Super Bowl XLIV memories
Super Bowl XLIV: Saints 31, Colts 17 | Breakdown | 
Judge, Prisco
Our experts examine what they will remember most from Super Bowl XLIV:
| Pete Prisco, CBSSports.com Senior Writer: Peyton-Porter pick | Brees joins elite |
 The ball floated in the air, legacy all over it. If Peyton Manning could drive the Indianapolis Colts to a fourth-quarter tying touchdown in Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday night, the greatness stamp would be punched. One of the best of all-time, they would have said. Instead, a little-known corner named Tracy Porter stepped in front of receiver Reggie Wayne and took the pass back 74 yards for a touchdown, ending the Colts' chances for a tying score and putting to rest, for now, the talk that Manning belongs at the top of any all-time quarterback list. Porter made a great play on the ball, helping seal the New Orleans Saints' 31-17 victory. The play call was a slant to Wayne, who had converted on a fourth down using the same play earlier in the game. This time, Porter didn't wait for Wayne to cross his face. He jumped the route and off he went, Manning's chance at a second Super Bowl victory going with him. It appeared Wayne stopped the route, and if a corner jumps it like that he is free to do that. Right or wrong, the ultimate blame lies with the guy who threw the pass. "He made a good break on it and just made a heck of a play," Manning said. Saints fans will never forget it. Manning bashers won't either. As soon as the pass went the other way, you could hear it in the press box. Great quarterbacks lead their team to a score there. Manning is still a great quarterback, one of the best, but that pass might just be the one that prevents him from ever being considered the greatest of all time. |
| Clark Judge, CBSSports.com Senior Writer: Garcon's drop | Colts play it safe, pay price | Judgements |
 The plays I remember most are the onside kick to open the second half and Tracy Porter's game-clinching interception, but the play that started Indianapolis on a quick and rapid descent was a seemingly harmless drop of a second-quarter pass by Pierre Garcon. The Colts were up 10-3 at the time, and Garcon's flub didn't seem all that significant. But it was, and it was because Peyton Manning had been carving up the Saints and keeping Drew Brees off the field. But with one drop, Garcon opened the door for the Saints ... and they went marching in. First they drove to the Indianapolis 1, where they were stopped. Then they returned for a field goal to end the half. In between, the Colts had three plays. Do the math, people, and you have the Colts taking six second-quarter snaps to the Saints' 24. That is not how you win games, and it was how the Colts lost this one. Throw in the six-play series that opened the second half for New Orleans, and you have the Saints running 30 snaps to the Colts six. And to think ... it all began with a pass that ricocheted off Garcon's chest. If he makes the catch, the Colts keep a drive going and Manning keeps the Saints on their heels. But he didn't, and the Colts went down with the incompletion. |
| Gregg Doyel, CBSSports.com National Columnist: Wayne's drop | Payton was Saints' MVP |
 The Colts weren't going to come back and win this thing, or even force overtime. Right? I mean, that's crazy talk. The Saints were winning Super Bowl XLIV 31-17 with about one minute left. Indianapolis had the ball at the Saints' 5, and it was fourth-and-goal, and like I said, the Colts trailed by two touchdowns and had about 60 seconds left. But it could have been one touchdown, with 50 seconds left. And that's a whole other story now -- isn't it? It was 31-17 when Colts quarterback Peyton Manning rifled a 5-yard pass toward Reggie Wayne in the end zone. Wayne had caught 100 passes in the regular season, including three game-winning grabs. Catch this one, and it's 31-24 with 50 seconds left. The Colts would have to recover the ensuing onside kick, but that's possible. It happens all the time. But Wayne dropped the ball. As far as goats go, Wayne won't go down in history for this. It was a two-touchdown game, for one thing. And Manning and Jim Caldwell already are taking most of the heat, for another. Manning threw the pick-six to Tracy Porter late in the fourth quarter, while Caldwell was generally paddled for the final three quarters by Sean Payton of the Saints. But what if Wayne catches that pass? It was an easy catch, too. Right in his hands. No real defensive pressure. That makes it 31-24, and then the Colts try an onside kick, and then ... We'll never know what then. How did Reggie Wayne drop that pass? |
| Mike Freeman, CBSSports.com National Columnist: Smilin' Saints | Manning's rep takes big hit |
