SUPER BOWL XLIV: ARE YOU READY???????
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, it feels like Christmas in February. It’s when families, friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives, and children of all ages come together to sit in front of the TV to watch three hours of the best football you will see all year, the Super Bowl. I just love to eat all the pizza, chicken wings, subs, hot dogs, steaks, and chips, just to name a few, that I can eat. Super Bowl dinners is like Thanksgiving without the turkey and the stuffing. I can’t wait to see four-time MVP Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, go head-to-head when the Colts face the Saints to fight for the top prize in the game besides their salaries and endorsements. Let’s see if Peyton will win his second Super Bowl with the Colts or Drew Brees will lead the Saints their first championship and give the biggest party not only in the city of New Orleans, but in the United States. You think the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square is a party, Bourbon Street will be a 24 hour celebration and no one will go to sleep. Here are my big storylines heading to the best game on earth and my prediction on who will win the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
PEYTON MANNING vs. DREW BREES
Peyton Manning and Drew Brees will be one of the best quarterback matchups in the Super Bowl. You have to star with the four-time MVP Peyton Manning, one of the best QBs in our era. Peyton vs his father, Archie Manning’s former team on Saturday. He knows what it takes to win in the biggest stage of them all in Miami. In 2007, he led the Colts to victory over the Bears in Super Bowl XLI. At least the quarterback matchup will be much better then Manning and Rex Grossman, the starting QB for the Chicago Bears. Colts head coach Jim Caldwell doesn’t have to worry about much because Peyton will teach some of the players, who never played in the Super Bowl, how to handle the media and the distractions and just focus on the biggest game of their lives. How can you not take advice from a man who has earned 10 Pro Bowls, 10 career 4,000 passing yard seasons, the only QB throw for 25 or more touchdown passes and 3,000 or more passing yards in 12 straight seasons, and third all-time in touchdown passes with 366. This season, he lead the team to 14-2 record, and finished second in the league in passing yards (4,500) and touchdown passes (33). Even though the Colts scared me for a minute against the Jets in the AFC Championship game, Peyton threw for five touchdowns and one interception against the Ravens and the Jets combined. You think Albert Pujols from the St. Louis Cardinals is a machine, Peyton Manning is a scientist or something. He sits in a room and watches game film like an evil mad scientist and studies everything. He knows when you’ll blitz, play cover 2, play zone, it doesn’t matter. He knows you more then you know yourself and that’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.
I remember when everyone thought that the Saints will be Reggie Bush’s franchise, boy were we way off. Drew Brees has become the savior for the this team and the city of New Orleans. Since 2006, after the Dolphins didn’t want to sign him because of an injured shoulder, how stupid was that?, Drew has turned that franchise from some of the worst football games on the planet, to watching some of the NFL’s best three hours of football. He won the Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year last season and voted to the Pro Bowl twice. He leads all QBs with 13,910 passing yards and 88 touchdowns since 2006. Last season, he was only the second player ever to reach 5,000 passing yards with 5,069 and was 15 yards shy of breaking Dan Marino’s single season record. This season, I can’t believe how he led that offense to become the second coming of “The Greatest Show of Turf.” He led the league with 34 touchdown passes, threw for 4,388 passing yards, led the Saints to a league-best 31.9 points per game, and scored more then 30 points in 12 of their 18 games this season, including the playoffs. When I see Drew lead that offense in the Superdome, it’s like watching Kurt Warner and the Rams in the 2001 season. They score at will and there’s nothing you can do about it. Drew can throw to Marques Coltson, Robert Meachem, Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush, just anybody he can find to throw a touchdown and make them famous. When you watch him play on Sunday he’ll have the entire city on his back, more pressure then Steve Young winning the Super Bowl and getting out of Joe Montana’s shadow. Just imagine winning the Super Bowl for the city of New Orleans? You’ll have such a pay raise, Barack Obama will ask to borrow some money. You’ll have so many women coming after you every night, and make sure TMZ isn’t outside your house every night. If Drew wins the Super Bowl on Sunday, life will change for him, the franchise, and the city of New Orleans forever.
DWIGHT FREENEY will you PLAY or will you be a CHEERLEADER????
I sat at home and watched Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney answering questions about his ankle injury that he suffered during the AFC Championship against the Jets. NFL Network had a good shot of Dwight’s ankle and it didn’t look good at all. It was like something was getting ready to get out his body and explode at any minute. I didn’t see it wrapped or anything and I said to myself, it’s going to take a miracle for him to play on Sunday. Just remember when I tell you this, Hines Ward played last year’s Super Bowl with a sprained right knee, Terrell Owens played with a fractured right fibula and sprained a ligament in his right ankle, and Jack Youngblood played two postseasons with a stress fracture in his left leg. If they can put there careers on the line, I won’t be surprised to see Dwight go out there and come in a few plays. If he doesn’t play this Sunday, it’s going to be a long day for his teammate Robert Mathis, who plays on the other side of the field as the defensive end. Dwight was thrid in the league with 13.5 sacks, and helped the team finished eighth in scoring defense with 19.2 ppg this season. He has recorded 10 or more sacks in six of his eight seasons with the Colts. If Dwight doesn’t play on Sunday, it’ll be up to his replacement Raheem Brock to go after Drew Brees.
