Super Bowl Judgements: Saints clear every tough hurdle to title

1. Beating Indianapolis is big. Beating Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning in succession is bigger. All three are Hall of Famers waiting to happen, and the Saints got to the top by climbing over all of them in the playoffs. "What more can be said?" Saints running back Reggie Bush said. "We earned our ticket here."

2. Mardi Gras was supposed to start next week. It just got moved up.

3. Just a hunch, but my guess is that this puts the "Is Peyton Manning the greatest quarterback of all time?" question to bed.

4. Congratulations, Tracy Porter. You can tell your grandchildren that you beat Hall of Fame quarterbacks with fourth-quarter interceptions in back-to-back playoff games. "It means so much," Porter said. "Words can't describe how much this means for New Orleans."

5. Correction: Offenses do more than sell tickets. They win championships, too, and Drew Brees is the proof. He hit 16 of 17 passes in the second half, led an offense that scored on its first three second-half possessions and was the game's MVP. "If you look at his location," said coach Sean Payton, "I thought he was fantastic. He has been all year. He's the MVP for a reason, and he's one of the most valuable players in the league."

6. More evidence that specialists do matter: Saints’ kicker Garrett Hartley nailed all three field goals and rookie Thomas Morstead pulled off the biggest play of the game -- the on-side kick that opened the second half. "[Kicking consultant] John Carney said, 'Bend it like Beckham,'" said Morstead. "I was terrified and excited at the same time. I knew we could do it if I just executed."

7. Don't blame Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney for the loss. He not only played, he had the Colts' only sack. You could tell his injured right ankle was bothering him, but you could also tell he was a factor -- with the Saints sometimes double-teaming him. In the end, Freeney and the Colts wore out, but give the guy this: He played and he played hard. "I was proud of him," teammate Robert Mathis said. "He has a lot of heart. To be able to come back from that in two-weeks' time speaks a lot about his character."

8. Credit New Orleans tackle Jon Stinchcomb with a shutout. Tell me how often you heard Mathis' name. You didn't. He had no tackles, no assists, no nothing. Jon Stinchcomb, take a bow.

9. The feel-good story is Saints quarterbacks coach Joe Lombardi, grandson of Vince. He never met his grandfather, but he gets to hoist the trophy named after him.

10. There were no "remember-me hits" of Manning, but the Colts quarterback should remember the defense that Gregg Williams threw at him. It scored as many second-half points as Manning and the Indianapolis offense.

11. The Saints had the lowest-ranked defense (25th) to play in a Super Bowl since the 1993 Buffalo Bills, yet they ran the table. The key: Ball security. In three playoff games they were a playoff-best plus-seven in the takeaway/turnover ratio, forcing eight turnovers and committing just one.

12. Say what you want about Brett Favre. The guy can laugh at himself, and that commercial featuring him as a 50-year old MVP in 2020 is the proof. It was hysterical. See you next season, Brett.

13. Next time, pray you’re not the home team in the Super Bowl. That’s four straight losses and five of the last six.

14. The weekend weather in the Middle Atlantic convinced me of one thing, and, hopefully, it convinced the NFL, too: That it's not a good idea to put the 2014 Super Bowl in New York. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said last week that "there are real benefits considering this as an option," but benefits for whom? L.L. Bean? New York City wasn't hit, but New Jersey was, and last time I checked the Jets and Giants train and play there.

15. President Obama told CBS News' Katie Couric that Peyton Manning is "perhaps the best quarterback in history," but he must have lost his notes on Johnny U. And Otto Graham. And Joe Montana. And John Elway. With that comment, he just lost more votes in Massachusetts, where Tom Brady has two more Super Bowl rings than Manning and a superior playoff record (14-4 to 9-9). Better stick to Health Care, Mr. President.

MVP

Drew Brees. The guy was unconscious in the second half, hitting all but one pass, and finishing with the second-highest completion percentage (82.1) in Super Bowl history. "Drew was magnificent," Payton said. "It's a part of the resume and the career of a quarterback and great player, and he prepared outstandingly."

Offensive player of the game

Brees. He didn't make a mistake. Manning did. Game. Set. Match.

Defensive player of the game

New Orleans cornerback Tracy Porter. He got the Saints here with his last-second interception of Favre in the conference championship game. Now he returns an interception of Manning for a touchdown, and say goodnight, Peyton. "Man, words can't describe it," Porter said. "It was a long, hard journey.

Best play

Clint Session's fourth-down tackle of Pierre Thomas at the Indianapolis 1. Session cleaned up after defensive back Tim Jennings and linebacker Gary Brackett hit Thomas first. "It was just being in the right place at the right time," Session said.

