Peyton Manning
Saints Top Colts 31-17 to Win 1st Ever Super Bowl Championship
Monday, February 8th, 2010 | Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, Sports | No Comments
The New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 to win the Super Bowl crown on Sunday in Miami. The Saints used the steady play of Quarterback Drew Brees and a confident defense that held the Peyton Manning and the Colts offense to just 1 score in the final 3 quarters of play to ride to victory. The Saints and their fans are sure going to be celebrating big time in the Big Easy over the next few weeks.
Drew Brees was named the game’s Most Valuable Player – 32 of 39 passing (82% completion rate), 288 yards passing, 2 passing touchdowns – all good for a 114.5 QB rating.
Manning had similar numbers (31 of 45 passing, 333 yards passing, 1 passing touchdown – all good for a 88.5 QB rating), but his costly interception at the end of the game sealed the Colts’ fate. As the Colts marched down the field trailing by 7 points, it looked like Manning would be able to lead his team to a game-tying touchdown drive. Instead, Tracy Porter made a great play to pick off Manning’s pass intended for Reggie Wayne, and Porter raced the final 74 yards to paydirt to clinch the Super Bowl win for the Saints.
Some interesting tidbits from the game:
The Saints risky onside kick to start the 2nd half was the 1st time that a team had ever tried an onside kick in a quarter other than the 4th quarter in a Super Bowl. It was also the 1st ever career onside kick attempt by Saints punter Thomas Morstead. Saints head coach Sean Payton had hinted all week that the Saints would play aggressive – even in the biggest stage of the Super Bowl – and he did not disappoint with that decision. After recovering the onside kick, Brees connected with Thomas Pierre on a 16-yard catch and run, giving the Saints their 1st lead of the game at 13-10 (erasing what had been a 10-0 Colts lead). The momentum clearly shifted from that point on. Payton had this to say about the play and his team’s victory: “We knew we were going to call it at some point. At halftime I told them, ‘We’re going to open up the second half with this. Let’s go make a play’… We really felt as underdogs we had the better team. To be in that position where maybe a lot of people were picking against us, we liked the spot we were in.”
Saints kicker Garrett Hartley connected on 3 field goals from 40 yards or more – 46, 44 and 47. The 23-year old also kicked the game winning kick in overtime of the NFC Championship Game against Minnesota Vikings to send the Saints to the Super Bowl. Hartley only played in the final 5 regular season games for the Saints and he was 9 of 11 in field goal attempts. During those 5 games, he never even tried 1 field goal from the 40-49 yard range. To go from that to kicking 3 field goals in the Super Bowl is simply astounding.
To keep going with kickers, Colts kicker Matt Stover became the oldest player to ever play in a Super Bowl at the ripe old age of 42 years and 12 days (his birthday is January 27, 1968). Stover only got a chance to play this season because the Colts regular kicker – Adam Vinatieri – was injured. Stover connected on 9 of 11 field goals during the regular season and 6 of 7 field goals during the post-season (including 1 of 2 in the Super Bowl).
This Super Bowl turned out to be the most-watched U.S. television event of all-time – over 106 million people tuned in to watch the game. The previous “most-watched” program was the finale of the television show M-A-S-H back in 1983.
Congrats to Payton, Brees and the rest of the Saints. You guys and the city of New Orleans deserve the big win. Boy would I like to be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday next week!
Indianapolis Colts v. New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV
Monday, January 25th, 2010 | Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, NFL, Sports | No Comments
The Indianapolis Colts will play the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl XLIV in Miami on Sunday, February 7th. It will be a showdown between arguably the best Quarterback of All-Time – 4-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning – and Drew Brees the leader of the NFL’s top offense during the 2009-2010 NFL season. With both defenses being good and underrated, it shapes up to be one of the most exciting Super Bowls in recent years.
