This Sunday I laughed in the face of an overwhelming majority. Out of the eight people in attendance, only I predicted a Saints victory. I am not gloating in my accomplishments, merely mentioning the fact.
The past weeks have been a bit lean on actual football analysis, and while Dave does it far better than myself, I’ll give it the college try. Last night’s Super Bowl ended up being quite the competitive contest, as the Cadre of Creole Clergymen outlasted the Ensemble of Embryonic Equines (the credit isn’t mine on that one). Despite rumors to the contrary, Peyton Manning is human, but while he threw the game-icing interception, the blame should not solely rest on his shoulders. I’ll try to do a quarter-by-quarter analysis.
1st Quarter
As the box score could attest, the Colts pretty much dominated this quarter. Peyton Manning was average at best, completing a goodly majority of his passes and taking what the Saints gave him. It was good, but not great. The 96-yard touchdown drive that he “orchestrated” mainly had Joseph Addai to thank, as he broke runs of 16, 11, and 26 yards. Manning did get the glory by finding a wide open Pierre Garcon in the endzone, but most of success for that play comes from the relative failure of Saints DBs Usama Young and Roman Harper. Interestingly, the Saints did not try too terribly hard to get to Peyton Manning in this quarter, which was surprising to see after listening to Gregg Williams comments earlier in the week. I was expecting 6- and 7-man blitzes aimed at putting pressure on Manning, instead the Saints did exactly the opposite, rushing only 3 linemen most of the time. The would gear up some more exotic blitzes later, but the first quarter seemed to have lulled Manning into a sense of security. The quarter ended with a 10-0 Colts advantage.
2nd Quarter
The second quarter showed what the Saints can do. Pierre Thomas was doing his best (good) Reggie Bush impression, catching passes out of the backfield and running screens. Pierre Thomas, as we have been saying all year, can do something Reggie Bush can’t, and that’s punish tacklers. While the points weren’t there (yet), this quarter showed the Saints moving more towards their famous trickery, running screens and hooks to try to throw the Colts linebackers off-balance. It often worked, and Drew Brees was able to take advantage of Gary Brackett covering Marques Colston one-on-one several times. A few things of note in terms of the Saints play-calling. First, the WR-reverse call was atrocious. The Saints were moving the ball with their passing game, and the Colts Cover-2 defense is specifically designed to stop those slow-developing plays (That being said, good instincts by Antoine Bethea to move up to stop Henderson). Second, why in the hell did Sean Payton call three straight running plays inside the 5-yard line? The Saints hadn’t had a glimmer of hope in the running game all day, and the play calling could have used a rethink.
Interesting side-effect of the Saints offensive success. Their short passes kept the chains moving, and more importantly, kept the clock moving. The Colts only had the ball for three minutes in that entire quarter. Isn’t that what the Saints wanted all along? By the end of the quarter, the Saints had cut the deficit, trailing 10-6.
Halftime
I seem to remember watching a couple of old guys playing a CSI-theme song medley. Did anybody else have a similar experience? (In truth, I love the Who, but they are old. And CBS has a tendency to pimp what works. I’m pretty sure CSI: Topeka will have Pinball Wizard as the theme song.)
3rd Quarter
Sean Payton earns a couple of steel-core cajones, and will never have to buy another beer in his life, as he opened up the half with an on-side kick. On a side note, Dave has jokingly called for an onside kick every time he sees a kickoff. Except he didn’t this time. Por que, Dave, Por que…
The onside was executed beautifully, and much e-ink has been wasted debating the call. One thing is for sure: it was a game-changer. The Saints took the ball, put it in Pierre Thomas’ hands, and let him run wild. Reggie Bush who? The Colts responded with an efficient drive for a touchdown, maintaining their lead.
Garrett Hartley later added another 40+ yard field goal. Don’t underestimate your kicker, kids. He might just do the Lord’s work in keeping the game close.
4th Quarter
Really, the last quarter can be summed up in two plays: The two point conversion to Lance Moore, and the interception by Tracy Porter.
Sean Payton once again showed his coaching chops when he called for Lance Moore’s conversion to be reviewed. My somewhat-biased interpretation is that they eventually made the play correct, as Lance Moore was able to maintain possession until he was ruled “down.” It may not be the letter of the rule, but the rules that define possession have always been murky.
Tracy Porter, meanwhile, made a career for himself this post-season. He intercepted Brett Favre’s last pass (of the career season) and made Peyton Manning look stupid. He actually did a “bad” thing on the interception, as he broke coverage to jump the route. It’s the same thing that Asante Samuel does that raises my blood pressure.
So kudos to the Saints. I’m not sure that this “makes up” for Katrina, but it certainly gives a city a good thing to celebrate. Between this and Mardi Gras, we can expect a city-wide funeral procession on Wednesday.
A short note regarding M&D. This will likely be one of the last football-based posts until next year, as we are shifting our focus to baseball. If you want more M&D goodness, check back in a few days to see a link to our new blog.
Marsh & Dave Vs. The Coin 