Who would really be upset if we just did away with that extra week in between the Conference championship games and the Super Bowl? It’s a bit ridiculous. I really wish they would just play the NFC and AFC Title games on a Saturday, which would give the Super Bowl-bound teams an extra day for travel arrangements and all the other preparations they need to make. Two weeks is too long. It becomes practically anti-climactic. Not to mention that the Super Bowl has become such an ‘event’ over the past 10-15 years now that the game is practically overshadowed by everything else going on around it (media hype, a never-ending slew of ‘who cares’ type feature stories, celebrities, multi-million dollar TV commercials, halftime show, off-the-field news stories that get WAY too much play, etc.). By the time the game is over, half the people don’t even care who won. Only well after it’s all over does it really sink in as to what has been accomplished by the winning team. If we had one less week to concentrate on all the other hoopla, it would feel more like an extension of the football season that we’ve all just witnessed, rather than its own individual hype-fueled event.
And along those same lines, am I the only one who feels like some sort of weird time vortex happens in between the conference title games and the Super Bowl? Seriously, it seems like it’s been about 3 months since Jets-Colts and Vikings-Saints. I feel like a ‘Lost’ cast member during all that silly time-travel business.
Maybe it’s just all the never-ending media overkill. Oh well.
With that aside, two excellent teams are playing tonight, and only one of them can be crowned Super Bowl champ. You’ve all heard the countless angles and predictions by now. Will Peyton Manning cap off one of the greatest individual seasons any QB has ever had with yet another masterful performance in Super Bowl XLIV, cementing his status as one of the all-time playoff greats and giving him a second championship? Will the underdog but never-say-die Saints, representing the rebirth of their once-battered but still-standing-proud city of New Orleans, overcome the odds and beat the favored Indianapolis Colts? Will Dwight Freeney’s injury have anywhere near as adverse an effect on Indy’s chances of winning as many people believe? Will the team that has the ball last really be the team that ends up winning? And perhaps most importantly of all, will anyone recognize those sideline shots of Colts head coach Jim Caldwell?
Wait a minute, the Colts have a head coach? You mean it’s not Peyton Manning?! I was shocked to find this out myself.
This guy, apparently his name is Jim Caldwell, has been head coaching this team all season long! I know … crazy, right? Wow. I need time to adjust to this reality.
(wait for it)
Okay. Done.
Anyway – here’s all you need to know. Basically.
The Colts are favored, and with good reason. They’re the overall better team. They won this same game, on this SAME field, three years ago with largely the same personnel in place. Even the pouring rain didn’t stop Peyton Manning from effectively carving up the Chicago Bears’ defense in Super Bowl XLI. Why? Well there are a lot of reasons. One of my favorite is this: Before the game started, Manning practiced for almost one hour with soaking wet balls that he dipped in buckets of water, so that the predicted downpour wouldn’t be so much of a hindrance to the Colts’ offense.
Now THAT is insane.
Nobody prepares like Manning. I know the Saints are confident in their chances, and they very well should be. But let’s face it – the Vikings had that NFC Title game more or less in the bag, and then they pissed it away, like an overmatched college freshman at his first-ever frat party. Vikings fans are still rolling around on the ground from that groin kick that people call a football game.
Goddamn. That was painful. When you’re not even a fan and you can feel how much it hurt, THAT’S painful.
Anyway, whatever. The Saints are here. Whether you believe it’s because they are a team of destiny this year, or if you believe they’ve earned it with a solid body of work this season, or whether you think it’s some sort of combination of those elements, the end result is the same. They have a chance to do something great. I wouldn’t say a victory by N.O. would be the same as the N.Y. Giants’ stunning upset of 18-0 New England two years ago, but it would be close.
If both of these teams play like they did two weeks ago in their respective conference title games, the Colts are coming away with their second Super Bowl in four years. But if the Saints can somehow harass and frustrate Manning into making un-Manning like mistakes, then only at that point would N.O. have a shot. And I think that’s the reality.
The only other exception goes something like this … Manning still plays like Manning, but the Saints turn it into a Wild West-style shootout, with Drew Brees matching Peyton drive-for-drive. And then somehow, N.O. gets the ball last, trailing by less than a touchdown, and scores a TD late enough in the fourth quarter so that the Colts don’t have enough time left to answer.
Should be fun. Good luck actually paying attention to the game itself though. Seems to get harder to do so every year.
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