Worst play

Manning's fourth-quarter throw to Reggie Wayne that not only missed Wayne but found the Saints' Porter instead. Ballgame. "It's the kind of play we run a lot," said Manning, "and Porter just made a great play. That's all I can say about it."

Best call

Sean Payton diagramming an onside kick at the beginning of the second half. A great decision that caught the Colts napping. If you can't get the turnovers, which the Saints could not until late, you take chances -- and this was a gamble. When it works, you look like a genius. "We knew we were going to call it at some point," said Payton, "and we made the decision we were going to do it. At halftime I just told them, 'Hey, we're going to open up the second half with this. It's going to be a great play.' We really felt good [about it], to the point where we actually talked about it with the officials. He said, 'Well, if they do it, what's it going to look like?' and I said, 'It's not an if. It's going to be from a balanced look and our normal kick approach.' It's something we spent some time on last week and practiced a little this week. The execution was good. It was great."

Worst call

Jim Caldwell's decision to have Matt Stover try a 51-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. He doesn't have the leg. So why give the Saints the ball at the 41? You don't. You either punt or go for it, and the Colts should have gone for it. That's why you have Manning.

Just asking but ...

• Is Gregg Williams back on the head-coaching radar?

• What in the world happened to Reggie Wayne?

• Did Wayne run the wrong route on that fourth-quarter interception?

• What does the loss mean for Manning's legacy?

• Who's the team to beat in 2010?

Five things I like

You can't say enough about Sean Payton's moxie during the win. (Getty Images)

1. Payton's guts. "He came in playing to win this game," linebacker Scott Fujita said. It showed.

2. Brees' accuracy. He not only finished by hitting his last 10 passes, the second-best streak in Super Bowl history; he hit 29 of his last 32.

3. The NFL Network taking Warren Sapp off the air. It never should have hired him in the first place. It's not that Sapp is a bad commentator; it's that he's a bad guy, and he was when the league hired him. Now the question: What does the NFL Network do with Michael Irvin?

4. Dick LeBeau making the Hall of Fame. It's about time, people. Now let's correct another mistake and put Ray Guy in the Hall. Enough already. He was only the best punter in the game's history.

5. The Who ... anyway, anyhow, anywhere. Their three-song news conference last week was marvelous; their 12-minute medley was extraordinary. Long live rock.

Five things I don't

1. The Colts losing offensive line coach Howard Mudd. He swears this is it, and that's a shame. The guy is a terrific assistant and an asset to the league.

2. Anyone who passed on Brees when he was a free agent, and, yes, I'm, talking about you, Miami.

3. Manning in the fourth quarter. This is when the guy excels. In fact, nobody was better this season. But he did nothing in the last period. In fact, he did worse than nothing. He threw the interception that finished the Colts.

4. Wayne's disappearing act. I don't know if his knee was a problem, but the guy was no factor, and he dropped a potential touchdown pass late. More than that, it looked as if he quit on that pass that Porter intercepted. "My knee wasn't bothering me," he said. "Not one bit." Unfortunately, he wasn't bothering New Orleans, either.

5. The Colts' pass defense. It had no answer for Brees. "They did what they had to do to win this game," safety Melvin Bullitt said.

Five guys I wouldn't want to be

1. Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning. He's won four MVPs and only one Super Bowl. Yeah, I know, he didn't lose this game, but he didn't play his best when it mattered most. Now he has all offseason to think about it.

2. Indianapolis wide receiver Pierre Garcon. So he caught a touchdown pass. He made a huge drop, too, one that stopped the Colts' momentum and put New Orleans back in the game.

3. Indianapolis defensive coordinator Larry Coyer. Someone's got to explain why the Colts couldn't solve Brees in the second half. New Orleans scored on its first three possessions and controlled the line of scrimmage. Worse, the Saints offense put up more points (24) on Indianapolis than its last two playoff opponents combined (20).

4. Indianapolis wide receiver Hank Baskett. He's the guy who blew the handle on that onside catch. Now you know why Philadelphia let him go.

5. Indianapolis president Bill Polian. I know how tough he takes losing, and this was a team that could have won all its games this year. Trust me, that will keep him awake for many, many evenings.

Significant Numbers

• 1 -- Drew Brees incompletion in the second half

• 3 -- Garrett Hartley field goals over 40 yards

• 6 -- Indianapolis plays in the second quarter

• 13 -- Consecutive years the NFC has won the coin toss

• 16 -- Consecutive Matt Stover field goals in the playoffs

• 23 -- Times the Super Bowl MVP has been a quarterback.

• 32 -- Drew Brees completions, tying the Super Bowl record

• 63 -- Combined completions for Brees and Manning

• 77 -- Yards rushing for Joseph Addai in each of his two Super Bowl appearances

• 10-0 -- Super Bowl record of teams that scored on an interception.