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Lombardi-Gras: Saints Super Bowl Parade
The New Orleans Saints joined their fans in celebrating their Super Bowl win yesterday parading through the city on carnival floats.
Head Coach Sean Payton showed off the Lombardi Trophy while players signed autographs, gave speeches and even sang.
Throngs of people pressed up against the floats causing the parade to stop at one point when one of the floats started rocking dangerously.
New Orleans Saints at Indianapolis Colts – Super Bowl Preview
Super Bowl 44
The New Orleans Saints face the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, February 7, 2010.
The Saints are the sentimental favorites making the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history while serving as a symbol of rebirth to a city ravaged by hurricane Katrina.
But we’re not interested in sentiment. The Colts are 5-point Super Bowl betting favorites and the over/under is 56.5.
We have the two top seeds from the regular season squaring off in a Super Bowl since 1993.
Super Bowl Kicking Duel: Stover vs Hartley
Super Bowl Field Goal
Matt Stover at age 42 and Garrett Hartley at age 23 sit at opposite ends of their careers.
Stover is the oldest player to ever play in a Super Bowl and has made 471 field goals in the regular season and already has two Super Bowl rings to his credit.
Hartley has made just 22 field goals, but he already has one high pressure score to his credit. He made a 40-yarder in over-time against the Minnesota Vikings to send New Orleans to the Super Bowl in Miami.
Wanted: Super Bowl Champions, Special Teams Need Not Apply
One of the strange quirks of Super Bowl XLIV is that it features two teams with sub-par special teams. There are some highlights, like the Colts veteran kickers, but in some cases, like kickoff return coverage, both teams are downright awful.
Super Bowl Punting
Pat McAfee is handling punting duties for the Colts while Thomas Morstead punts for the Saints. Both punters have been above their career averages in the playoffs and look to be in fine form when their teams need them most.
McAfee is averaging 46.0 yards per punt while Morstead is averaging 48.2 which is well above his regular season average of 43.6.
Super Bowl 44 MVP Odds and Preview
Manning already has a Super Bowl MVP award.
Super Bowl 44 MVP odds are out now and they reflect the usual bias towards quarterbacks and running backs. Peyton Manning is, not surprisingly, the overwhelming favorite followed by Drew Brees and the running backs Pierre Tomas and Joseph Addai.
RB Pierre Thomas, New Orleans Saints +800
Thomas didn’t have eye-popping regular season numbers picking up just 793 yards on the season, but that’s mostly because the Saints didn’t give him the ball much.
His 5.4 yards per carry is good, but it’s a little inflated because the Saints pass heavy offense makes it a little easier to knock off a big run.
Blame Favre: Why the Viking Lost
Brett Favre Playoff Disappointment
Brett Favre definitely made a big mistake on the Vikings last offensive possession of the game when he threw a low percentage pass that was intercepted, but you can’t blame the Vikings loss solely on Favre.
New Orleans Defense Deserves Credit
Instead of focusing on how Favre mucked up, focus on how New Orleans put him in a position to muck up.
Part of the New Orleans defensive game plan was to make the game rough on Favre. Favre took a number of hits, injured his foot and by the last play it affected his game.
Super Bowl Early Betting Lines: Colts by 4.5
Manning Receives Super Bowl XLI Trophy
Early Super Bowl lines are out now and the Indianapolis Colts (-215) are favored by 4.5 points over the New Orleans Saints (+170) and the over/under is 55.5.
I think the odds-makers thinking here is that the Saints defense gave up a too many yards against Minnesota and they expect Manning to only do better.
The one thing going in their favor is that the Saints are ball-hawks and basically won the game against the Vikings on the strength of their turn-overs.
Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints – NFC Championship Preview
The number-one scoring offenses duels with the number-two scoring offense as the New Orleans Saints play host to the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC championship match on Sunday, January 24, 2010.
The Saints (-190) are 3.5-point NFC championship odds favorites over the Vikings (+160) and the total is 53.
For most of the season it looked like these two teams were destined to meet here and neither team has disappointed.
Vikings quarterback Brett Favre is looking for a second Super Bowl that would be an exclamation mark on his already great legacy.
Posted in NFL
Tagged Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, NFC Championship, NFC Conference Final
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NFL Divisional Playoffs Wrap Up
That was a good weekend of football. We saw some really good, close games and some thoroughly dominating offensive and defensive performances leaving us with one Cinderella team, the Jets, one Cinderella story, Favre and the Vikings, and two teams that delivered after promising regular seasons.
NFC Divisional Games
The Saints made the Cardinals look bad. I felt this game had blow-out potential, I just wasn’t sure which way it would go and the Saints poor play down the stretch had me leaning away from the Saints.
Way to prove me wrong.
Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints – NFL Playoff Preview
The rested, but possibly rusty, New Orleans Saints host an Arizona Cardinals team that is coming off the highest-scoring playoff game in NFL history on Saturday January 16th at the Superdome in New Orleans.
The New Orleans Saints (-305) are 7-point NFL odds favorites over the Arizona Cardinals (+245) and the over/under is 57.
Going in to this game the big question on every sports bettors mind is “can the Saints play up to the form that they demonstrated for most of the season?”