How the Saints marched into the Super Bowl
Twenty-three year old Garrett Hartley and his right leg sent the New Orleans Saints to their first Super Bowl appearance.
As 23-year old kicker Garrett Hartley split the uprights, his New Orleans Saints teammates surrounded him, the fans erupted from their seats in the Superdome. All of New Orleans celebrated as well, and knowing the city is still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina, and that this win over the Minnesota Vikings made the year of many struggling to get by, a majority of America couldn’t help but celebrate with them. For the Saints, their showdown against the Indianapolis Colts will be the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance and hopefully one the city will never forget.
Anchored by gunslinging quarterback Drew Brees and the much-improved and ever-explosive Reggie Bush, New Orleans shrugged off three losses in a row to end the regular season and returned to the form that led thirteen straight victories that began their campaign, crushing the Arizona Cardinals 45-14 to reach the NFC title game.
In dismantling Arizona, Brees was allowed to do what he does best. He picked apart the Cardinals secondary, throwing to his many receiving options for a total of 283 yards. Four receivers caught four or more passes–Bush had four, fellow running back Pierre Thomas had four, and wide receivers Devery Henderson and Marques Colston had four and six, respectively. Brees, as he was in the first thirteen victories, played flawlessly, completing 23 of his 32 passes, and throwing 3 touchdowns to no interceptions. Yet, while he matriculated the ball downfield for multiple scores, Bush stole the spotlight from his quarterback.
Reggie Bush was a catalyst for the Saints in their win over the Arizona Cardinals. Can he have the same effect in the Super Bowl? New Orleans hopes so.
Once a highly touted running back out of University of Southern California, Bush is just now beginning to harness his talents at the professional level four years in to his NFL career. This season, he has been a well-balanced receiving and rushing option, piling up 350-plus yards at both positions. He toyed with the Cardinals average interior defense, sprinting for a 46-yard touchdown run to put the Saints ahead 21-7, but as his play late suggested, he is as valuable a kick-returner. With New Orleans ahead 34-14, Bush put the exclamation point on the win, embarrassing the dejected and unmotivated special teams of Arizona, gliding in for a 83-yard touchdown after receiving one of six punts kicked by Ben Graham.
While Bush scored two touchdowns, Thomas, a third-year running back out of Illinois, built upon his excellent season, complimenting Bush’s speed with power, running 13 times for 52 yards. Not stellar numbers by any means, but aside from an outburst against the Buffalo Bills when he ran for 126 yards on 14 carries, this production is what the Saints have come to expect. This year, he ran for 793 yards and six touchdowns and not only was dependable every time he carried the ball in averaging 5.4 yards per carry, he was a valuable asset for Brees in the passing game during the latter stages of the regular season.
Having two running backs that can both carry and catch effectively to compliment their crop of wide-receivers, the Saints managed to sneak past the Vikings despite running 27 less plays and allowing 218 more yards. Brees wasn’t at his best in New Orleans’ thrilling overtime victory, but he didn’t make any mistakes, throwing for three touchdowns without turning the ball over. Two of his touchdowns were thrown to Thomas–a 38-yarder for their first score and a 9-yarder to grab their first lead at 21-14 early in the third quarter. The other was to Bush, a 5-yard completion to notch their second advantage.
First, the Saints disposed of future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner. Then they defeated another Future Hall of Famer, Brett Favre, and made perhaps his and Warner’s final NFL games disappointing ones. Now, they will face another future Hall of Famer, Peyton Manning, this season’s MVP and, in my opinion, the best quarterback of this generation and one of the top-five ever.
Their defense has the weapons to clamp down on the Colts superb recieving core, and, in the event they can’t contain Manning, their offense is well-equipped to win a shoot-out with their Super Bowl opponent. If they win their first championship in their first try, the celebration on Bourbon Street would be unprecedented in a city rebuilding while built around their Saints.
