The Who Dat? Nation has finally reached the top of the mountain.

They did so as the New Orleans Saints pulled off a dramatic 31-17 upset of the Indianapolis [...]]]> (Before we begin: I wasn’t going to write a recap of this game at first. Then I realized that we’re roughly nine months away from the next meaningful NFL game. That changed my mind.)

The Who Dat? Nation has finally reached the top of the mountain.

They did so as the New Orleans Saints pulled off a dramatic 31-17 upset of the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday night in Miami.

Since plenty of other commentators have weighed in on what this means, not just to the Saints but to the city of New Orleans as a whole, I’m going to focus strictly on the game itself. There’s plenty of enough to talk about there, anyways.

The Saints’ turnaround from “Aints” to champions was keyed by two people – head coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees – and it’s really no surprise those two were the reasons the Saints were victorious Sunday.

(Just a quick, completely uncalled for reminder: Vikings’ fans STILL have no idea what this feels like)

Payton rebounded from his conservative approach in the NFC title game two weeks ago on Sunday with a masterfully aggressive gameplan. It wasn’t always smart and it didn’t always work – the decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal late in the second quarter was baffling, to say the least – but by being aggressive, he showed his team he had confidence in them at every single turn. In sports, that stuff matters.

It certainly mattered on the opening kickoff of the second half.

Payton and Co. shocked the nation by going for an onside kick. After a lengthy pile-up (which had to have been the craziest pile ever), the Saints came away with not only the ball, but the momentum. And when Brees led the offense down for a score – giving the Saints a 13-10 lead – it was official that, no matter what Indianapolis did to counter that, the Colts would be behind the cliched eight-ball the rest of the way.

In the biggest games of your life, you turn it loose. Payton did just that.

Of course, it’s easy to turn it loose when you have a signal-caller like Brees.

As Adam said in giving his prediction, New Orleans’ hopes would rest on Brees’ shoulders. By going 32-of-39 for 288 yards and two touchdowns (no interceptions), Brees showed he was more than up to the task, turning in the closest thing a quarterback can to a perfect game. Playing behind a dominant offensive line (seriously, was he pressured more than a handful of times?), the game’s MVP found every single open patch in Indianapolis’ Cover 2 defense. He spread the ball around to eight different receivers and showed that, if anyone doubts he should be considered the game’s best quarterback, they should doubt no more.

Payton and Brees have become the league’s elite coach-quarterback combo. When you have that, more often that not, you’re going to be the best.

The Saints were Sunday. And it’s absolutely deserved.

Other random thoughts on the Super Bowl

• Peyton Manning had his chance to become the best quarterback ever in this one and he blew it. Sure, he completed over 66 percent of his passes for 333 yards, but it was a very non-discript 333 yards. And with the game hanging the balance, Manning made a terrible throw to Reggie Wayne that Tracy Porter (officially my favorite non-Packer) picked and took to the house for the game-clinching score. Manning is still top 10, but he’s nowhere close to where he could have been (plus, Brees has surpassed him as the best in the game today). Somewhere, Joe Montana is smiling. His status as the best ever is safe.
• I tried to tell you The Who should be stopped. If you doubted me then, you can’t now after watching their abysmal halftime performance. They just can’t get it done anymore. Can we officially declare the 1960s are over, for God’s sake? Can the NFL get a band that actually, you know, appeals to its target demograpic (me, for example)? How about Pearl Jam? Or Kings of Leon, maybe? Why does the halftime show always have to be classic rock radio?
• Sort of a down year for the commercials. That said, I had two favorites (for different reasons). The funniest was the David Letterman/Oprah/Jay Leno promo for Letterman’s show. Hilarious. The best was the Megan Fox ad for…well, I don’t even know what it was for. Megan Fox in a tub? Yikes. Here’s how you know it made an impact. Adam and I were having a conversation. We stopped when the commercial came on. When it was over, I said, “What were we talking about?” He stared blankly at me before responding, “I can’t remember.” That’s the effect Fox has on men. I doubt we were the only guys experiencing this.
• I love, love, love that Boomer Esiason and Dan Marino were the two former quarterbacks-turned analysts for CBS’ halftime show. Two guys who know a little something about Super Bowl-winning quarterbacking right there. They know as much as you and I do about that.
• Esiason had another gem, too, when talking about Brees holding his recently-born son on the field after the game was over. Esiason: “It’s really a great moment between a father and son.” He said it as though every father and son experiences that. Yeah, I remember when my dad and I did that after he won it back in ‘81. We talk about it all the time. And, again, what would YOU know about that anyways, Boomer?
• Next year, the Super Bowl is in Dallas. How ’bout the Pack goes down there and wins it, shoving it right in Jerry Jones’ cosmetically-altered face? How fun would that be? Just saying…

-Chris Lempesis

And the final score will be 34-24.

