| NFL: Aggressive Saints Get What They Deserve | ||||
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After it was all said and done, the right team hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Saints were deserving winners…and the Colts were deserving losers. Congratulations go out to the city of New Orleans and their beloved team, who played a positive and aggressive game of football last night to secure a 31-17 win and their first Super Bowl title in franchise history. Fortune favors the bold. Sean Payton proved it, mixing up his game plan, taking risks—some of which didn’t work out—and telling his team, “We’re here to win, not to genuflect to Peyton Manning.” When the Saints had a fourth and goal from just outside the Colts one yard line, the New Orleans head man thumbed his nose at a potential field goal. It was the end of the half and his team was down 10-3, but Payton saw a chance to grab the momentum and head into the break 10-10. Unfortunately for the Who Dats, the play call was a bit shaky and the Colts stopped Pierre Thomas. The momentum was now firmly in the hands of Indianapolis. However, the Colts decided to run the ball three times in a row which allowed the Saints to get the ball back with a time out and 35 seconds remaining in the half. It was a strange trio of passive play calls, especially considering the fact that the Colts had lived off just-before-halftime success in their previous two playoff games: Trailing 10-3 and very much in the game, the Ravens stumbled with their offensive play calling just before the intermission and allowed Manning to drive down the field for a score to make it 17-3. The Jets saw Manning use three passes to travel 80 yards at the end of the first half of the Conference Championship game, reducing New York’s lead to 17-13. Despite these precedents, Indy played it safe and ran the ball three times. On third and one, the seldom-used Mike Hart couldn’t gain the three feet necessary to kill of the remaining 51 seconds. Instead, the Saints got a second chance to take the field goal they’d passed up on the fourth and goal play, and rookie Garrett Hartley converted the 44-yarder to make it 10-6 at the break. The difference between 10-3 and 10-6 is obviously not that great, but look again…the field goal put a cap on the second quarter, a quarter which saw Indianapolis fail to register a first down. The Colts had the ball twice and went three-and-out both times while possessing the football for barely over two minutes. That is hardly the way Manning and company drew it up before the game and although the Colts led at the half, they were frustrated; their world-beating offense couldn’t stay on the field.
It was important, of course, that Brees marched the Saints down the field and turned the onside kick into a touchdown to give New Orleans the lead at 13-10. However, combine the end of the first half with the onside kick/touchdown to open the second half and the Colts were behind, without an offensive rhythm, and suddenly aware that they could lose this game. The sense of urgency saw Manning lean on Dallas Clark to drive his team to the Saints four, where Joseph Addai—who had a solid all-around game—punched it in to restore the lead for the favorites. However, the Saints answered with a field goal to make the score 17-16 with just over a quarter remaining in the game. This was where the Saints wanted to be—well within range of Indy, believing they could win in the fourth quarter. When Matt Stover missed a 51-yard field goal—and did anyone but Jim Caldwell think Stover was going to make it?—the Saints had the ball and a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter. They would not let that chance get away. Brees and the Saints cruised down the field on nine plays for the go-ahead score—a drive which saw them face zero third downs. Brees continued to utilize all of his weapons, hitting backs on check downs, finding Colston over the middle, and taking advantage of match-ups like Jeremy Shockey against a much smaller defensive back in the end zone for the touchdown. After the Lance Moore two-point conversion and challenge, the Saints led 24-17 with five minutes and change remaining, plenty of time for Indy to move down the field for the tying score. Surely we were headed for overtime; this was Manning time…except it wasn’t. Everything started off as the Colts expected on that fated drive. Manning finally connected with his wide receivers and got into a rhythm, driving his team to the Saints 31 where he faced a third and five. Manning tried to hit Reggie Wayne on a patented pass Colts pattern, but Tracy Porter had other ideas. He sat on the route—clearly having studied it during film sessions—and made a relatively easy pick six. Game over. Suddenly, the Manning legacy had gone from GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) to goat. It was a telegraphed pass at the most crucial time possible. It was a pass that an MVP cannot make. It was a pass that will send Manning’s reputation back to where it was before he won a Super Bowl, which may be where it belongs. Sorry Manning-backers—this is a problem. I know Reggie Wayne ran a half-hearted route (and those who torch other receivers for fading out of games when they’re not as involved as they’d like, you’d best take Wayne to similar task because that’s exactly what he did in the biggest game of all) but that game-ending pick is on Manning. That’s the spot where GOATs shine, and Peyton Manning didn’t. His sycophantic supporters will say “Indy would never have gotten to that point without him!” Of course they’re right about that…but who cares? When the dust settled, the headline reads SAINTS WIN. When the game was on the line, Manning was not the greatest of all time…he threw a game-losing interception. He now moves to the back of the GOAT line, legacy tarnished…big time. You can go on and on about how wonderful Manning is and how amazing his stats are, but he was outplayed by Drew Brees yesterday. And yesterday’s was the game that truly mattered. I asked last week why everyone was yapping about Manning when Brees’ season, and his team, was just as good. Perhaps now, that will change. So now the Colts become the Atlanta Braves of football—the team that wins tons of regular season games, makes the playoffs every season, but through it all wins only one title. Everyone was concerned about the Saints inexperience in the Big Game and while it’s true that they initially struggled, they righted the ship. After falling behind 10-0, New Orleans outscored Indy 31-7 the rest of the game. That’s not an accident. New Orleans was better. They made adjustments—Gregg Williams actually opted to back off his blitz packages and confused Manning with nickel coverages and by bluffing blitzes…Drew Brees checked down and worked the short passing game instead of firing deep passes downfield. The result was no more than New Orleans deserved—they were the aggressor, they were the team that wanted it more, they were more adaptable…and they were the team with the better quarterback. Photo courtesy of Dennis Hubbard
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…And what better way to add to that frustration coming out of the half than to execute an onside kick? Manning was all prepared to come out firing, but had to put his helmet down after Jonathan Casillas recovered Hartley’s shocking kick. It was a brilliant strategic choice by Payton and it caught the Colts completely by surprise. No guts, no glory. Again, an aggressive play was chosen by New Orleans as Indianapolis could do nothing but watch and wonder what was happening.
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