 This is how to remember Super Bowl XLIV: Not a single play during the game but blaring smiles in its aftermath. On the face of Drew Brees, the MVP, who couldn't stop smiling an hour after it was over. On the face of his young son, who had a headset on his head. On the face of the coach, Sean Payton, who will be canonized in New Orleans for decades. "Look around," said Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, "and all you see are happy Saints." Smiles not so long after New Orleans once witnessed nothing but misery. The impact of sports on society is often debated, but in this case there is no dispute. The Saints were part of the city's healing process, and that process just got a lot easier. The Saints are Super Bowl champs. Those are not words that roll easily off the tongue because such a thing once seemed so impossible. So, in the end, smiles. The ecstasy was as pure as the game was at times thrilling. On the field, Saints fans cheered on Brees and Payton took the Lombardi Trophy, held it high together, and did what many Saints players and fans will be doing for a long, long time. They smiled. |
| Larry Holder, CBSSports.com NFL correspondent: Shockey's championship | Porter sure to be Sainted |
| Jeremy Shockey can officially place his New York Giants career behind him. Missing the Giants' Super Bowl XLII stunner two seasons ago with a broken leg and the testy circumstances revolving around his presence in a luxury box rather than with his teammates can officially dissolve from his memory banks. Tracy Porter's 74-yard interception return for a touchdown sealed the Saints' 31-17 victory over the Colts on Sunday night in Super Bowl XLIV and it's the play that many will remember as the play of the game. But Shockey's 2-yard touchdown catch with 5:42 remaining in the fourth quarter was the actual game-winner for the Saints. Shockey this week talked about being depressed for a couple of months after the Giants' shocking victory over the Patriots. The highlight-reel catch by David Tyree pushed the tempestuous tight end to the brink of insanity because he wasn't on the field, part of the celebration. People tend to link Tyree's improbable catch with Super Bowl XLII even though Plaxico Burress eventually scored the winner. The same could easily occur this time around with the awe factor of Porter's dagger of a takeaway. Reporters asked Shockey about what happened two years ago with New York after Sunday night's win. He shied away from the question, going all Mark McGwire by claiming he didn't want to talk about the past. Smart move. And before Shockey can open his mouth and attempt to ruin it all with some clownish comment or antic later in life, let me remind people. It was you, Jeremy, that scored the game-winning touchdown for a once-troubled and now triumphing franchise. Now turn the page. |
| John Oehser, CBSSports.com NFL correspondent: Waiting on pivotal play | Saints deny Wayne |
| The thing I'll remember is the wait. Sure, there was the scrapping. And the kicking. But mostly, what was striking about the play that turned the momentum in Super Bowl XLIV was the wait, watching as officials tried to separate Colts and Saints players doing who knows what to one another on the bottom of the pile following the onside kick that began the second half. As history will note, the Saints recovered and used that momentum to control the second half of a 31-17 victory. But for 15 or 20 seconds that seemed so much longer, no one knew who had recovered. And if you didn't know the recovering team was going to win, you sure had a feeling the Saints needed that ball big time. During that time, momentum hung in the balance, but reputations did, too. Think of it: New Orleans coach Sean Payton deservedly wears the genius tag today, because such a label goes to a gambling, winning coach. But if Colts wide receiver Hank Baskett cradles the football rather than having it carom from his helmet, the Colts have a short field and quite possibly a 17-6 lead that is perhaps too much to overcome. Today, the move is gutsy; had it not worked, descriptions of Payton would have been less kind. The Saints didn't clinch anything when Jonathan Casillas emerged with the ball, of course. Ordinary teams might have settled for a field goal, a punt, might have turned the ball over. But after a long wait that seemed longer, the Saints did what champions do, what the Colts knew was possible as they scrapped, clawed and fought for the ball at the Saints 42. The Saints took advantage of the opportunity and drove for a go-ahead touchdown. They seized momentum and never really relinquished it again. Once the wait was over, the Saints not only had their chance, they took advantage of it. And that's why they're world champions. |
