Super Bowl XLIV Gameday Thread: Saints vs. Colts

This was before this year's playoffs:

Brady vs. Manning - CBSSports.com (http://wbzfmmichael.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/16563767/18228320)

Joe Montana Tom Brady (http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/players/playerpage/187741) Peyton Manning (http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/players/playerpage/12531)
Playoff Record: 16-7 14-3 7-8
Playoff TD-INT: 45-21 26-12 22-17
Playoff Passer Rating: 95.6 93.4 84.6
Super Bowl Record: 4-0 3-1 1-0
Super Bowl TD-INT: 11-0 7-1 1-1
Super Bowl Passer Rating: 127.8 99.88 81.80
Super Bowl MVP’s: 3 2 1This is strong evidence and all, but I want to suggest that the significance of it all could be brought into question by simply adding another year of performance to the equation, particularly one that brings Brady and Manning to the same number of playoff starts, completely eliminates the performance differences between them.

Montana brings me to another great point. There's a guy who had a great playoff career. Excellent playoff performer. But if you cut off his career at 1985 or 1986, not so much. Montana's playoff numbers only became great due to what he accomplished in his thirties.

Therefore, the less time we allow Manning to perform in the playoffs, the weaker his playoff argument gets. We absolutely HAVE to include this year in the analysis, and probably, this playoff quarterback comparison cannot end until Brady and Manning both reach the point of their careers where they are complementary parts in their offenses.

The implied clause in my argument is that BOTH quarterbacks will be back in the playoffs next year, and they both have multiple playoff games left. There is no reason to try to declare one better than the other, especially because they are so close right now.

The Saints made another "bold move" toward the end of the 1st half by going for it on 4th down and the Colts D stuffed them. Indy blew it by going 3 and out deep in their own territory right after that. Colts had a huge chance to make something to end the first half after a 4th down goal-line stand and then start the 2nd half with the ball. That seems to have been forgotten


The announcers touched on this a little bit. I don’t think this was as gusty as some see it. It they took the chip shot field goal they give it back to the Colts with a little less than 2 mins at around the 20-30 yard line. If they go for it on 4th and don’t make it they give it to the Colts with about the same amount of time and on the 1 or 2 yard line. Backed that far up with so little time left the Colts are almost forced to run it for at least 1 play, so they have even less time to go about 25 yards further to get into field goal or td range.

So you give up a certain 3 points, but dramatically reduce the chance the Colts will negate those 3 points with 3 of their own. Plus you reduce the odds even more so that the Colts will score a TD and gain 4 points over your 3. Then you have the best case seniors in which you force the Colts to punt and end up with good field position to either score a TD or get a field goal as time expires….. which of course is what happened.

One of the huge x factors going into this game that I think a lot of people forgot about what the coaching staff. And the Saints certainly out coached the Colts last night.

My last thoughts on the Super Bowl:

A) So why Dan Snyder did you want Jim Zorn over Gregg Williams?
B) I'm very happy, Sharper, Vilma, Will Smith, Brees, Colston, Shockey got Super Bowl rings. Shockey got one with the Giants but he didn't play.
C) Peyton Manning is still the best QB in the NFL, I credit Porter on making a great jump on the ball, and not Manning on making a poor throw.
D) Peyton > Tom Brady give Peyton Randy Moss and Wes Welker, I guarantee you that he breaks that 50 TD record of brady's.Super bowls are good at measuring success, but there are some asterisks with that, like Marino not getting a super bowl or trent dilfer/brad johnson getting one with great defenses, and the fact that if vinitari hadn't made those kicks at the end of the super bowls, Brady may not even have all the rings. Also keep in mind that the pats did admit to filming peoples signals all the way back to the rams super bowl.
E) I'm glad the saints got their first ever super bowl
F) Colts will be back to at least 2 more super bowls
G) Are we ready for Free Agency and the Draft Skins Fans?

The announcers touched on this a little bit. I don’t think this was as gusty as some see it. It they took the chip shot field goal they give it back to the Colts with a little less than 2 mins at around the 20-30 yard line. If they go for it on 4th and don’t make it they give it to the Colts with about the same amount of time and on the 1 or 2 yard line. Backed that far up with so little time left the Colts are almost forced to run it for at least 1 play, so they have even less time to go about 25 yards further to get into field goal or td range.

So you give up a certain 3 points, but dramatically reduce the chance the Colts will negate those 3 points with 3 of their own. Plus you reduce the odds even more so that the Colts will score a TD and gain 4 points over your 3. Then you have the best case seniors in which you force the Colts to punt and end up with good field position to either score a TD or get a field goal as time expires….. which of course is what happened.

One of the huge x factors going into this game that I think a lot of people forgot about what the coaching staff. And the Saints certainly out coached the Colts last night. Yep. You are correct. In a normal game situation, that's a no-brainer go for it situation. It was a little tougher because of the game clock being under two minutes, the Saints lose a lot of value of having the opponent start inside their own five.

But they gain a lot of that back because Manning is the opposing quarterback. Starting him inside the five forces the Colts' hand with playcalling. Letting him out to the thirty on a kick frees him up to go get that touchdown to put the game away.

It ended up working out great for the Saints, coming away with the three points anyway, and running out the clock in the process. But they could do that because Hartley has been cash-money throughout the playoffs from the 45-50 range.

The implied clause in my argument is that BOTH quarterbacks will be back in the playoffs next year, and they both have multiple playoff games left. There is no reason to try to declare one better than the other, especially because they are so close right now.


Its way to early. I think Manning has 3 years on Brady, while they both will most likely end up playing around 5 more years (Maybe longer for Brady). Im slightly in the Brady camp, and cant wait to see what they both do next year.

And what about Reggie Wayne? Where was he on Sunday?

And what about Reggie Wayne? Where was he on Sunday?Wayne, completely subjectively, never has struck me as the type of playoff force as he has proven to be in the regular season. Marvin Harrison always seemed to have the same problem. These were GREAT receivers who seemed to take a back seat to the Brandon Stokley's and Dallas Clark's of the world in the playoffs (the broken coverage by Danieal Manning three years ago notwithstanding).

I don't want to hate baselessly on these guys, and this is admittedly a pretty superficial complaint. But Reggie's route on the Porter pick-six was indecisive at best. He throttled down completely and gave away the inside on the cut.

I initially credited Jabari Greer with shutdown coverage on Wayne, but he seemed to be lined up at LCB, primarily, rather than on Wayne. That left him on Garcon on most plays. And Wayne vs. Porter SHOULD be a huge mismatch. But it was a push at best even before the INT.

Well it could be easy to call them America's Team because over half the citizens live of our tax dollars.

That is an alternative way of viewing the situation, maybe that was Irvin's thought process as well..........but I doubt it, he he

To Jim Zorn.

Thank You!

Signed, Chase Daniel.