MIAMI - Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?
Nobody.
Not even Peyton Manning, one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and beloved son of New Orleans, could beat Drew Brees, Sean Payton and that New Orleans mojo.
We've all read 1.4 million times about Brees and Payton and how the two of them arrived six months after Hurricane Katrina to resurrect a franchise and a devastated community.
It's a great story, but let's focus on what happened in Sunday's 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV at Sun Life Stadium.
This wasn't only good. This was Bill Walsh-Joe Montana good. This was a coach, Payton, who was wonderfully aggressive and a quarterback, Brees, who was historically good in the biggest game there is while playing against a future Hall of Famer and delivering the Saints a Super Bowl title in their first appearance.
This was Payton opening the second half with a gutsy onside kick while trailing the Colts 10-6. This was Payton taking the risk of giving Manning the ball in Saints' territory to start the second half.
"We knew we were going to call it at some point," Payton said. "At halftime, I just told them, 'Hey, we're going to open up the second half with this. It's going to be a great play.'"