Super Bowl showdown

Simple as this, the Saints are primed to take this year’s Super Bowl Championship from the Indianapolis Colts.

Drew Brees, who was a more deserving MVP candidate than Peyton Manning, put up the best season of his career, including his near-record breaking 2008 campaign. Brees completion percentage was at 70 percent as the Saints won their first 13 games nearly uncontested.

After a breakout year from Pierre Thomas a year ago, he seemed primed to take over as the number one back. Instead, genius coac h Sean Payton created a brilliant rotation between him and Reggie Bush that finally got a thus-far lackluster Bush playing well.

The last two playoff games have erased the three-game losing streak that ended the regular season for the Saints. In their showdown against last year’s Cinderella Arizona Cardinals, the Saints handled the Cards with no problem.

Against the Vikings, the Saints defense is what invariably killed what could be Brett Favre’s last shot at a championship.

And that brings us to this week.

The Colts have a high-powered offense that lacks a running game, which is what kept Minnesota in their game. Something Indy still has not remedied in their two playoff matchups, while the Saints run defense shut down Adrian Peterson in a big way. The Colts are going to rely heavy on Manning and his receiving corps, something Favre did last week and eventually paid for.

If there are two quarterbacks in the NFL that you would never count out in any game, though, it’s Manning and Brees. And that’s what makes this Super Bowl exciting, the fact that neither team will be denied until the clock in the fourth hits zeros.

But in the end, the Saints have enough firepower on offense to keep pace with the Colts and a strong enough defense that when, not if, it comes down to one play, they’ll make Manning pay and give New Orleans their first championship.

Andrew can be reached at afergers@umflint.edu.

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