And the Super Bowl MVP will be not Peyton Manning, but Dallas Clark.

And he will have 9 catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns.

It’s to no one’s surprise that I picked the Colt’s after I admitted to the world my man crush on Peyton Manning.  I am [...]]]> The Indianapolis Colts.

And the final score will be 34-24.

And the Super Bowl MVP will be not Peyton Manning, but Dallas Clark.

And he will have 9 catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns.

It’s to no one’s surprise that I picked the Colt’s after I admitted to the world my man crush on Peyton Manning.  I am actually a little surprised that Chris didn’t try to make up his Nostradamus-like pick of his Tennessee Titans by going with the Saints and hoping for the best.  To have the record show, prior to the year in a small circle amongst friends, including Chris, I picked the Colts to win the Super Bowl and the Titans to miss the playoffs entirely.  Being the unified voice that OBOD is, we went the Titans and I am still shaking my head to this moment.

After reading the Super Bowl previews from both Chris and Gene, there really isn’t anything left for me to say that they didn’t cover.  Both did bang-up jobs of breaking down the game (eat your heart out Peter King), so I am going to try to pick up a couple table scraps and explain why I think the Colts win by two scores that doesn’t involve Manning.

First, who is going to cover Dallas Clark?  If Visanthe Shiancoe gave the Saints problems last week, Clark could be an absolute nightmare tonight.  Reggie Wayne steals a lot of the attention, but it is basically Clark, not Wayne, who has replaced Marvin Harrison.  Check out these identical stats.

Wayne: 100 rec, 1264 yards, 12.6 avg, 10 TD

Clark:  100 rec, 1106 yards, 11.1 avg, 10 TD

Jabari Greer can probably hold his own against Wayne, but it is Clark who will present a tremendous matchup problem for Gregg Williams.  The X-factor is Darren Sharper.  He may be the best Clark-kryptonite the Saints have, but he will then be forced to leave his ball-hawking centerfield position in game where turnovers will be critical for a Saints upset.

My second point why the Colts will win is the running game.  A lot of Manning’s success comes from playaction.  I expect the Colts to coming out running, not passing early.  Looking beyond his fumbles, Adrian “All Thumbs” Peterson ripped up the Saints run defense pretty good a couple weeks ago.  Joseph Addai is not Peterson, but Manning is not Brett Favre.  The Colts don’t need a 140 yards from Addai, but more like 75 yards, enough to get the playaction going.  If they are successful with that the Saints secondary will be on their heels the whole game.

On the flip side, Pierre Thomas could be the key for a Saints upset.  The Colts defense is predicated on speed, which in my opinion will make Reggie Bush a non-factor.  But what if the Saints come out and pound the ball with Thomas right at Dwight Freeney and Raheem Brock?  The Colts are not great against the run (24th in the NFL), but have righted the ship some in the playoffs.  However, the Colts have to respect Drew Brees, unlike Joe Flacco or Mark Sanchez.  The Saints cannot go conservative like they did against the Vikings, but if they success running the ball, it could give Brees enough time to exploit any mismatches down field.

I do believe the Saints can win and as it should, the game will rest of the shoulders of their best player, Brees.  However, actually winning is a different story.  Brees will play well, but I think Manning plays better.  Either an early turnover or the Saints inability to get Manning off the field will lead to an early hole for the Saints, which will feel like the abyss against Manning.  Chris is right saying that if the Saints force a shootout they have a chance because they are best-equipped team in the league in playing from behind.  However, on the other side ol’ corral is Manning, who will have just one more round in the chamber than Brees.

