Brees and Manning have both made it to the Super Bowl this season as expected. It always looked like they were on a collision course earlier in the season, but things usually don't follow the script like this. This playoffs didn't follow the script either, but the best 2 teams did end up in the Super Bowl finally. The Saints and the Vikings played a very interesting game today. It was as close as I thought it would be and wanted it to be, but the flow of the game was completely different than what I expected. It started off with both teams scoring in the first quarter, but then the scoring slowed down and the turnovers picked up. The Vikings in the second half just refused to hold onto the ball. They kept fumbling and the Saints recovered most of it. If they didn't fumble, then Favre threw interceptions. But the Saints for some reason just could not take advantage. They still had to go to overtime and they won the game on a 40 yard field goal after 3 plays were reviewed in that OT drive.
Dallas went into New Orleans late in the season and beat them. As the theory goes, they gave the league a footprint to slow down Drew Brees and the Saints offense. There is some truth to this as the Saints offense has not been the same since. They never looked dominant even in today's game despite the 5 turnovers handed to them by the Vikes. Even when Reggie Bush gave them the ball, the Vikes fumbled it right back to the Saints. Favre played well and played hurt, but made a crucial mistake very late in the game and I am not able to decide how costly that error was. The Vikings were driving the ball to either end the game or send it to overtime. They were going to go either make a field goal or miss one or stall, but the game was down to seconds and the Saints were not going to get the ball back to do anything significant. They barely entered field goal range, when they got a stupid penalty which pushed them 5 yards back. They were now looking at a 55 or a 56 yarder, which is probably out of Longwell's range, but who cares if you are just taking a shot in a tied ball game with no seconds on the clock. But Favre killed that opportunity by throwing an interception to effectively send the game to OT. Saints won the toss and won the game.
Favre's interception was once his last pass of the season. We have seen that before. But is this the last pass of his career? Who knows and who cares. Thats a drama that will unfold all off-season as usual. I feel like he will be back for one more year and he should. He had a great year and he should play one more season. He looked pretty beat up emotionally in his post-game presser. He was also physically beat up by the Saints. Brett Favre is a diva, but I don't mind him at all during the season. Brad Childress on the other hand, I am not sure what his problem is. I don't like that guy. He sounds too arrogant and self-important for my taste and I am glad he won't be in the Super Bowl. The Saints D is not great, but they seem to get to the QB and they force fumbles. The offense is just not what it used to be and they need to get to that point if they want to challenge the Colts. The Colts had their share of problems today against the Jets today in the first half, but finally the superior talent prevailed. The Jets just did not have the firepower to compete with Manning. Like I said yesterday, their defense is also over-rated and the Jets rely on that defense a little too much. Mark Sanchez is pretty impressive though. I can't believe he plays so well as a rookie. The Jets should be good for a while. But the Colts should be the favorite 2 weeks from now in the Super Bowl given the state of the Saints offense. It should be a good super bowl though with a star-studded QB cast. I don't mind the 2 week hype on this one.
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