Super Bowl Sunday is finally here and it is now time to analyze the game to determine who will come out on top. Both teams have a plethora of offensive weapons at the disposal of their outstanding quarterbacks. But it will come down to which defense steps up to get stops and turnovers that will determine who walks away with the victory in Super Bowl XLIV.
Peyton Manning will not be denied his second Super Bowl title.
The Colts rushing game has been less than spectacular on the ground this season. Perhaps Joseph Addai is saving his biggest game for the biggest stage. He has been inept a lot of the time this year but does have the talent to have a break through game at anytime.
The Colts have the passing weapons to compensate for the lack of a rushing game. Peyton Manning has four targets to chose from. Reggie Wayne is the stud who makes Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie much better receivers by forcing double teaming situations.
One on one coverage is just what the Colts want to see from the Saints defense.
Throw in a very versatile and talented tight end in Dallas Clark, and you have a passing game that will keep you guessing on who the ball is going to. Manning will use them all throughout the game and the Saints defense will be on their heels all night long.
The Colts defense has been steady all year long. They have depth and speed. They are small in size but are ball hawking and can disrupt an offense. They do have a major question on the injury front to their star pass rusher Dwight Freeney. He has been hobbled with an ankle injury and his effectiveness will be questionable at best on Sunday. The Saints do have a high powered offense, so the Colts defense will have to use that depth and speed to make up for it. They will need stops to get the ball back to Peyton Manning and the offense.
The Saints also have a diversified offense that has a number of weapons. They have been enjoying the resurgence of Reggie Bush in the postseason. Bush has been making big plays both on offense and special teams. That is the dual threat that the Saints were hoping for when they drafted him as the #2 overall pick. He is complemented in the backfield by Pierre Thomas who has fit in well when asked to catch or carry the ball.
Their receiving core is lead by Marques Colston who is their homerun threat. Colston takes pressure off Robert Meachem and Devery Henderson, opening up lanes for them to freely run their routes. He plays a role much like Wayne does for the Colts. If you pay too much attention to him, his fellow teammates will make you pay for it. Drew Brees does have the talent to light up the scoreboard which is why the Colts defense needs stops.
The Saints defense is opportunistic and looks for the turnover at all times. They will need to try to confuse Manning and come up with stops and turnovers to get the victory today. They did it to perfection against the Vikings in the NFC Championship game, coming up with five takeaways. Without those turnovers, they would not be playing today.
The defense will be scheming under their defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. The game plan will be to come at all angles hoping to confuse Manning and force him into mistakes. This will be the key to a Saints victory. They must bend but not break as they have all year long. We will see if they can stop Manning and company.
Bend or Break.
After analyzing all this, my prediction is the Colts. The Saints defense will not be up to the task of stopping Manning. Manning will be too determined and figure out the schemes that will be coming at him. He is a master of calling the audible and the Saints defense just doesn’t have the talent to deal with this. He will use his receivers well and keep Brees and the Saints offense off the field. He will act like a type of defense therefore taking pressure off his own defense.
Manning just won’t be denied his second Super Bowl ring and Super Bowl MVP trophy.
It is time to talk about what will it take for the Indianapolis Colts to win the Super Bowl. A closer look reveals that it will start and end with their superstar quarterback Peyton Manning…
Manning's Mangement will be the key for the Colts to win the Super Bowl.
It will all come down to proper management by the field general, and he knows what it takes to win the Super Bowl. The Saints will take gambles on defense and when those gambles fail, the cerebral Manning will make them pay dearly. Turnovers are the bread and butter for the Saints defense, and Manning will advert them with his reads and audibles when he comes to the line of scrimmage.
The Colts will try to establish the run with runningbacks Joseph Addai and Donald Brown. If they can run the ball, their passing game will be that more effective. The Colts have not been that effective rushing, so it will remain to be seen how long they will stick to this game plan if not effective.The Colts and Manning are good enough to overcome this because of the diversity they have on the receiving core. Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon and Dallas Clark can all beat you down field. These number of options will keep the Saints defense guessing on defense on which player will be the focus on any giving play. This is where Manning will eat you up alive.That is too many options for the Saint’s defense to cover all over the field.
As far as the Colts on defense themselves, they are banged up . Their primary pass rusher on defense Dwight Freeney has a hurt ankle. This could hinder the ,defense but they have enough speed and depth to overcome it. This is why it tis more vital for Manning to keep the chains moving on offense and keep Drew Brees and the Saints offense off the field. Proper management will be vital.
