Monday Morning Quarterback

So, Super Bowl XLIV has come and gone and with it, the New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts by a score of 31-17. So what happened?

Personally, for me, it was a very average game, especially coming off two fantastic title games the last two seasons. Outside of the New Orleans interception return for a touchdown at the end, the big plays were limited. Ultimately, it was slow and steady wins the race as Peyton and Drew completed a ton of passes, but for bit by bit of yardage.

I will pride myself on properly predicting the Saints point total, unfortunatly the Colts offense did not do what I expected. After a great 1st quarter by Peyton and company, the Saints offense was able to win the time of possesion battle in the 2nd quarter and with the play of the game in my mind, the onside kick to start the 3rd quarter, kept the ball away from the Colts even more. It was a brilliant move by the "other" Payton, Sean, who fully showed to be a better coach than Jim Caldwell on the Indy side.

Something else that swung the other way was quarterback confidence. As the game progressed, Peyton Manning regressed while Drew Brees looked like...well....Drew Brees. This was the game that some people like myself said Peyton needed to win to solidfy his legacy, yet it was Brees who left Miami as a great quarterback. Brees is now more than a good stastical quarterback, he's a Super Bowl champion and that is more than every active quarterback outside of Brett Favre, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, and the Manning brothers has. Brees joined some pretty good company today.

Finally, props to the Saints defense, who pressured Manning constantly and did a great job of shutting off the Colts deep pass game. Manning couldn't go downfield, mainly due to some solid safety play from New Orleans. The blitz actualy didn't sack Manning on the night, but especially late in the game, he got hurried in the pocket and that led to the pick-six play that effectively ended the game.

Where does this Super Bowl rank when compared to the 43 previous games? Probably middle of the pack, it was a close, hard fought game, but not particularly memorable like the two previous games.

In any case, one last congrats to the New Orleans Saints, Super Bwol XLIV Champions. You were the better tonight. And though you were the underdogs, tonight is again proof, that this is why they play the game.