Any self-respecting blogger will have one. So here’s mine:
First, I’m an unabashed Peyton Manning fan. I’m a fan of his ability as one of the very best, if not the best, quarterbacks to ever play the game, and I’m a fan of the class with which he conducts himself on and off the field. Seventy-five percent of his NFL colleagues could stand to learn a thing or two from him. So, obviously, I was disappointed that the Colts lost. I wish I could join the rest of America in being happy that the Saints won their first-ever Super Bowl ring, but…well, I’ll just say, “Congrats Saints fans” and leave it at that.
On to the commercials. There were some good ones and some lame ones this year. All in all, it probably wasn’t quite up to standard. It might make you wonder if advertising budgets are being slashed…but it’s hard to say budgets are cut back when $30 million per 30-second spot is being spent, isn’t it? Dominoes will be the brand most remembered from Super Bowl XLIV. Is it just me or are there fewer and fewer beer commercials these days? The Budweiser frogs introduced a whole new generation to the wonderful art of Super Bowl commercials back in the ’90s and now they’re disappointing us with fewer ad spots. I suppose that, given the ongoing state of the economy, the brewers feel there’s enough demand for their product to negate the need for advertising. Who knows.
Was anyone else disappointed with the Focus on the Family commercial featuring Tim Tebow? Given all the hoopla over this commercial, I expected something juicy, like Tebow saying “abortion is murder” or Dr. James Dobson (Focus on the Family founder) condemning abortion providers. Instead, it was a gentle 30-second spot with Mrs. Tebow talking about her son. It never mentioned abortion or anything close to it. We had to run it back and watch it a second time to make sure we saw it correctly. It’s a sad testimony to the state of affairs in our society when countless ads are aired with subtle sexual connotations and nothing is said, but a single ad with subtle pro-family connotations causes a nationwide outcry.
And, finally, the game.
A couple of things have been true all season long, and they were highlighted tonight: Without Peyton Manning, the Colts aren’t even an AFC championship team, and they might struggle to even make the playoffs. Manning is the single most game-changing player in the league. Tonight, the Saints successfully neutralized him. And that, in turn, changed the game.
More than that, though, what we saw tonight was a team that was severely out-coached. There may have been more difference in coaching between these two teams tonight than in any Super Bowl I can recall watching. The Saints had a perfect game plan. The Colts? Not so much so.
The Colts’ defensive game plan tonight was disastrous. Actually, it was the failure to adjust that was disastrous, since that very game plan has won a lot of games for the Colts this year. When it became obvious that they weren’t going to get pressure on the quarterback by rushing four, some adjustments should have been made. I’m sure I missed one here and there, but without reviewing the video, I can’t recall the Colts throwing a single blitz package at Drew Brees after the first quarter.
Also, something very notable happened between the first and second quarters: The Colts came out on the Saints’ first possession and ran tight coverage. CBS color commentator Phil Simms even commented about how the Saints were expecting soft coverage and didn’t get it. That changed as the game progressed, and I have no idea why. The fact is, the Colts’ defensive game plan tonight made John Chavis look aggressive during his last few years at Tennessee. That isn’t to take anything away from Brees, who played a great game. But it was like shooting fish in a barrel for him. Any NFL quarterback who has three or four seconds to stand in the pocket and soft coverage on his receivers is going to complete 70% of his passes.
I had no problem with the game plan the Colts had entering the game. But some adjustments should have been made. To the casual observer’s eye, those adjustments were never made. Instead, the Colts appeared to stick by their game plan and hope for the Saints to make a major mistake as the game progressed. That never happened, and it wasn’t going to happen on this night. Brees and his receivers were in tune, and token coverage and a token pass rush weren’t going to stop them.
Instead, it was the Colts who made the mistake…and, of course, the chances that they would make the mistake was greatly enhanced by a very aggressive Saints defense that wasn’t afraid to pin their ears back and come after Manning even if it meant giving up a big play here and there. Which goes to show you that the old cliche is true: One team played like they wanted to win; the other played like they were afraid to lose. On any other night, maybe it works for the Colts. But tonight, they never had a chance. Even as they were driving for an apparent game-tying field goal with inside five minutes left, my opinion was that they were already beaten, because they would leave too much time on the clock and there was no way their defense could stop the Saints from getting into field goal range.
On top of that, throw in a very crucial series in the second quarter: The Saints dominated the clock in the second period and that was the turning point of the game. Any time you can go 15 minutes with Peyton Manning touching the ball only six times, you’ve accomplished something big. Even though the Colts regained the lead briefly in the third quarter, it was just never the same. Much was said about the Saints’ decision to go for the touchdown late in the second. But it was a perfect strategy. If they had gotten the field goal, Manning would’ve been given the ball at the 20- or 30-yard-line with two minutes to go. Chances are great that the Saints would’ve been down 17-6 at the half. Instead, the Saints gave the Colts the ball on the two-yard-line and Indianapolis played right into their hands by running the fullback two times on the ensuing series and not going to the air on third and short…giving the Saints a second try at the field goal. (And given the way the Colts’ defense was playing, was there any doubt that Brees was going to get his team into field goal range?)
If the coaching staffs had been reversed tonight, the score would’ve also been reversed.