Super Bowl XLIV: Some post-game scribbles

Well, my prediction was half-right.  I correctly predicted that one team would win because it kept its poise better than the other.  Alas, I thought that team would be the Colts, not the Saints.  Of course, I wanted to see New Orleans win, so I'm still happy.  Anyway, eliminating Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning from successive playoff games was a neat trick.  Congratulations to New Orleans and the Saints!

Mirror, mirror

I can't recall two Super Bowls mirroring each other as closely as last night's game and the one three years ago.  Here are some eerie coincidences:

• Both Super Bowls XLI and XLIV took place at the same South Florida venue.
• In XLI, the Colts were the visiting team.  In XLIV, they were the home team.
• Both games started with devastating runs by the eventual losers.  Three years ago, it was the Chicago Bears storming to a 14-6 first-quarter lead over the Colts.  Yesterday, the Colts went out to a 10-0 lead over the Saints.
• In both games, the score early in the fourth quarter was 22-17.
• Finally, both games were sealed by late pick-sixes.  In 2007, the Colts returned an interception for the final touchdown.  Last night, the Saints returned a Peyton Manning-thrown interception for the last score of the game.

Wait 'til next year...

... before questioning Peyton Manning's legacy.  Yes, he threw some bad passes, but, frankly, his receiving corps isn't as good as, say, the ones Joe Montana enjoyed in San Francisco.  Had they played to their potential, the Colt receivers would've given the Colts a much better chance to win (and win decisively).  As it was, Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garçon and Austin Collie all dropped critical passes that would've sustained Colt drives.

Wayne's performance was especially weak.  His 14-yard reception on 4th-and-2, early in the fourth quarter, got a lot of media attention.  It was pretty, but it wouldn't have needed to happen had he run his route correctly on third down.  With less than four minutes left, he blew another route so poorly that his defender, Saints DB Tracy Porter, read it like an issue of Spider-Man.  We know what Porter did next.  Wayne can't possibly claim to be a Jerry Rice, especially when he's proven that he's not even a Marvin Harrison.

Focus on the tackling

At least now we know how advocacy groups that aren't Taliban wannabees can get Super Bowl ads.  All someone like MoveOn.org really needed to do was have Saints linebacker Scott Fujita, an outspoken progressive, tackle his mother on screen.

God, Tim Tebow sucks.

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