**Official Super Bowl Pre-Game Thread** Saints vs Colts (1 Viewer)

[JohnnyU]

OK this officially sucks! I have been trying to get to sleep since midnight and it is now almost 4 AM and still all I can think about is this damn game!!! I feel like I can go outside and run laps right now. Well guess I'll give it another shot. Probably see you guys in another hour or so. WHO DAT!

I had a shot at SB tickets earlier this year.But I'll be watching the game with my dad, who was here for this game and got our season tickets in 1967.

He's a World War 2 vet, fought the Japs to the bone, and is now laid up with a bad hip and ruined throat.

!!!!!!!!!!!!GO SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CrossEyed]

Who is kicking for Indy today?

 

[pizzatyme]

Stover is kicking for the Colts.

Ok, I've had fun trading barbs over the last 2 weeks with the Saints supporters but it is now gametime for me. I may not be back before kickoff so I just wanted to say that I hope the Colts win but if we have to lose I'd rather it be to a classy organization like the Saints. Good luck to all Saints fans, it's been a long time coming for you, enjoy the ride!

Go Colts!

 

[Matt_The_Fantasy_Master]

Freeney is starting from a tweet by Schefter.

 

[djcolts]

Powers is active, also. Vinatieri and 7 scrubs are the inactives for the Colts.

 

[Matt_The_Fantasy_Master]

Do we really want to watch an entire pregame interview about the economy and terrorists?

 

[PizzaDeliveryGuy]

There is really nothing worse than songs about professional sports teams. It always comes off as cheesy and embarrassing.

 

[wazoo11]

So if the game comes down to a game winning kick Vinatieri isn't the one doing it?

 

[Statorama]

Freeney is starting from a tweet by Schefter.

Wow. what a shock

 

[Statorama]

And the Saints don't know how to win close games?

Maybe, but the Colts have made it into an art. I'll say this, if the Saints were playing anyone else I would be rooting for them. I like their team that much.

All kidding aside, I feel the same way about the Colts. How in the hell could you be a fan of football and not be a fan of guys like Peyton Manning and Jeff Saturday?I think it's going to be a good game, and I'm really sure you won't hear any whining from either team when this thing is over.After this, it's going to be about 8 months before the next round of meaningful football

 

[McBokonon]

and I'm really sure you won't hear any whining from either team when this thing is over.

First time on a message board?

 

[dickey moe]

OK this officially sucks! I have been trying to get to sleep since midnight and it is now almost 4 AM and still all I can think about is this damn game!!! I feel like I can go outside and run laps right now. Well guess I'll give it another shot. Probably see you guys in another hour or so. WHO DAT!

I had a shot at SB tickets earlier this year.But I'll be watching the game with my dad, who was here for this game and got our season tickets in 1967.

He's a World War 2 vet, fought the Japs to the bone, and is now laid up with a bad hip and ruined throat.

!!!!!!!!!!!!GO SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know. The Japs. Our enemies during the Korean War.

 

[valhallan]

Has Tony Dungy gone crazy then?

A madman.Ahem, THIS is why we said we were being disrespected.

 

[Harrassment Panda]

One season of being the best at creating turnovers is too small of a sample size and is not a reliable predictor of a team's actual ability in that area. IMO

Except......it is.Yeah, I went there.

 

[pizzatyme]

Agreed. I posted it for the laugh. Congrats Saints and their fans. The better team won today.

 

[Doug B]

Just out of curiosity, I went back and checked to see how long it's been since Peyton Manning has thrown a Pick-6. I am figuring that the Saints may need a play like that to stay competitive Sunday.Peyton Manning last threw a Pick-6 during Week 3 of the 2008 season, to Jacksonville's Rashean Mathis. Wow ... with as much as Indy puts the ball in the air, I'd have thought they'd be good for a Pick-6 or two every season.EDIT: And before, that Pick-6, Manning threw one in the 2006 AFC title game to Asante Samuel. Can't find a lot of these.EDIT2: And one more during the 2006 regular season, in November against Dallas.

 

[JohnnyU]

I didn't realize this last night (probably because of the booze), but I was listening to the Dan Patrick show on the way to work this morning and he said the Colts only had 8 possessions. That seems low, but I've seen worse (see Miami game earlier this year), but anytime you can keep Manning on the sidelines it is to your advantage. I know that Caldwell once said that time of possession isn't important, it's what you do with the possessions you get that matter. I disagree with this. I haven't checked what the time of possession was for this game, but my guess is that it's largely in favor of the Saints. I've always thought the Colts defense doesn't give Manning enough possessions.

 

[Doug B]

I disagree with this. I haven't checked what the time of possession was for this game, but my guess is that it's largely in favor of the Saints.

Counterintuitively, it was as close to 50-50 as you'll ever see ... only 22 seconds difference in favor of the Saints. 30:11 - 29:49.

 

[JohnnyU]

I disagree with this. I haven't checked what the time of possession was for this game, but my guess is that it's largely in favor of the Saints.

Counterintuitively, it was as close to 50-50 as you'll ever see ... only 22 seconds difference in favor of the Saints. 30:11 - 29:49.