OFFENSIVE WEAPONS will be HUGE for both QBs!!!!!!
Peyton and Drew would be nothing this year without the cast of players they had this season. What a dangerous group of wide receivers the Colts will have for this game. Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark were covered very well when they faced the Jets a couple of weeks ago, but I guarantee you both of these guys will get more touches in this game. Reggie Wayne has caught 35 passes over the last four years and Dallas had his first 100-catch season, you know they are ready for this game. I enjoy watching Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie continue to emerge as good receivers for this team. Pierre had a great game two weeks and I expect him to help Peyton take advantage of the Saints 26th passing defense. Peyton’s passing game is so amazing, he doesn’t need a running game. The Colts finished last in the league in rushing offense. The Colts didn’t have a single rushing touchdown in the postseason. Let’s be honest, Joseph Addai and Donald Brown need take pressure off of Peyton’s arms. I saw how the Jets were able to attack Peyton in the first half and I thought the Colts were going to lose, but their offensive line proved that they are the best offensive line in the league. They allowed the fewest sacks (10) in the league this season.
Drew has a great group of receivers of his own. Marques Coltson is Drew’s very target on the team. He caught 70 passes for 1,074 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in the regular season. Marques and six other players have caught more than 35 passes this season. I would keep an eye on Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem to come out and be the X-Factors for this game. They combined for 96 catches, 1,526 receiving yards, and 11 touchdowns in the regular season. I would love to see how there running game will play an impact in this game. Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell, and Reggie Bush combined for 1,837 rushing yards and 16 rushing yards to lead the Saints to the sixth best rushing team in the country. They are very dangerous in the passing game as well. Reggie and Pierre combined for 86 catches for five touchdowns this season. It’s good to see Jeremy Shockey, one of the 11 Miami Hurricanes to play in this game, play in the big game instead of sitting out for the Giants a couple of years ago. Expect Drew to throw at anyone at will.
DEFENSE….DEFENSE….DEFENSE!!!!!!
The defensive side of the ball will be huge for both teams in this game. The Colts defense is very quick and I’m interested to see how they will shut down that amazing Saints offense. If Dwight plays, I know he’ll play on more third down plays as Robert Mathis and Raheem Brock will attempt to attack Drew. I have a feeling Colts linebackers Gary Brackett, Clint Session, and Phillip Wheeler, will shut down the Saints rushing attack. If they can hold the Jets, the NFL’s best rushing team, to only 86 rushing yards, I know they can shut down the three-headed Saints rushing monster. My only concern for the Saints, besides the health of Dwight, will be their secondary. How will Kelvin Hayden shut down Marques Colston? I don’t have an answer, but good luck to Kelvin on Sunday. You know Drew will take advantage of rookie corners Jerraud Powers and Jacob Lacey when they matchup with his best receivers. Melvin Bullit has done a great job replacing Bob Sanders at free safety and he has to play well this Sunday.
The strength of the Saints defense is their secondary. The most important player on both defenses will be Darren Sharper. Darren led the team with nine of the Saints 26 interceptions and and returned three of them for touchdowns. If you had to safety who loves to hit, look out for Roman Harper. Roman finished second on the team with 102 tackles. Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter have combined for six interceptions and have been huge for Gregg Williams on defense. Jonathan Vilma and the linebacker core have nothing to worry about when they face the worst rushing team in the league, but they have no excuse falling for any of Peyton’s playaction passes. You know they are going to throw, please don’t fall for it. Jonathan led the team with 110 tackles and he would love nothing more than to shut down Joseph Addai and Dallas Clark. As long as Scott Shanle and Scott Fujita shut down any short passes to Dallas Clark and anyone in the backfield, the Colts will do their job. The Saints front seven has been ripped all season long, but you can’t tell me defensive end Bobby McCray didn’t make Kurt Warner and possibly Brett Favre retire. Defensive end Will Smith led the team with 13 sacks and he will be the one I’ll keep an eye on to stop Peyton.
MY SUPER BOWL PREDICTION!!!!!!
The city of New Orleans are ready to party in Bourbon Street if the Saints pull off one of the biggest wins in sports. When you deal with anything like Hurricane Katrina, you are going to want to let you hair down and get ready to let all your emotions out when the greatest moment in sports history can go down in Miami. The problem is, I think Peyton is going to find a way to do give the Colts another Super Bowl. The Colts will win this game, despite the fact I would love to see one of the best cities have an early Mardi Gras.
By Ronald Carthen
