That’s right, it’s official. I am watching SportsCenter and as I predicted over on the Yellow Blog, Chris Berman picked the Indianapolis Colts to win the Superbowl! That is better news for the Saints than Dwight Freeney injuring himself! (Actually, I want Freeney healthy because I know the Saints can handle him and I don’t want the Colts fans to make any excuses when they lose). When Chris Berman picks against us in big games, we win.
Now, that is not the only reason I believe the Saints will win the Superbowl. One of the actual reasons that they will win is for the same reason that Manning won the MVP. Manning has less weapons on his team so he plays a larger part in the success of the Colts. Brees, on the other hand, has many weapons to throw to. This is one of the reasons why the Madden simulation picked the Saints to win. However, I have been making this argument since the Saints won the NFC Championship.
Let’s look at the other numbers. During the regular season, Brees had the highest passer rating. Brees had less INT than Manning. The Saints had the #1 overall offense in the league.
Meanwhile, the Colts had the least total rushing yards in the league, was ranked 31st on yards per carry, and was 16th in rushing TD. This makes them one dimensional. And while Manning is a great dimension to have, it allows the Saints to apply pressure to force Manning to throw early OR to drop back in coverage and double team their good receivers.
Greg Williams is adept at hiding his blitzes. This makes it harder for Manning to audible at the line, one of his strengths. When Reggie Bush is on the field and goes in motion, he can make the defense reveal if they are in a zone defense. This gives Brees a huge advantage.
People question the Saints only beating the Vikings by three even though they got 5 turnovers, forcing 4 of them. Well, you have to remember that the Vikings had the 6th best defense in the league. The Colts were ranked 18th. And while the Saints were ranked even lower on defense in the regular season, people seem to forget that early in the year, the healthy Saints defense was ranked in the top 10. The Saints are currently healthy and have played tremendously this postseason.
People are also saying a lot about Greg Williams and his comments about how they will go after Manning. Well, the job of the defense is to go after the guy with the ball and tackle him. So obviously the first guy with the ball after the snap is the QB (usually). Will Greg Williams tell his players to hit Manning in such a way that causes a penalty and extends drives for the Colts? OF COURSE NOT! However, this is football and you may get hit. If you don’t like it, perhaps you should watch ballet.
To get to the Superbowl, the Saints had to beat 2 QB with 30 years of combined experience and 2 Superbowl rings. The Colts had to beat 2 QB with 3 years of combined experience.
At the end of the day, the Saints just have the overall better numbers. And when it comes to the big games, our players step up even more. We beat Eli Manning, Tom Brady (embarrassingly so), Kurt Warner and Brett Favre. I think there is room for one more QB on the shelf.
Saints win by at least 2 TD. WHO DAT?!?!?!?!??!?!!?