It might have been the most shocking play in Super Bowl history.
Down 10‒6 at the half but having reversed the momentum that had favored the Indianapolis Colts early, the “Who Dat” New Orleans Saints opened the second half of Super Bowl XLIV with an unexpected and daring onside kick, the recovery of which launched a resurgent New Orleans come-from-behind, storm-in-front 31‒17 victory over the stunned Colts and Peyton Manning.
Saints cornerback Tracy Porter, who made the NFC Championship Game-winning interception off Minnesota’s Brett Favre two weeks earlier, re-cloned that big play with a similar game-sealing pick six of Manning, this time going 74 yards to put New Orleans up by two touchdowns with 3:12 left.
But Porter’s “game over” play won’t be the only missed opportunity Indianapolis will think about over the winter and spring. Up 10‒0 and utterly dominating the Saints offensively and defensively, Pierre Garcon, Indy’s record-setting AFC Championship Game receiver of a fortnight ago, dropped an in-the breadbasket toss from Manning midway through the second period that seemed to kill some Colts momentum. They appeared to regain it temporarily on New Orleans’ ensuing drive, when the Saints forewent the sure three-pointer to go for it on fourth-and one at the Colts 1. But Pierre Thomas’s run was stuffed by the quad-headed Brackett-Jennings-Foster-Sessions combo tackle. With 1:55 to go in the half, New Orleans on the ropes, and the Colts with the ball, Indianapolis will remember going a poor three and out, leaving 35 seconds for Drew Brees to gather his team for a short-field, 52-yard drive that got back three of the potential seven points the Saints had just missed on their prior goal-line failure. Amazingly, New Orleans was only down 10‒6.
The sold-out Sun Life Stadium crowd of more than 75,000 erupted with New Orleans’ second-half onside kick that kept Manning on the Indianapolis sidelines. The Saints converted that recovery into seven points to take their first lead, but the Colts immediately retaliated, making it 17‒13 Indy. New Orleans swung right back with a 47-yard Hartley field goal and later watched a 12-play Indianapolis drive come up empty, as veteran kicker Matt Stover missed on a long field goal that would have given the Colts a 20‒16 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Brees then marshaled his Saints on a 59-yard, nine-play drive culminating in a 2-yard Brees-to-Shockey TD pass followed by a sensational two-point conversion. New Orleans, with the rafters rocking, had its second lead of the game. On the scoreboard, it wasn’t close, as the Saints outscored Indy 25-7 in the second half. Brees, New Orleans’ man of the hour, on 32-of-39 passing for 288 yards and two touchdowns, ran away with the Super Bowl MVP award.
Who dat? N.O., dat’s who.
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
© Sportland 2010
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