Featuring two of the best quarterbacks in the game with Drew Brees and Peyton Manning (arguably one of the best ever), Super Bowl XLIV will showcase two of the league’s most potent offenses and carry a bevy of symbolic stories.
Most notable is the resurgence of New Orleans as a whole, whose painful memories of Hurricane Katrina could melt away for a few hours on Sunday night as their fans watch their beloved Saints take the field and play in their first Super Bowl ever.
The Saints and Colts are very similar to each other in that they both bring strong offenses and play a “bend but don’t break” opportunistic style of defense.
But as great a quarterback as Drew Brees is, Peyton Manning, at this stage of his career, makes all the difference. If he turns in another “Manning-esque” performance like he did against the New York Jets in the AFC Championship game, it would be enough to tip the scales in the Colts favor.
Leading a laser-like passing attack that was ranked second in the NFL during the regular season, Manning has a superb supporting cast in tight end Dallas Clark and wide receivers Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon, and rookie Austin Collie.
Collie and the speedy Garcon combined for 27 catches and three touchdowns in the postseason, while Clark remains one of the NFL’s most dangerous pass-catching tight ends. He is a favorite target of Manning.
Facing New Orleans’ defense under first-year coordinator Gregg Williams, the Colts will try to exploit the Saints secondary which surrendered 310 passing yards to Brett Favre in the NFC Championship game and was ranked 26th in the league.
Yet while the stats may give Indy the edge, you can’t rule out a Saints defense that thrives on creating turnovers. During the playoffs, New Orleans has forced five fumbles and three interceptions—most of any team in the postseason.
Saints safety Darren Sharper, who tied for the NFL lead with nine interceptions in 2009, warned about reading too much into his defense’s low ranking, “At the end of the day, at this point, you don’t care about rankings. Our philosophy is to take the football away and create turnovers, and we’ve done a great job with that,” he said.
As prolific as the Colts offense is behind Manning, New Orleans’s scoring threat is just as powerful.
With Drew Brees at the helm, the Saints offense ranked No. 1 during the regular season generating 31.9 points per game and 403.8 yards per game. Brees also led the league with a 109.6 passer rating and completed 363 of 514 passing attempts for 4,388 yards and 34 touchdowns—a career best.
The Saints offensive line is one of the most formidable in the NFL, allowing only 20 sacks this season. When given time to throw the ball to his receivers Devery Henderson, Marques Colston, and tight end Jeremy Shockey, Brees can pick apart any defense in the league and put up points.
Haitian native Garcon also had words of thanks, “It’s been sad to deal with the stuff that’s going on in Haiti. To do well on the field, it kind of makes those people over there a little happier; give them a little joy and smile.”
