The Saints defense was the story, mostly shutting down the Colts in the second half and stopping them on their final three drives. The biggest stand was probably when the Colts were up one and moving the ball into New Orleans territory, but were forced into a 4th and 11 where they attempted an ill-advised 50-yard field goal. The next drive was the pick-six and the final drive didn't matter much, but the Colts never did get into the end zone to make it a one-score game and have the chance for an onside kick. In the end, the Saints defense was merely outscored 17-7, an A-plus performance against the Colts offense. Let's stop overpraising and making excuses for great players like Peyton Manning. On a routine roll-out that took a long time to develop in part because he's so slow, Manning completed an eight-yard pass to Dallas Clark, and Jim Nantz yells: "Ah, what a job!" Please. Manning makes plenty of great decisions and throws, but let's not heap praise on him for routine plays that any QB would make. And many are wondering whether the pick-six was Reggie Wayne's fault. Wayne had not even turned around on that play, and while it's possible he should have, or was in the wrong place, the presumption has got to be that a pick six right to the defender is on Manning. Moreover, he just missed throwing another one a few plays before that. Let's give Manning his due for another great season, but let's not pretend he didn't just cough up the game down seven in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. Joe Montana, Tom Brady and even Kurt Warner have been far better in their careers when the stakes are highest. Because Manning calls his own plays, he also deserves criticism for a failed WR screen to Austin Collie and then an ill-advised deep ball on 3rd and 11 that put the Colts in a position where their three choices were: go on 4th and 11, kick a 50-yard FG with Matt Stover, or punt from inside New Orleans' 35. He needed to realize that was four down territory and tried for a safer 6-8 yard completion and a manageable fourth down play as the Colts were completing short passes at will for most of the game.
Finally, when the Colts were up one in the fourth quarter, Manning completed a nine-and-a-half yard pass on 1st and 10, setting up a second and one-half yard from the team's 20. He then called a running play to Joseph Addai which went for a few yards and picked up the first down. It drives me crazy that coaches (and apparently Manning) don't realize that 2nd and 1 is |STAR|much better|STAR| than 1st and 10, and anyone with half a brain would choose to start all drives on 2nd and 1 rather than 1st and 10 if given the choice unless your sole purpose is to chew clock. So why any playcaller runs the ball to reset the downs in that situation is mind-boggling. You better get 10 yards of field possession at least to make that trade worthwhile. In fact, I'd take 3rd and 1 over 1st and 10 most of the time as well.
Garrett Hartley will be in everyone's top-3 among fantasy kickers for 2010. If the Giants could get their kicker on the steroids/four-game suspension plan, I'd appreciate it as it paid big dividends down the stretch. It's not just the three 40-plus FGs, it's how straight down the middle they were. Just like the overtime kick against the Vikings. I made only one wager yesterday - on Pierre Garcon being the first player to score a TD at 10:1. I really wanted to bet the under, too, but didn't want to ruin the game by rooting for it. My brother took Garcon to score and the Saints at +180 on the moneyline, so it was a pretty good day for both of us. I'm sure others have commented on this before, but what's up with Danica Patrick and the lesbian-porn-innuendo ad campaign this whole year. Don't get me wrong - no man has anything against lesbian porn - but what a strange choice of marketing for a female professional athlete. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but The Who looked like they were 100 years old. And I like The Who. My throat is still sore from listening to Roger Daltrey strain his voice. And the bar band that played the party I was at Saturday was 100 times tighter. I won't go too much into how badly Sean Payton outcoached Jim Caldwell as Scott Pianowski summed it up perfectly already. Pierre Thomas, who broke about eight tackles on nine carries and six catches, is a top-10 real life NFL back. Between him and Reggie Bush, who is still very quick in the open field, the Saints have a great tandem. There's no need for Mike Bell or anyone else ever to touch the ball unless the game is out of hand. Joseph Addai looked like the 2006 version, running with quickness and catching passes out of the backfield - this will just make him even more difficult to rank next season. Even though the pick six was the only turnover of the game, the onside kick to start the second half and the Colts' missed FG were essentially turnovers as well. Drew Brees completed 32 of 39 passes (82 percent), and two of the incompletes were Marques Colston's drop (it hit him in the face) and a spike to stop the clock in the first half. Still he got just 7.4 YPA, which shows how much he was dinking and dunking. The over was doomed from the start as both teams committed to taking away the big play and keeping everything in front of them. It was an exciting game for the most part, but there was only one sack, and the longest pass play by either team (excluding a 40-yarder to Austin Collie in essentially garbage time) was 27 yards. I know it's nitpicking, but Tracy Porter should have pulled a Brian Westbrook on the pick six and kneeled down inside the five as there was 3:12 left in the game, and the Colts had all three timeouts. If he kneels, the Saints burn away all three timeouts and kick a field goal, going up 10 with under 3:00 left. By scoring the TD, he gave the Colts a chance to score, kick off and use the timeouts on defense. Of course, the Colts botched the clock management and the score anyway. Both times the year after Tony Dungy left town his team made the SB, though in this case they didn't win it. Reggie Wayne is a No. 1 receiver, and puts up good stats, but he's just not that important to the Colts the way a healthy Randy Moss is to the Pats or Steve Smith is to the Panthers. Wayne also dropped an easy TD on 4th and goal that would have at least kept the Colts alive for the miracle onside kick and hail mary. The Saints beat three Hall of Fame QBs - Manning, Brett Favre and Warner, so they deserve a lot of credit for that even if the Favre win was lucky. With the Saints being the better team in the SB, Vikings fans probably feel even worse after that blown win as it's clear beyond any doubt their team was more than good enough to win it all.
