I'm sure I'm not the only nay-sayer out there that questioned not kicking the gimme field goal right before the half and I didn't even have numbers on the game yesterday. That said, Coach Payton turned what many believed to be a costly mistake into an advantage at the start of the second half. As the last 30 minutes of NFL 2009 were about to begin, Payton bucked Super Bowl trends and wrote his own piece of history, starting the second half with an onside kick. With that, everything was changed and a true statement was made.
Payton knows his personnel and has likely seen Pierre Thomas pound the ball into the end-zone more times than any of us at home so he gambled and lost. In hindsight, it was worth it if for no other reason than it gave the heavily favored Colts an even greater degree of hubris going into halftime. While Peyton and Co. were jamming out to the Who, Payton and Co. were prepping a 2nd half strategy that was sure to make a statement. And a statement was made. The Saints were the team to beat in the NFC, the Saints were undefeated most of the way like the Colts. Sure NOLa's team sputtered at the end but that's also a by-product of a long season. With Drew Brees' arm, the running attack of the aforementioned Thomas and the Reggie Bush we all expected coming out of USC, and a deep receiving corps, the team from the Big Easy belonged in the Big Game.
Lost in the (Superbowl) Shuffle, was the great throwing game by Brees, nearly perfect (a record 82.1% completions) and a Super Bowl tying record for completions (32). Lost in Brees' effort was Marques Colston's (7 grabs, 83 yards) claim for a share of the spotlight as one of the better possession receivers in the league (even though he dropped an easy pass when things were starting to look really grim for Saints' fans.)
Now with XLIV in the books and Reggie getting his ring, the entertainment world is curious, does Kim get hers too?
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