NFL Betting – Super Bowl XLIV Recap
By most accounts, a Colts/Saints Super Bowl matchup was as good as it gets. The early TV ratings suggest as much, since Super Bowl XLIV looks like it will end up the most-watched Super Bowl of all time.
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The game itself wasn’t quite the classic we saw last year or the year before but it was close and yielded some big winners at the sportsbook.
The Saints were 4.5-point underdogs at most sportsbooks and won by 14, so anyone brave enough to pick the Saints – the only one to do so at my Super Bowl party was my mom – wound up a big winner. Anyone who picked the under also came out on top, as the 48 total points fell well short of the projected total, which was about 54.5 on average.
The keys to the game for New Orleans were Drew Brees’ remarkable accuracy, gutsy playcalling from Sean Payton and good clock control.
Brees tied a Super Bowl record with 32 completions and did so on 39 throws. The Super Bowl XLIV Most Valuable Player also threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns. Hobbled Dwight Freeney managed the game’s only sack and Brees therefore had the time he needed to squeeze balls into tight places.
Early in the game, Indy had total control. The Saints won the toss but, predictably, showed jitters and opened with a three-and-out. Indy then dominated the first quarter as Joseph Addai moved the chains and Peyton Manning relied heavily on Dallas Clark. Indy opened the scoring with a field-goal and Manning followed that up with a laser to Pierre Garcon in the end zone, putting Indy up 10-0.
From the second quarter on, however, the Saints took over the game. Brees completed short passes left and right to Pierre Thomas and Marques Colston, keeping the ball out of Manning’s hands and setting up two Garrett Hartley field goals.
Perhaps the turning point of the game was the opening of the third quarter. Saints head coach Sean Payton probably wrestled with the decision throughout halftime before deciding to open the second half with an onside kick. It worked and the Saints again kept the ball away from Manning’s hands for a while.
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We saw the lead change back and forth on scores from Thomas and Addai but the changing of the guard had occurred. Brees settled down and starting threading the needle; suddenly, everyone watching realized that Indy hadn’t faced an elite passing offense so far in these playoffs. Unable to pressure Brees, the line diverted too much responsibility to the Colts’ secondary and Indy couldn’t cope; the touchdown to Jeremy Shockey and outstanding two-point conversion catch by Lance Moore (great call by the refs on the reversal) proved that the Colts were overwhelmed.
Late in the game with Indy down by a touchdown, we expected a trademark march from Peyton Manning. After all, he’d engineered a Super Bowl record-tying 96-yard drive earlier in the game. But something went wrong. You could’ve blamed it on some poor route running or miscommunication, but Manning underthrew his receivers a few times even before the play happened. With just over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Manning and Reggie Wayne got their wires crossed. The result was a 74-yard interception return touchdown for Tracy Porter – the final dagger.
For the third straight year, the underdog in the Super Bowl vastly exceeded expectations and, for the second time in three years, the underdog won. On paper, the Colts’ offense seemed too formidable for New Orleans to handle. But the Saints found a way to win by keeping the ball away from Manning long enough for him to get cold and lose his rhythm. The Colts got outcoached and Peyton Manning got out-thrown by Drew Brees. Congrats to the city of New Orleans. Looks like we’ve got two weeks of Mardi Gras on our hands.
One reply on “Saints Win! Saints Win! Super Bowl 40 Summary”
I had the Saints and the points but did not expect them to win outright. This was a great game, but I hated to see Manning throw that interception at the end as I would have loved to see this game go to overtime.
Hats off to Sean Payton for having the guts to make some of the calls he did. He ended up a hero, but he could have easily been the goat.