The Colts dismantled the New York Jets 30-17 in the AFC Championship Game yesterday in Indianapolis. Although the Jets jumped out to a 17-6 2nd quarter lead behind the arm of Mark Sanchez, you just knew that the Colts would come back to win after Manning hit Austin Collie for a touchdown pass with less than 2 minutes to go before the 1st half ended. The 2nd half wasn’t even close as the Colts strolled to an easy victory.
The Saints outlasted the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in Overtime in the NFC Championship Game yesterday in New Orleans. As much as you’d like to say that the Saints “earned” the victory, you can’t help but wonder how the game would have turned out IF the Vikings didn’t commit 5 turnovers and IF any of the 3 questionable on field calls that were reviewed in the overtime period went against the Saints instead of for the Saints. My guess is that we’d be seeing Brett Favre battling Manning for the Super Bowl title in 2 weeks.
We’ll have more on each Conference Championship Games in the coming days. There were so much to digest and analyze there and we don’t want to burn out too soon with overblown Super Bowl coverage…
Jets, Colts to Battle in AFC Championship Game on Sunday
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 | Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, NFL, Sports | No Comments
The New York Jets will battle the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game at 3PM EST on Sunday, January 24th.
The Jets have pulled off 2 road upset wins in Cincinnati and San Diego to make it to the AFC Championship Game. Can they make it 3 in a row? The Jets will use a heavy dose of Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene in order to eat some clock and keep the ball out of the hands of the Colts’ MVP Quarterback Peyton Manning. If the Jets can establish a good rushing attack and then open up a safe passing attack for rookie Quarterback Mark Sanchez on friendly 1st and 2nd downs, they could keep it close. And then anything is possible.
For the Colts, playing on their home turf with Manning leading a potent aerial attack, they have to like their odds of advancing to the Super Bowl. The Jets will try to blitz the hell out of Manning to disrupt the Colts passing game, but it will be a tough road to hoe. Reggie Wayne is a legitimate NFL superstar wide receiver and young wide-outs Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon have also emerged as reliable threats. When you throw in all-Pro tight end Dallas Clark, it makes it almost impossible to defend the Colts on every play. Jets All-Pro cornerback will try to contain Wayne on a consistent basis, so it will be up to the rest of the Jets secondary to limit big plays elsewhere. It should be a fun chess match to watch.
My mind tells me that Peyton Manning and the tough Colts defense will propel the Colts into Super Bowl XVIV. But my heart would love to see the young, up-and-coming Jets make New York proud with a surprise berth in the Championship Game.
Tennessee Titans Chris Johnson is Having a Good Week
Friday, January 15th, 2010 | General, Indianapolis Colts, NFL, Tennessee Titans | No Comments
Tennessee Titans Running Back Chris Johnson is having a good week. Johnson was named the Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year on Wednesday and was the only unanimous choice for the A.P. NFL All-Pro Team announced today. It’s crazy to think that Johnson didn’t even get 1 vote in the NFL MVP voting won by Indianapolis Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning. Only quarterbacks received votes in the 2009 NFL MVP voting.
Johnson became only the 6th player in NFL history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a single season. Johnson finished the season with 11 straight 100-yard rushing games. Johnson had 358 rushing attempts for 2006 yards – good for a whopping 5.6 yards-per-carry average. Johnson also was a weapon out of the backfield – racking up 50 receptions for a total of 503 yards and 2 touchdowns. With those numbers, he set the NFL record for most yards from scrimmage in a single season.
Johnson had this to say about his unanimous vote to make the All-Pro squad: “That’d be a good thing. Because I feel like if you put a season out there, out of those dudes who got votes or the dudes who won, I wouldn’t feel they had a better season than I had, and broke as many records in one season that I had.” Not really sure what that means, but in any event, Johnson sure had a stellar season. Check out some of these highlights:
In a Week 2 loss to the Houston Texans – 16 rushes for 197 yards and 2 touchdowns and 9 catches for 87 yards and 1 touchdown.
In a Week 8 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars – 24 rushes for 228 yards and 2 touchdowns.
In a Week 9 win over the San Francisco 49ers – 25 rushes for 135 yards and 2 touchdowns.
