Tim's Two Cents-February 8

The Saints Go Marching On.  Who dat say they gonna beat them Saints in the big game?  This year: nobody!  Not even Peyton Manning.  I know I predicted the Colts would win, but I couldn't be happier with the result.  At least my prediction that the Saints would score 31 points was spot on.  Even though my dad's prediction didn't come true, he wasn't that far off on the scoring margin of 14.  He had predicted the Colts would win by 16. 

Congratulations to the Saints and the city of New Orleans.  The Saints played like they wanted it more.  They were the more aggresive team.  I applaud them taking a chance on fourth down in the first half and doing an onside kick to begin the second half. 

On the other side, Peyton Manning started out well in the first half leading the Colts to a 10 nothing lead in the first quarter.  In the second half, it was the Saints, not the Colts, who made the adjustments and took control of the contest, outscoring Indy 25 to 7 after the first quarter.

The overall broadcast by CBS was also very good.  Jim Nantz and Phil Simms were stellar on the call.  They treated the game for what it was, just another game.  That's how it should be done.  I was happy to see that there were very little talk of Archie Manning and there were no snapshots of Kim Kardashian.  In other words, I'm glad this didn't turn into a celebrity event like the Oscars.

Another enjoyable aspect of the game was the officiating crew.  The pace of the game was excellent.  It was flying by very fast.  The officials also let the players play.  Call me crazy, but I think there were no more than 10 penalties called, 8 to be exact.  That's my kind of officiating.  If I were a referee, I wouldn't call penalties unless it is really blatant.

Once again, congratulations to Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees and the Saints.  New Orleans will definitely be partying well past Mardi Gras.

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and dbking under CC-BY 2.0 License