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Well, so much for Peyton Manning being called the greatest ever.  I hope you were not near that bandwagon when people began leaping off with three minutes to go in the game.  Tracy Porter picked off Manning and sealed the victory and maybe two quarterback’s legacies.  You all know that Porter picked off Brett Favre in the NFC Championship and got a pick six against Manning.  The talk is that Manning is a great regular season quarterback but his record is only 9-9 in postseason play.  I do not know nor care what others try to make his legacy stand as a quarterback.  I do know that he will always be the all time favorite son in New Orleans.  Peyton was born there and went to high school there and there will be Saints fans always grateful that he helped deliver a Super Bowl victory to the former Aints.  There is already talk that this young Saints team could be on its way to a mini dynasty.  Drew Brees may play another five years or more. 

According to some you may as well find a spot in Canton for Sean Payton as he becomes the latest genius head coach.  It is too early for that but let’s give Sean his due, he coached a heck of a game and it was obvious he came to win.  So much for the Colts staying in the same hotel and all of that they have been there before advantage.  Payton was aggressive and Coach Caldwell too conservative for my taste.  The Colts will deny but the two games they gave away instead of trying to go undefeated sent a bad precedent.

I thought the turning point came in the first half when the Colts held on fourth down on their goal line.  Instead of picking up a first down and running out the clock they turned the ball back to the Saints which led to a field goal and cut the lead to 10-6 at halftime.  In the first half Garrett Hartley was huge in keeping New Orleans in the game.  Marques Colston could not be covered in the first half either.  Pierre Thomas definitely made a name for himself and demonstrated why Reggie Bush is mostly a special teams player and situational back

So at halftime the Colts had to believe they would go in and make adjustments and take control in the second half. There is not much to say about the halftime fireworks show.  I am racking my brain trying to figure out which rock act from the sixties or seventies is still left out there. Back to the game; Sean Payton stunned the world with his successful onside kick and then I think we knew we were in for a game.  I did not understand the field goal attempt by the Colts and Matt Stover.  Stover had not had a field goal over fifty yards since, well since he was well under the forty-two plus years he is now.  He did get a Super Bowl record being the oldest player to ever play in a Super Bowl.  This was the point where I felt the Saints were going to win the game.  Congratulations to the Saints and their fans.  This is another thing I never thought I would live long enough to see.  My whole life I only remember one person ever admitting he was a Saints fan.  So Justin, if you are out there somewhere, enjoy.

What a playoff run for the Saints.  They beat three Super Bowl winning quarterbacks in a row, Warner, Favre and Manning.  Drew Brees completed an astounding 72% of his passes with eight touchdowns and zero interceptions while racking up 732 yards.  Brees won the Super Bowl MVP award and gave himself a huge boost towards a Hall of Fame career if he continues for three or four years at this pace.  He already has 30,646 passing yards, 202-110 touchdowns to interceptions. He came to the Saints in 2006 and his lowest touchdown total is 26.  Funny how life works out sometime.  It seems like the Chargers had decided Drew was not their quarterback of the future and he basically held the job until Phillip Rivers was ready to go.  In the past a top quarterback would not pick New Orleans as the place to go as a free agent.  Yet, Brees does and has the good fortune to hook up with Sean Payton and also the good fortune to not play for Norv Turner.  The Chargers are set to sink with Norv.  He has a 90-98-1 record in 12 years as a head coach and has four teams in the playoffs in those twelve years.  The Chargers fired Marty Schottenheimer because he could not win in the playoffs.  Norv Turner is 3-3 in the playoffs and is rewarded with a contract extension.  Yes sir, life can be interesting.  Have fun Drew and no one would blame you if you were to say, I told you so.