In a Week 10 win over the Buffalo Bills – 26 rushes for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns and 9 catches for 100 yards.
From Week 8 through Week 12, Johnson led the offensive attack that enabled the Titans to win 5 straight games. Johnson averaged 24.4 rushing attempts, 160 yards rushing per game and scored 7 rushing touchdowns. Amazing.
Ya think Johnson will be the #1 player taken in most 2010 fantasy drafts this year?!
Colts Stay Unbeaten; Cowboys Drop Saints from Ranks of Unbeatens
Monday, December 21st, 2009 | Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, NFL, Sports | No Comments
One team stayed alive; the other suffered their 1st loss. The Colts are 14-0, while the Saints are now 13-1.
The Colts defeated the Jaguars 35-31 on Thursday night football to keep their perfect season alive at 14-0. Peyton Manning hit Reggie Wayne with a 65-yard touchdown pass with just over 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter to give the Colts the win. Manning completed 23 of 30 passes for 308 yards and 4 touchdown passes. He had 1 interception for a 134.4 passer rating. The Colts have clinched home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
The Saints, on the other hand, suffered their 1st defeat of the season at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys at home. Drew Brees completed 29 of 45 passes for 298 yards, but he only threw 1 touchdown pass – his lowest total all season long. Throw in an interception and 2 lost fumbles and it was not a good day for the Saints. The Saints are still 13-1 and if they can defeat either Tampa Bay or Carolina in the final 2 games of the season, they will clinch home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
NFL – - Colts & Saints Still Perfect – Will it Continue?
Friday, December 4th, 2009 | Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, NFL, Sports | No Comments
It’s hard to believe that 2 NFL teams are still undefeated this late in the season – but both the Indianapolis Colts & New Orleans Saints are sitting pretty with 11-0 records.
Will either team be able to finish the season a perfect 16-0 like the New England Patriots did just 2 seasons ago?
Based on conference play and schedule, it looks like the Saints have a better chance of pulling off the feat.
The Saints are 11-0, but only have a 1-game lead over the Minnesota Vikings (10-1) for the best record in the NFC. The Saints schedule sets up favorably – @ Washington Redskins, @ Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay BUcs at home, and then at Carolina Panthers. With the weak schedule and the incentive to finish with the best record in the conference to earn home field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Saints have a good shot at winning their last 5 games.
The Colts, on the other hand, have 3 more wins than either the Cincinnati Bengals and San Diego Chargers (both 8-3) for the best record in the AFC. The Colts could conceivably clinch the #1 seed with 2 more wins, so if they do that, Head Coach Jim Caldwell may opt to play his players more sparingly down the stretch to keep them healthy and fresh for the playoffs. And while the schedule shapes up favorably – home against the Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos, @ Jacksonville Jaguars, home against the New York Jets and then @ Buffalo Bills, it will all come down to when the Colts clinch during these next few weeks.
Peyton Manning of the Colts and Drew Brees of the Saints have had remarkable years leading their teams and will lead the MVP charge along with the Vikings Brett Favre at the end of the year…
Bill Belichichick Did Not Make Wrong Decision in Patriots 35-34 Loss to Colts
Monday, November 16th, 2009 | Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, NFL, Sports | No Comments
I am one of the few to think it – but Bill Belichick did not make the wrong decision in the 4th quarter of Sunday night’s 35-34 loss to the Colts. If you missed it, here’s how it played out.
