One To Remember

Now THAT was a football game. There have been a lot of good Super Bowls played this decade, so I won’t go overboard on superlatives, but Indy and New Orleans put on a fantastic show in Miami. There’s not a lot to criticize in either performance. Drew Brees and Peyton Manning both played well. Both defenses were also up to the task, forcing each quarterback into check-downs and not letting them get the ball easily down the field. It was apparent that this was going to come down to whomever got the big mistake, and it was Peyton that blinked. His one mistake—an interception that was the game’s only turnover, took an essentially even game (24-17 with the Colts going in) into a 31-17 final after Tracy Porter took it to the house.

Porter, you recall, was the same one who picked off Brett Favre at the end of regulation in the NFC Championship. Unlike that one, which was a horrid decision by Favre, this one was simply a great play by Porter. The blitz came at Manning, Porter made his break at precisely the right moment when the quarterback had to release it, and 78 yards later was in the end zone for the touchdown that sealed the championship.

Here in Redskin Nation, I know I’m just very happy for Gregg Williams. Once again, our former defensive guru did the job against a top quarterback, and his own gutsy call of the blitz, at a team when CBS analyst Phil Simms was warning against it, helped set up Porter’s heroics. And Brees’ performance adds to the postseason angst of San Diego general manager A.J. Smith, who traded him away to make room Philip Rivers. Put Brees in a Charger uniform and you are realistically looking at titles in 2006 and 2009. As it is, San Diego is still searching.

Ultimately, I think of what I wrote in the post below when picking the Saints. Indianapolis is a ruthlessly consistent football team, but they just don’t have a high ceiling when it comes to greatness. I don’t mean that as a knock. Really, I mean it as a compliment. Consistent excellence is the hardest thing in life—not in football, but in life—to achieve, and Indianapolis has done it over the last ten years. But they don’t have the extra notch to move to unstoppable, and are beatable by most other good teams in this league on a good night. And New Orleans had a good night.