team that they are not. I give Rex and Brian Schottenheimer an enormous amount of credit for that. Its very easy to abandon everything you have worked on all week and all year in the heat of battle in a playoff game. But the Jets stayed true to who they are, relied on their defense, kept pounding, and pounding, and pounding the ball and that pays off late in games. If you have a defense that can keep the score down like the Jets do, 14 points per game in the regular season, it allows you to cover up flaws on offense. When you run the ball 38 times like the Jets did Sunday, that takes a toll on defenses in the interior who are sick of hitting you by the 4th quarter and then all of a sudden are subbing and guys are going in and out and thats when you catch them for big play like Greene made on the 53-yard run late in the game. Thats the kind of game the Jets play, and they play it effectively.

The Chargers did a lot to help the Jets also. Nate Kaeding missed 2 easy field goals from 40 and 36 yards (I don't count the 57 yarder you can't expect anyone to make that). Nate must have thought it was deja vu and 2004 all over again.

Norv Turner also had some questionable calling of his own. After the Chargers got it to within 3 with 2:14 left, Norv tries for an on-side kick. As I'm watching I am saying to myself, WHAT IS HE DOING? Now this is a totally different story if there is less than 2 minutes left and no timeouts. But the Chargers had a time out AND the 2 minute warning. They on-side kick, and don't recover. Now the Jets run 3 times, get it to 4th and 1 from the 29. San Diego has used their time out and the 2 minute warning has passed. No brainier for Rex, puts in the power I, puts in the veteran Thomas Jones, runs it up the gut, 2 yard gain. GAME OVER. If the ball is kicked deep, the Chargers would have gotten the ball back and had an opportunity for a field goal to tie. Instead it was game over, another questionable call for Norv Turner who's playoff woes as head coach of the Chargers continue.

Later in the week, I'll have the Jet/Colts and Saint/Vikings previews.