Cody’s Blog

44 years of anguish were dissolved Sunday night as the final seconds ticked off the clock and the New Orleans Saints hoisted their first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history. After years of sub-6 win seasons and whiffs at making the playoffs, the Saints knew that things could be better this year with new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams calling the defensive shots and Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees on the offensive side of the ball. Things did not look good, however, on the first two series of the game as the Saints prolific offense went three and out both times. The Colts did not waste any time getting down to business, as Manning connected with Pierre Garcon for a 19 yard touchdown pass which gave Indy a 10-0 lead after one quarter of play. The second quarter belonged to the Saints, as the Colts only ran three offensive plays. New Orleans went into the half beyond by a slim 4 points at 10-6. After the Who’s halftime performance, the Saints prepared to kick off to the Colts, but onside kicked it and after a couple of minutes of unpeeling white jerseys and blue jerseys from the rugby scrum, the Saints came out of the pile with the ball. This was the tipping point of the game, as Drew Brees connected with Pierre Thomas for a score four minutes later. Indianapolis’ only score of the second half came on a Joseph Addai 4-yard touchdown run in that same quarter which halted a Saints 13-0 run, but they would resume scoring with 18 more points over the rest of the game; the game clinching play came on a Tracy Porter interception return for a TD that put the final nail in the Indianapolis Colts’ coffin. Drew Brees was named Super Bowl XLIV MVP  as he completed an astounding 82% of his passes going 32-39 for 288 yards and 2 touchdowns good for a 114.5 QB rating. The New Orleans Saints deserved to win this game, as the Colts turned in a sub-par performance on both sides of the ball; but the bigger reason was that they defeated three Super Bowl winning quarterbacks in Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, and Peyton Manning on their way to capturing their first NFL title in their team’s history.