As long as Manning takes advantage of these opportunities, the Colts will be in great shape for the victory. In my opinion, he will have a ample amount of chances to exploit the Saint’s defense. The Saints came up big against the Vikings and Brett Favre in the NFC Championship game which is why they won the game.Relying on turnovers is a tough and hard way to win a football game. Peyton Manning is a different animal and will not make the same mistakes as the 40 year Favre did. Manning will use the football filed like he is playing chess, and it will be check mate for he Saints defense. I am not going to say that it will easy, but Manning will be up to the task. It could be a very long day for the Saint’s defense because of Manning Management.
This year the NFL is trying some new things to spice up the Pro Bowl in 2010. As we have all heard by now, the Pro Bowl is the week before the Superbowl, instead of afterward, and it will take place in Miami instead of the traditional location in Hawaii.
The location isn’t necessarily a bad thing since there are plenty of sunny weather locations in early February, but there are a couple things I liked every year about it being in Hawaii. I like that they wore jersey’s with aloha flower water marks on them; which made each jersey a little more unique (which helped increase their sales), and that they touted Hawaiian leis during interviews to really give you that Pro Bowl feeling.
Saying “You’ll be seeing him in Hawaii” to a player performing at Pro Bowl status during the regular season was always fun as well.
All of these things aside I can see why they would like to move locations to the US mainland. For one, it would make going to the Pro Bowl more accessible to people that were previously unable to incur the cost of the travel expenses it took to go to the Pro Bowl. The flight, the hotel, the intermittent traveling, all on top of the cost of a Pro Bowl ticket package could get rather costly.
Bringing it to the mainland means that people could drive the distance to see their favorite players, and inter-US flights would make it relatively cheaper. Cities could too benefit from having the extra tourist volume coming from hosting an event coming from a gigantic brand like the NFL.
What the Pro Bowl is ruining is the meaning of the honor itself due to its new scheduling. Now that the Pro Bowl is a week early of the Superbowl, many players that are participating in the Super Bowl are opting out of participating because…. they are getting ready for the f-in Superbowl. Who in their right mind would get voted into the Pro Bowl, and actually play in it if they were going to the Superbowl?
The Superbowl is the most important achievement in the sport; it’s what these players live for. Even if a player said “derr, I’ll play”, the coach and organization would stop that noise real quick. This eliminates anybody voted to the Pro Bowl who is in the Superbowl; so no Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Jonathan Vilma, Darren Sharper, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Jeff Saturday, Dwight Freeney, Antoine Bethea, and others.
Almost equally as important as who isn’t in the Pro Bowl would be who IS in the Pro Bowl as their replacements. This list includes: Donovan McNabb (for Drew Brees), London Fletcher (for Jonathan Vilma), Antrel Rolle (for Darren Sharper), Quintin Mikell (for Roman Harper), David Garrard (for Peyton Manning), Vincent Jackson (for Reggie Wayne), Heath Miller (for Dallas Clark), Kevin Mawae (for Jeff Saturday), Kyle Vanden Bosch (for Dwight Freeney), and Yeremiah Bell (for Antoine Bethea), and others.
This results in a total of 17 “replacement” pro bowl additions. All of these players are “good” NFL players, but if you’re telling me you’d rather see David Garrard over Peyton, or Heath Miller over Dallas Clark, or Vanden Bosch over Freeney, you must be insane. Now the Pro Bowl itself has been watered down by players that weren’t voted in because they weren’t the best at their position during the regular season.
The drop off for some of these positions is significant when considering the level at which a Peyton Manning is playing when compared to David Garrard. What will suffer will be the various skill games that are played by individual players before the game (by not showcasing the best player at that position in every case), and the game itself (by not having all of the best players on the field). Will this also have some effect on HOF players getting in where a player may get 1 or 2 more Pro Bowl visits during their career that wouldn’t normally have happened? You could make a case…
Now I know this is marginalized because it’s not a “real” game, but even if it isn’t, you don’t have to treat it like it’s not by instituting a new “twist” designed to increase attention given to the game, but makes those deserving players unavailable to participate. I don’t see this approach lasting more than this trial year before being moved back. Do you think this is a good idea? I do not.
Two other things I’d like to point out is that I am surprised this didn’t get vetoed by the owners considering that the players that make it to the Pro Bowl have incentives in their contracts that say “I get paid when I make the Pro Bowl”; meaning that owners and organizations are shelling out some bu-coo bucks where they normally wouldn’t have had to. The other thing is that it is being reported that the Pro Bowl in Miami might not even sell out, and tickets are as low as $20 to get in. Is this the result of the Pro Bowl not actually being “the best of the best”?