Thanks. I stand corrected then.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Not sure if anyone has noticed this stuff yet, buteyton Williams Manning's first name is that of the Saints head coach and offensive guru, his middle name is that of the Saints defensive guru, and his last name is that of the Saints FORMER all time leading QB. The Saints own his very name.Gregg Williams turned in one of the great all time defensive gameplans in Super Bowl history when his defense held arguably the NFL's greatest single season offense ever - the 1999 Rams - to a mere 23 points.Gregg Williams also has coached against Peyton Williams Manning 6 times:In 4 games vs Williams defenses Peyton has averaged: 19/35 for 217 yards, 1 TD (rushing and passing), 0.5 INT. Nothing great. In 2 games vs Williams defenses he has averaged: 27/34 for 353 yards, 3.5 total TD's, no INT's - excellent. Gregg Williams also can always call on his old buddy Jeff Fisher for pointers on how to defend Peyton. They face Manning twice per year and Fisher has the book on him.In the pre-turnaround game by the Titans' D vs the Colts, they allowed Manning to 36/44 for 309 yds. 3 TD, 1 INT.But post-turnaround, the Titans held Manning to: 24/37 for 270, 1 TD, 0 INT's.

Take a peek at Gregg Williams' team W/L record all time versus Manning's teams and get back to us.Most QBs would be happy going 24/37/1 and get the win. Tell Fisher to go rewrite the book.

Those numbers work against Kerry Collins and Jason Campbell.... not Drew Brees. If Manning gets just 1 TD tomorrow they lose.

And there you go.

 

[AffVid]

Colts were out played and out coached by the Saints this time around. Congratulations to New Orleans on their first Super Bowl win. Enjoy the celebration Saints fans!

 

[AffVid]

It's official. Gregg Williams appears to be even a bigger jackass than anyone suspected. (Other than Saints diehards.) Too bad for Saints fans. Doubt that they will admit it, but this has to taint their Super Bowl win.

There is a big difference between playing hard & aggressive and playing dirty. For a team’s defensive coordinator to openly advocate that he will tolerate his players making late hits and taking unnecessary roughing penalties in hopes those hits will result in an injury to the other team’s QB is detestable. I know some of the responses will be that all the teams do it, so what's the big deal if Gregg Williams comes out and actually says it? All defensive teams and players may want to lay a hit on the opposing team's QB and wouldn't mind if that hit took him out, but you will have to prove to me that all teams are willing to play completely outside of the rules of the game to accomplish that. I just don't see it. The attitude of "anything goes, as long as you get away with it" and "the ends justify the means" is the same mindset Belicheat used in Spygate. (I will say that the Pats do not seem to play dirty on the field to my knowledge, so I guess even Belichick has his standards.) Would the Saints players and fans really be proud of a Super Bowl victory if it came by way of a cheap shot taking out Peyton? Apparently Gregg Williams is OK with it.

I would also tone down the whole “If you kill the head, the body’ll die” and my guys are "warriors" stuff if I were Gregg Williams. Winning the Super Bowl is a big deal, but at the end of the day it's still just a game dude. The real "warriors" are in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For the record (especially for the Jets fans), the Colts Melvin Bullitt put a hit on Mark Sanchez on a play in the AFC Championship game well after he handed the ball off. It was a late hit and it should have been called a personal foul. The Colts don't normally do that type of thing. I was surprised when it happened. I think it's possible Bullitt didn't realize Sanchez had handed the ball off, but, either way, it should not have happened and I can't imagine why a flag wasn't thrown. If that late hit turns out not to be an isolated incident and the Colts start adopting that kind of headhunter mentality, I will be very disappointed and critical of them as well.

Gregg Williams suggests the Saints want to injure Manning

Posted by Mike Florio on January 28, 2010 8:48 AM ET

During their march through the playoffs, the New Orleans Saints have battered and bruised (and nearly broken) two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks -- Kurt Warner of the Cardinals and Brett Favre of the Vikings. They're now setting their sights on a third man whose oversized forehead eventually will be memorialized in bronze.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams recently told a Nashville radio station that the Saints plan to rattle Colts quarterback Peyton Manning by hitting him whenever they can, and that the goal is to knock him out of the game. "This guy's got a great clock in his head," Williams told 104.5 The Zone, via ESPN.com. "The big thing is that he throws the ball so early that we're going to have to do a good job of finding ways to get to him and when we do get to him we're going to have to make sure he gets a couple 'remember me' shots when we get there." The Saints applied several "remember me" shots to Favre on Sunday, prompting many a Vikings fan to utter a phrase that for broadcast television purposes would be edited to sound like "forget you." One such hit to Favre's legs didn't draw a flag, even though NFL V.P. of officiating Mike Pereira admitted last night that a roughing the passer penalty should have been called.

And Williams won't be reeling in his troops for the Super Bowl. Instead, it sounds like he's willing to risk a few 15-yard walk-offs if it means that Manning eventually will be carted off the field. "When you put too much of that type of worry on a warrior's mind, he doesn't play all out," Williams said. "If it happens, it happens. And the only thing you'd like for me to say is that if it happens you hope he doesn't get back up and play again."

You hope he doesn't get back up and play again. (We wonder what Archie thinks about his former team's objectives?) In other words, "We'll gladly trade a penalty or two if it means that we get to see Curtis Painter instead of Peyton Manning."