Who Dat'

Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl yesterday. They were clearly the sentimental favorites and they came through in this game. I was expecting the Colts to win it and they started the game looking like the better team. But I don't know what happened to Manning and the Colts after that. He did not score a TD after the first quarter though he had 333 yards passing in the game. The Saints as always started slow and seemed to wake up in the second half. They had 2 field goals in the first half, but they did not give up any points to the Colts in the second quarter. So they went into half-time just trailing 10-6. Saints were actually stopped on a 4-Th and goal by the Colts on a gutsy call by Sean Payton. It was amazing to see such a call in the Super Bowl. But that was just an appetizer served by Sean Payton

Then came the call of the day on the other side of the half-time. Once the stupid "who" went to bed after the half-time show, the Colts were supposed to get the ball on the second half kick-off. But the Saints went for an on-side kick and got the ball. This was an amazing call and a great momentum changer. Drew Brees took advantage right away and scored on that drive to give the Saints their first lead in the game. The game then went back and forth in the 3-Rd quarter as Manning and the Colts played well and scored easily as well. But just like the second quarter, the colts couldn't score in the 4-Th quarter and the clinching point was Tracy Porter's pick-6 with just 3:12 to go. Manning got the ball with about 5 minutes to go and it looked like he was on one of his patented late game drives to tie this game. But it was not meant to be. He had problems getting the ball to Reggie Wayne all game and when he tried again, Porter jumped the route and sealed the deal. This one pass kinda affects Manning's legacy since he has now lost one super bowl and won only one. A victory yesterday would have cemented his legacy as the best ever given his numbers, rings and 4 MVPs. He had 333 yards, but went scoreless in the 2-Nd and 4-Th quarters. Tough ending for the Manning family on this one.

This was one of the Super Bowls where most people did not have a strong love or animosity for either team. This is because both Brees and Manning are great QBs and classy guys. I didn't have a strong preference for either side, but I am happy for Brees. He is a great QB and a good guy and I have always been a fan since his Purdue days, I was upset at San Diego for letting him go, but I see their point too in that Philip Rivers is younger and is also pretty good. Finally Brees is a super-star and has a ring to back it up. That picture of him with his son in his hands and tears in his eyes is going to be one of the images defining this Super Bowl. Manning on the other hand is going to be thinking of that pick for a while. I am still not sure what happened to the Colts during those stretches. This was a weird game in some sense. It was not as high-scoring a game as most people expected. Neither defenses seemed to do that well, but the scoring was not there for long stretches of this game. Both QBs had great numbers, but again, both offenses were ineffective for long stretches. Brees had Warner type numbers - 32 of 39 for 288 yards and 2 TDs. He carved the Colts D up in the second half and won the MVP.

Brees is a classy superstar with mad game. I am totally happy for him.