The New England Patriots led the 8-0 Colts in Indianapolis well into the 4th quarter – 31-14 with 14 minutes left in the game and 34-21 with just over 4 minutes left in the game. The Colts cut the lead to 6 points with just over 2 minutes left in the game. Then the fun began. The Patriots started on their own 20 yard line and after 3 plays, the Patriots faced a 4th and 2 from their own 28 yard line at the 2 minute warning. Belichick could have punted the ball and forced the Colts back into their own zone. Or he could go for it and end the game if the Patriots offsense could gain 2 yards. Decision time. Much to the surprise of most critics, Belichick opted to go for it. Bad move – Tom Brady’s pass to Kevin Faulk netted just 1 yard and the Colts had the ball at the Patriots 29 yard line with just under 2 minutes to play. A 15-yard pass to Reggie Wayne set up Joseph Addai’s beautiful 13 yard run to put the ball at the Patriots 1 yard line – 1st and goal with over a minute left. The Patriots shut down another Addai run, but then Manning found Wayne with a 1-yard touchdown pass and the Matt Stover PAT gave the Colts the improbably 35-34 win.
Now everyone (except me) has been all over Belichick for going for it on the 4th down in your own end. Why give the Colts a short field? Going for it indicates that you don’t have confidence in your defense to get the job done? Belichick’s smugness got the best of him? I disagree with all of them.
First, dating back to last year, the Colts had won 17 straight regular season games. The Colts were arguably the best team in the AFC and were playing on their own home turf. Whether you gave them 20 yards of field or 80 yards of field, there was a good chance that Peyton Manning would find a way to lead his team to victory – he had done so the previous 17 times his team took the field.
Former Patriots stud linebacker Ted Bruschi “went off” on Belichick’s decision stating that it showed a lack of confidence in his defense to be able to stop Manning and the Colts defense. Here’s a brief snippit of what Bruschi had to say: “The decision to go for it would be enough to make my blood boil for weeks. Bill Belichick sent a message to his defense. He felt that his chances were better to for it on his own 28-yard line than to punt it away and make Peyton Manning have to drive the majority of the field to win the game… I would look at this decision as a lack of confidence in our ability as a defensive unit to come up with a big play to win the game.”
I totally disagree. Belichick was in total control of the game. If the Patriots get the 2 yards, the Patriots run out the clock and the game is over. If we don’t get it, Belichick’s attitude had to be that I have enough confidence in my defense that we can stop them from gaining 29 yards to score the winning touchdown. A field goal wasn’t good enough. The Colts had to score a touchdown to win, and it just worked out that way that they scored the touchdown to pull off the come-from-behind win.
Now granted, I think Belichick’s (over-)confidence sometimes gets the best of him. He thinks he is “God” and he thinks that he knows everything and he thinks that whatever he does is right. And while I might not agree with that mentality, if you want to be successful in whatever it is you do, you have to have confidence in your abilities and in your own “teammates’” abilities to get the job done. This applies to everything, not just football.
Belichick made an informed decision and it didn’t work out the way that he planned. The Colts are 9-0 and are looking like a lock to be the top team in the AFC come January. The Patriots are 6-3 and they are in 1st place in the AFC East with a 2-game lead over each of the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets. They should make the playoffs and wouldn’t it be interesting to see these 2 teams meet again in Indy in January to determine the AFC’s representative in the Super Bowl. Look at the high-octane numbers in this game – Brady – 27-42, 375 yards passing with 3 TD’s; Randy Moss – 9 catches for 179 yards and 2 scores; Wes Welker – 9 catches for 94 yards; Manning – 28-44, 327 yards passing with 4 TD’s; & Reggie Wayne – 10 catches for 1269 yards and 2 scores. WOW – I can’t wait for the NFL playoffs.
Bears Shock Colts 29-13 in Lucas Oil Stadium Home Opener
Monday, September 22nd, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
The Chicago Bears defeated the Indianapolis Colts 29-13 in the home opener for both teams at the first ever NFL game played in Lucas Oil Stadium. Bears Rookie running back Matt Forte rushed for 123 yards and scored on an explosive 50-yard touchdown run, while the Bears defense tormented Peyton Manning and the Colts “talented” offense all night long. The Bears defense even recorded a touchdown after a forced fumble on Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison. Bears quarterback Kyle Orton completed over 60% of his passes and threw for a mediocre 150 yards passing. At 1-0, the Chicago Bears sit atop the NFC North Divison with the Green Bay Packers.
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