Who Dat the Reason the Saints are Celebrating? Sean Patyon

With the Super Bowl hangover still causing my head to pound and the Who Dat Nation preparing to celebrate the Saints victory in literal hours I find it just and necessary to afford Sean Payton the congratulations he deserves. This Super Bowl was the most grossly overmatched coaching battle I have ever seen. To say that Sean Payton took Jim Caldwell over his knee and spanked him might even be a tad bit of an understatement. To explain how important coaching decisions turned out to be in this game let's address Payton's first big decision: not kicking the field goal on 4th and goal before the half. The fact is it that there was 1:49 left in the half and the Colts (or more correctly stated, Payton Manning) still had all of their timeouts in tact. The Saints were having a mediocre half at best and the odds were definitely weighed as such. If Payton chooses to go for it, and the Saints score a touchdown, the game is tied at 10 EVEN THOUGH New Orleans has been completely out played. Now, if the Saints do not score, Payton has got to be thinking that 99 yards is a long way to go in less than two minutes, even for Payton Manning. And besides, the greatest trait a coach can have is knowing your oppostion's hand, and Sean Payton was willing to bet the house the good old Tony Dungy schooled Jim Caldwell would play conservative, which is exactly what he did, running three strait downs and allowing the Saints to get the ball back and a chance at a field goal before the half.

So what if the Saints had kicked the field goal instead of going for the touchdown? Worse case scenario, is now they give the Colts (Team Manning) the ball back with just as much time, a shorter field, and more incentive to get back up by two scores. Not to mention one more shot directly after half time. Now I'll be the first to admit that I was yelling at the TV screen telling Sean to kick the field goal and then griping that he got lucky when they finally did get one. This is why I am not an NFL coach, because the fact is, if the show is on the other foot, Caldwell would have kicked the field goal (without a doubt) and in that situation, Drew Brees could have been just as deadly as one Payton Manning.

Now obviously the next big decision was the onside kick coming out of the locker room in the second half...the turnaround for the New Orleans Saints. This decision came down to Payton's willingness to win or lose the biggest game of his life on one roll of the dice. It's not to say the Saints would have lost if they didn't recover that onside kick, but ... the Saints would have lost if they did not recover that onside kick. Seriously, we all know what happens when you give the greatest quarterback of all time (yeah I said it!) the ball basically in field goal range, he scores. And in that situation Peyton Manning would have put that ball in the end zone. But because Sean Payton was willing to put the entire season on that one play, the Saints win this game. They capture the momentum and they never really give it back.

The last coaching decision made by Sean Payton and/or Greg Williams (DC) that I want to touch on came on the play when Tracy Porter stepped in front of Reggie Wayne and virtually ended the Colts' hopes. Again I found myself screaming at the TV for the Saints to bring pressure and get somebody in Manning's face. He was systematically driving the ball down New Orleans' throat, was on their 31 yard line, and getting ready to tie the game up. Now, the Saints had not done a great job all game pressuring Manning, but there was definitely a presence felt and I hate when coaches turn to prevent style defenses when the game is on the line, (I used to have a coach tell me that the only thing a prevent defense does is prevent you from winning.) and to me the Saints were doing just that and were on their heels. But on 2nd and 5 the Saints blitz; they get in Manning's face and his quick release to Austin Collie over the middle is incomplete, and because Hargrove got hurt on that play, it allowed N.O. to draw something up and on third down, they again brought pressure, again got in Manning's face, and he again had to let the ball go quickly. The result was a perfectly read route by Tracy Porter who stepped in and took a terrible pass from Peyton Manning 74 yards to the house. There are not many coaching staffs who are blitzing with the lead, in the Super Bowl, with the opposing team driving the football, and I say kudos to Payton and his staff for again, rolling the dice, putting their destiny into their own hands, and not letting one player beat you while 106 million (what were the other 200 million doing?) people watched!

And now, let us talk about Jim Caldwell for a second. I do not want to crticize him too much, but the fact that he is a rookie coach showed in this football game. Amongst the many gripes I have with his decision making the only one I want to point out has to do with the running game. So coach, my questrion is why in the hell are you giving the ball to your third string runningback Mike Hart the on that third and one before the half instead of your star Joseph Addai who was slashing the Saints defense and averaging over 5 yards per carry? This is a guy who had just gained 5 and 4 yards on the previous two plays!! Was he hurt? Was he tired? And if so, why is hart getting the ball? Why are you not giving it to your stud rookie Donald Brown, who, by the way, was also getting over 4 yards a carry? The move simply made no sense to me, and for that Caldwell deserved to not get his first down and to allow the Saints right back in the game.

The coaching in this superbowl, to me, was the biggest story line, and I feel as though the better coach won. Sean Payton was willing to make the tough decisions that put his team over the top, and because of that he will be cemented in Super Bowl history. It bothers me a little in the first place that the entire nation gave the Saints virtually no shot to win this game, but when there are 2 mediocre (at best) defenses going against two power house offenses, anything can happen. It also bothers me that no one was talking about how different this Colts team would have been with the likes of a Bob Sanders, but that is a story for a different day. For now, as always, I thank you for reading and until next time, I am Chicago's Sports Son, and I'm going to bed.