On February. 7th 2010 at exactly 6 :30pm eastern standard time, in the city of Miami Gardens Florida, as fireworks spark and thousands cheer Super Bowl XLIV will be set under way. 2 deserving teams, the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints, each of whom has raised the bar for the sport in their incredible season’s starting with 11-0 run’s, will face off in the ultimate battle royal for the coveted status of Super Bowl Champions.
Let’s get some perspective here. Only 2 teams since the 1970 creation of the current NFL have ever had perfect season’s, this year two teams came incredibly close with the Saints finishing 13 – 3 and the Colts accomplishing an incredible 14-2 season.
Naysayers claimed around half season that there was no way these two teams would go head to head for the ring, they said that history wouldn’t allow it. It seems that teams who start off strong always fall off after the halfway point; they claim the season is too long, too hard to constantly and consistently maintain perfection. They site examples like the 2008 Tennessee Titans or go back to the 1996 Denver Broncos.
Ladies, gentlemen, history has no place here. We are rewriting the books, we’ve just blown the lid off a static present seemingly doomed to always be looking back and we can now boldly state that the past is obsolete and the only thing to do is to catapult forward with delectation in our smiles. This is a new era of football, and on Feb. 7th, we will crown a new king.
Now that we all agree on the magnitude of this upcoming game let’s talk about what team will come out on top.
Indianapolis has arguably the best and wisest QB in the league, Peyton Manning. He is a beast, a machine built to code for the sport, performing hundreds of calculations per second, a relentless killer, and a tireless point man that will never stop until his mission is accomplished.
The Saints on the other hand have Meachem, Henderson, and Colston. These are three of the top 10 receivers in the league right now. They know how to spread the field, it’s their first time out together and they’re hungry.
Let’s delve into some recent history using a strong team they both played as a comparative control group. The New England Patriots.
The Patriots should’ve destroyed the Colts on Nov. 15th of last year, in fact they were leading by 17 points in the 4th quarter and it was a critical error on the part of the coaching staff that saved Indianapolis in the end giving them a touchdown in the final 13 seconds of the game. Indianapolis - 35, New England - 34, at the final whistle. The football gods were smiling on that one, tears were shed and I’m certain prayers were answered. Though it was a lucky s***w up that brought about the victory in the end one thing can be said for sure, the Colts know how to handle pressure.
New Orleans on the other hand destroyed the Patriots 38-17 on November. 30th.
By half season Indianapolis had won 6 games with close victories of 4 points or less. New Orleans had never allowed anybody to be within 4 points. But then again a lot can be said about experience and familiarity. Indianapolis has been in this situation before, Manning knows how to handle the pressure of a Super Bowl, New Orleans on the other hand, is new to this, and nerves play a factor. New Orleans is the top seed and underdog all at once, while Indianapolis is a top seed and an old dog performing an accustomed trick. So who’s going to win?
Like I said, we’re rewriting the books here. New Orleans is an old city whose beauty and mystery is inextricably linked to a past full of elemental forces, energy and devastation. With Mardi-Gras being the Tuesday following the big game my hopes are that this very special city can find a good reason to shut everything down for 10 consecutive days and party straight from the Super Bowl into the festival. This town deserves to put an ‘X’ on the past and look forward. This is the year the Saints will rise, and when they come marching into town, there heads will be held high and they will bring with them a little taste of a brighter future.
My prediction, 24 – 16 Saints.
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