Super Bowl XLIV Recap – NFL Football
Monday, February 8, 2010 21:53Posted in category NFL
Reflections on the Saints, Colts and Super Bowl XLIV.
Super Bowl XLIV Thoughts
Super Bowl XLIV and, “Who dat?” The Saints are no longer the Aints. Seldom has a sports championship of any time meant more to the fans of a particular city. Some personal musings from watching the big game:
- The Colts’ tackling was horrible. Scratch that… it was abysmal, deplorable, and any number of other craptastic words. Absolutely embarrassing for the championship game at the highest level of play.
- The onsides kick to open the second half will go down as one of the gutsiest calls ever. Think Boise State vs Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl huge. High-risk equals high-reward if ones pulls it off, and it takes a special kind of coach to throw such caution to the wind, especially in the biggest game of your career. Even though the Saints’ dominated time of possession in the second quarter, the second-half kickoff was the momentum turning point of the game; if a coach could be named MVP, Sean Payton deserved it for that play. Never underestimate the element of surprise.
- Regardless of whether the two-point conversion incompletion should have been overturned or not, Lance Moore’s acrobatics to reach the ball across the goal line to make it even a question were a thing of beauty.
- Peyton Manning had the opportunity to slap an exclamation point on his career with Super Bowl fourth-quarter game-tying and potentially winning drives. Instead he attempts a pass that someone of his experience should never have thrown. To be fair, the interception was not solely his fault. Reggie Wayne should have come back for the ball and stepped in front of the defender, and Tracy Porter–who had a fantastic overall game, accumulating 5 tackles and limiting Wayne to 5 catches for a mere 46 yards–made an excellent play. But in there lies the Peyton’s problem. Porter was sitting on that throw like a home-run hitter on a fastball with a 3-0 count and the bases loaded. He appeared to be waiting for that pass in a manner akin to the spy some teams leave hanging in the middle of the field in case a running quarterback makes a break for it; after all, it was Manning’s bread-and-butter play. Instead of reading the defense, Manning zoned in on Wayne and Porter made him pay for it.
- I lost a lot of respect for Peyton Manning for storming off the field without shaking Drew Brees’s hand. I don’t care how upset one is, shaking the hand of your opponent, winner or loser, is a simple sign of respect. No ifs, ands or buts about it, Manning came across as a sore loser, another bruised ego of the “me first” generation.
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2 Responses to “Super Bowl XLIV Recap – NFL Football”
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Gairzo
says:
February 10th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Geez, you are so strict!
I really didn't notice Indy's poor tackling. I did observe NO playng with more intensity and crispness on offense and defense.
Sean Payton was indeed the difference and the onside kick has nothing to do with it. The coach who wins the most is the one who adjusts the best and Payton took Caldwell and his staff to school.
If I'm coaching Indy and see Addai gaining chunks of yardage I order Manning to run the ball when it's called–until he sees something so wide open, he can't resist
I have never understood why special teams coaches don't tell there guys it is NOT NECESSARY to recover any onside kick. It might be smarter to bat the ball immediately to the sideline. It might be even smarter to knock the snot out of the first guy bearing down on you and give your guys an extra .75 seconds to recover or get the ball out of bounds.
According to Manning and Brees, they looked for each other, but the field was too chaotic. Manning went over to the Saints' locker room and congratulated the whole team, after texting Brees–if the accounts I read are true.
Manning's a class act, dude.
The Steelers of the last 4 years have written the book on how not to defend a title.
We'll see if the Saints learn anything.
Nate Barlow
says:
February 10th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
I agree with you about Payton's play calling overall being the difference. The onsides kick was the momentum changing play of the game, however, and it was emblematic of everything Payton did.
Smart thought about knocking the ball out of bounds.
I've always liked Manning, but it sure didn't seem that way at the time.
All game (at least after the Saints' first couple drives) I was watching and commenting on how poor the Colts' tackling was. Review the footage if you can, it was truly bad, and under commented upon reason why they lost.