Super Bowl Week - Woohoo!

Well it's Super Bowl week! Seven days full of anticipation for a 1 hour game spread across 5 hours of commercials, analysis, lukewarm half-time entertainment, and more commercials.

There used to be a joke about the Super Bowl being known for its commercials and not the game itself. That's all changed over the last several years with last minute field goals and touchdown drives. This year should be no different, at least that's what I pray for every Super Bowl week. I have no personal attachments to either team, but I was a bigger Saints fan the first time they made a run and lost to the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship. I'm still a fan now, but having listened to a few Drew Brees interviews and seen Reggie Bush NOT live up to the hype, has brought me back down to Earth.

So what's my pick going to be? I don't know yet. When Peyton Manning is clicking he can't be beat. When most people thought the Saints lost their magic, they beat 2 of the hottest teams in the NFL including The Brett Favre in last week's NFC championship game. It's a toss up for me at this point, but I'll cover a few matchups that I think will be important the rest of the week.

It's easy to talk about the high powered offenses in this game, but either defense could really dictate the outcome. The Colts run a pretty organized and conservative defense. They know the offense has their back and by preventing the big play they have the best chance to win. All season they played consistant keeping their opponent under 20 points in 10 games out of a meaningful 14. That won't mean much against the Saints, but what does is the Colts league best only 33 plays of 20 yards or more. The Saints will have to earn their points with long drives.

On the other side you have a very choatic and attack oriented Saints defense. They love to blitz.

The Good:
A total of 39 turnovers in the season and 8 defensive touchdowns, good enough for 2nd and 1st in the the NFL respectively.

The Bad:
A total of 59 plays over 20 yards or more, bad enough for 3rd worst in the league.

The key for the Saints Defense will be applying extreme pressure on Manning without getting burned. Ok, they're going to get burned here and there. But the key for them will be to have more good big plays than bad big plays.

Advantage: Colts Defense