New Orleans Saints Review

A little less than 12 hours after the New Orleans Saints sent the Indianapolis Colts packing with a 31-17 come-from-behind victory in Super Bowl XLIV, I’m still just blown away by what I saw.  And yet, I shouldn’t have expected it to happen any differently.

I picked the Saints to win it, 37-31.  But I didn’t think they would fall behind 10-0 early on.  I didn’t see them having to weather such an early storm by the Colts offense, while their own struggled to find a rhythm.  I, like so many others, expected a wild west shootout that would begin from the opening kickoff.

But regardless of what I expected, the Saints weren’t phased one bit.  Coach Sean Payton and his team put all their cards on the table and never took their foot off of the accelerator.  Payton was his riverboat gambler self in Miami on Sunday, and boy did he hit the jackpot.

His decision to go for it on a 4th and goal towards the end of the first half was definitely the right call, even though running back Pierre Thomas was stuffed for no gain.  It forced the Colts to march 99 yards in less than 2 minutes.  Indy decided to play it safe with 3 straight runs.  They didn’t want to make a costly mistake just before half time.

The Saints got the ball back, down 10-3 and put kicker Garrett Hartley in position to cut the deficit to 4 points heading into halftime.  Hartley nailed the 44 yarder and gave the Saints hope heading into the locker room.  He also became the first kicker in Super Bowl history to hit 3 kicks from beyond 40 yards.  For all the talk of his inexperience, Hartley has proven himself to be a big game presence.

But coach Payton wasn’t done.  Coming out for the second half, he decided it was time for an onside kick.  Crazy as it sounds, I actually said to myself (albeit quite sarcastically) during halftime that the Saints should try for the onside kick and keep that ball away from Peyton Manning.  But even I was shocked when they actually did it.  Punter/kickoff specialist Thomas Morstead made one of the biggest special teams plays in Saints history, hitting the ball just well enough to get a bounce off of a Colts player.  Reserve safety Chris Reis recovered the kick in what was one of the nastiest, longest fights for a ball that I’ve ever seen.  The Saints had the ball and Pierre Thomas promptly scored on a 16 pass from Drew Brees.

It was the first time in Super Bowl history an onside kick was attempted before the 4th quarter.  Payton said after the game that the team had seen something on film that made them quite sure they could recover the kick.  They wanted to pull it out sometime in the game, and he felt coming out of the half would be the perfect time.  And it was.  With the Super Bowl halftime being extended, there was no way the Colts would have seriously thought about defending such a tactic.

Make no mistake, this could have backfired on the Saints.  If that had happened, there would have been a blitz of criticism for Payton.  But that’s who he is, and that’s who these Saints are.  If you’re David battling Goliath (according to the media, anyway), you punch the big guy in the mouth and see if he can take it.  Payton was true to himself and it helped bring to momentum over to the New Orleans side of the field.

Manning was terrific overall (31/45, 333 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 88.5 QB Rating), and promptly marched his team down the field to retake the lead, 17-13.  The Saints defense knew they were in for a challenge, and despite the fact that Manning was able to make plays, held their own when it mattered most.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams brought a plethora of blitzes, but rarely did they get to Manning.  Sure, they knocked him down a few times, but that was nothing compared to the beating they laid on Brett Favre and Kurt Warner earlier in the playoffs.  But Williams had his unit stay aggressive and kept them coming.  The defense just needed to make one big play.

After a 47 yard Hartley field goal brought the Saints to within 1 point at 17-16, Drew Brees (32/39, 288 yards, 2 TDs, 114.5 QB Rating) hit tight end Jeremy Shockey for a 2 yard score, followed by a brilliant 2 point conversion catch by receiver Lance Moore to make it 24-17 in favor of New Orleans.

Then, Manning took over, leading his team down to the Saints’ 31 yard line in the blink of an eye.  Just as CBS commentator Phil Simms said that the Saints shouldn’t risk blitzing in this situation, Williams sent the calvary at Manning.  The Colts’ superstar had to get rid of the ball in a hurry, and tried to get the ball to receiver Reggie Wayne.  Wayne was a stationary target on the play, and Saints cornerback Tracy Porter read it and immediately broke on the ball.  He proceeded to intercept Manning’s pass and run it back 74 yards for a touchdown and sealed the Saints first ever Super Bowl title, 31-17.

There are so many storylines to this victory that it’s almost easy to forget that Brees was named the MVP of the game, and rightfully so.  But if you’ve watched enough of the Saints over the past 4 years, this is pretty much what you’ve come to expect from #9.  He was accurate, fitting passes into the tiniest of windows.  He was calm, efficient and, although he didn’t complete many long passes, he stayed patient and led his team down the field.  He made big plays throughout this game to keep his team moving the ball.

After a slow 1st quarter, the Saints generally played keep-away from Manning.  It took every member of the Saints’ offense to accomplish that.  The line gave Brees excellent time to throw, receivers Marques Colston and Devery Henderson made clutch catches.  And backs Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush ran the ball with authority.  Thomas continues to show outstanding balance, with the ability to absorb hits and keep moving forward.  His 3rd quarter touchdown, while spectacular, was something we have seen from him on several occasions this season.

Defensively, the Saints simply kept on coming, and it paid off big-time with Porter’s interception and return for a touchdown.  To their credit, they never backed down from the challenge of facing Manning and company.  They treated this game like a marathon instead of a sprint.  There was no panic when things didn’t go their way early on.

Looking back at this game, and this championship season, you start to realize just how many things have to go right in order to win it all.  So often in Saints history, they were the team who just couldn’t seem to make the big play to change momentum.  But in Super Bowl XLIV and the entire 2009 season, they became that squad who was never really out of a game.  They became the team who made the key interception, the big pass down the field and the clutch kick to win the game.

Undoubtedly, this group will forever be remembered in New Orleans, and amongst Saints fans all over the world.  The perfectly executed onside kick may go down as the most aggressive call in Super Bowl history.  Tracy Porter will be known as the player who made the two biggest interceptions in Saints history – first against Favre in the NFC Championship Game, and then against Manning in the Super Bowl.

And now, Drew Brees will have cemented a spot in NFL lore.  Saints fans already knew what he meant to this team, and just how good he is.  But now, with that ring on his finger, he’ll go down as one of the true legends of the game.

The party is just beginning in New Orleans.  This is a rebirth in perception and reality.  The Saints are no longer a sad-sack franchise.  And the city has proven itself to be anything but helpless.  The spirit of Saints fans and this team will be forever intertwined.  I can feel it up here in Pennsylvania and I can’t even imagine what it feels like to those of you in the middle of it all.

Let’s celebrate, Saints fans.  It’s been a long time coming.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.