Super Bowl set – Saints, Colts meet in Miami

It was the matchup everybody wanted to see all season, No. 1 New Orleans vs. No. 2 Minnesota. And they got it. A heart-pounding NFC Championship Game for the ages that had to go to overtime for the outcome. In the end, a fortuitous flip of the coin and the Saints’ willingness to take the five-turnover handout from the Vikings defined the end result.

Minnesota can only look in the mirror and say, “what if?” Six times they fumbled the ball on the Superdome turf, losing three. And then there were Brett Favre’s two interceptions, the last one a game-killer for the Vikings, who squandered a potential game-winning field goal opportunity on the previous play which then influenced the Favre interception. On that play—a non-play, actually—facing third and 10 from the Saints 33, all Minnesota had to do was fall on the ball to provide Ryan Longwell a final-play field goal shot from 50 yards. But the Vikings, having weathered four turnovers to that point, had 12 men in the huddle and were flagged for too many men on the field. That forced Favre to try and make up ground with the ill-advised pass play. But as the veteran has done so often in his long career, he misfired at a most inopportune time. The Vikings never saw the ball again. New Orleans, having won the coin toss in overtime, got a 40-yard field goal from Garrett Hartley to advance, 31‒28, to its first Super Bowl in franchise history.

No such game-ending histrionics dictated play in Indianapolis. With just under two minutes remaining in the first half of Sunday’s American Conference championship game, it looked like New York’s upstart Jets might continue their upset ways, when they led the AFC’s top-seeded Indianapolis Colts 17‒6 at the Colts’ own house. But quarterback Peyton Manning tossed two consecutive big passes to rookie wide receiver Austin Collie, the second one producing a 16-yard touchdown that enabled the Colts to go to the locker room only five points down. Manning’s patience ultimately solved the Jets’ blitzing riddle, and in the second half he repeatedly found Collie and fellow wide receiver Pierre Garcon for key gains to ultimately take charge of the title game. The 30‒17 victory over New York sends Indy to its fourth Super Bowl appearance, ironically all of them in Miami.

With his top wideout Reggie Wayne blanketed as expected by the NFL’s premier cornerback, New York’s Darrelle Revis, Manning looked elsewhere among his coterie of pass catchers and pulled big days out of both Collie and Garcon, the pair combining for 274 reception yards on 18 catches, with each posting a touchdown. Garcon’s 11 receptions set a new AFC Championship Game record. Indy’s opening drive of the second half concluded with the Colts’ second touchdown, a Manning pass to Dallas Clark. That series, coupled with Indy’s closing scoring drive of the opening half, stole the game’s momentum from New York. In addition, the Colts’ defense minimized the Jets’ thundering rushing attack, one of the league’s best, holding them to just 86 yards.

ANGLING FOR THE CORNER: Again, the coin toss. It is an affront to the game to continue to allow this archaic piece of 19th-century obsolescence to affect the outcome of ballgames. With teams’ entire seasons on the line, how preposterous to let a whimsical flip of a coin determine something as important as a Super Bowl participant! Quickly reviewing, the beef here is that both teams should get a chance to touch the ball at least once in overtime. It’s the only fair way. At the very least, the NFL should make that concession for the playoffs. There’s simply too much at stake. Replay now governs practically every occurrence on the field, and rightly so. But settle it all with a coin toss in sudden-death? Commissioner Goodell, tails! You lose!

Alan Ross is the author of 32 books, including Away from the Ball: The NFL’s Off-the-Field Heroes. E-mail him at: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
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