MIAMI - Peyton Manning spent the whole season building toward a Super Bowl crown, a win that certainly would put him among the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.
Then he threw it all away.
Blocked onto his butt, Manning could only watch as Tracy Porter returned an interception for a clinching, 74-yard touchdown in the final minutes Sunday that gave the New Orleans Saints a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
"It's certainly disappointing. Very disappointed. Disappointed," Manning said.
All week, this was the story line in Miami: Could Manning, a New Orleans boy through and through, deny the Saints in a game they desperately wanted to win for their city?
Turned out he helped his hometown team win its first Super Bowl -- only not in the way he imagined.
Manning repeated the word "disappointing" at least 10 times in his postgame interview session, using it to describe everything from the Colts not having the ball much in the second quarter to the interception that decided the title.
"We played well in the first playoff game, played well two weeks ago. We just didn't make enough plays against the Saints," Manning said.