-Adam Somers

Chad Clifton (ankle), Nick Collins (clavicle) and Aaron Rouse (neck stinger) all suffered injuries in the contest.

Donald Lee was also hurt when he took a shot from Roy Williams late in the [...]]]> Not only did the Green Bay Packers lose in embarassing fashion Sunday to the Cincinnati Bengals, they got pretty banged up while doing it.

Chad Clifton (ankle), Nick Collins (clavicle) and Aaron Rouse (neck stinger) all suffered injuries in the contest.

Donald Lee was also hurt when he took a shot from Roy Williams late in the game, but it sounds like he’s okay.

Clifton and Collins seem to be the most banged up, as coach Mike McCarthy talked today as though neither is likely to play in Sunday’s suddenly crucial game at St. Louis (0-2).

Rouse doesn’t appear to be as banged up, although we won’t know more until Wednesday.

Clifton’s injury will likely lead to a re-shuffled offensive line with Daryn Colledge at left tackle, Jason Spitz at left guard and Scott Wells at center.

Colledge was awful at left tackle against the Bengals, but with a week to practice there, he should be better. Really, I don’t know how he could be much worse. Spitz doesn’t have much experience at left guard, but he’s played right guard quite a bit so I don’t have as much concern about him. Wells is a solid center. Turns out he didn’t have to sit on the bench very long after losing his job to Spitz in the preseason, huh?

Regardless, the group has to play better. This team won’t go anywhere until it does.

(One more thing on that topic: I thought Allen Barbre did a solid job Sunday after everyone spent the past week ripping him to shreds. He wasn’t great, but he wasn’t getting killed, which shows progress and I’ll take it.)

If Collins can’t go, cornerback/safety/bain of my existence Jarrett Bush or Derrick Martin would play in his place. I’d go with Martin; yes, I know nothing about him, but that’s more than I can say about Bush.

Finally on the injury front, in the same Press Gazette article, McCarthy says B.J. Raji (RAJI!) didn’t play because he still runs with a limp. It seemed like he’d play, as he was a full participant most of last week. But the coaching staff wants to be very cautious with him.

I can understand that, to a point, but he’s got to get on the field pretty quickly because the team only has three solid d-linemen at the moment. And those guys are going to get gassed much sooner than later if it’s just them playing the majority of the snaps.

Where were you, Greg?

A big reason for the offensive struggles, outside of the line crapping themselves, was the disappearing act pulled off by wideout Greg Jennings.

Jennings was held without a catch for the first time in his career Sunday. He was only even targeted a few times, one of which he dropped.

Jennings declined to speak with reporters after the game, so it’s hard to say exactly what his problem was. I have a hard time believing it was the Bengals’ corners, so I have to think it was a mental issue with Jennings.

Not totally out-of-the-ordinary with him, if you think about it. Yes, he’s a very good receiver. But, sometimes, Jennings isn’t as much of a consistent factor as you’d like him to be.

That wasn’t as much of a problem earlier in his career. But, now that he’s being paid elite money, he needs to play like an elite player every week.

After all, Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Reggie Wayne aren’t being held catchless by mediocre teams. If Jennings wants to be in that group, performances like his Sunday can not continue to happen.

Wishing for Bubba

I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but there were quite a few times during the Bengals’ game where I found myself wishing Bubba Franks was still a Packer.

Yes, Franks was an overpaid pass-catching liability who only really had a couple of good seasons and struggled to stay healthy. But he could block. Boy, could he block.

That was something the Packers clearly missed, as evidenced by Antwan Odom’s five-sack performance, the most ever surrendered by the Packers to one player in a single game.

Green Bay had no one who could really help Clifton or, later, Colledge in blocking Odom. Lee and Jermichael Finley are primarily pass-catchers and Spencer Havner is a converted linebacker who is still learning the position (although his catch over the middle Sunday wasn’t half bad).

Had the Packers had a pure blocking tight end, perhaps they could have neutralized Odom – or, at the very least, slowed him down. There’s no one in that group who could help. They tried using a fullback or running back to help, but by then Odom had a full head of steam and they weren’t stopping him.

I was on-board when Franks got cut, for all of the reasons I listed above. But an inability to replace what he brought to the team is one of the few glaring mistakes made by Ted Thompson over the past couple of seasons.

-Chris Lempesis