You’re probably as tired as I am of hearing everyone struggle to find new ways to break this game down. (And I KNOW you’re tired of hearing about Dwight Freeney’s ankle (picture, right), so I promise not to bring it up – oops!)Anyway, let’s skip the forced, cutesy intro and get right to the pick.
(In case you care, I went 1-1 during Conference Championship weekend, bringing my playoff record to 6-4.)
NEW ORLEANS VS INDIANAPOLIS
I like both of these teams a lot. A big part of the reason I had a pretty strong record picking games this year is that I picked the Saints and the Colts to win almost every week.
As a person who was rooting hard for the Jets in the AFC title game, I had an excruciatingly close look at how much of a cold-blooded assassin Peyton Manning has become. The Jets got the better of the Colts for the first quarter and a half, but Manning (and his coaching staff) made all the right adjustments and proceeded to dismantle the #1 defense in the league. Meanwhile, the word out of the NFC title game was that the Saints barely defeated a superior team and were lucky to come away with a victory. (Both of which are probably true.) As a result, I was SURE (as most people were) that the Colts would win.
A combination of the Saints being the sentimental favorites and the fact that there were two long weeks for all of us to overthink things made me start leaning toward the Saints. There was the fact that no one was really giving them a chance (shades of the Giants/Patriots Super Bowl). The rationale I REALLY liked was the idea that the Colts had mostly dominated two teams with deficient offenses in the playoffs (the Ravens and the Jets) and haven’t looked all that impressive against teams who could actually move the ball. (Remember how lucky Indy was to win that 4th and 2 Patriots game?) The Saints DEFINITELY fall under the category of teams who can move the ball.
Then I realized what all this rationalizing really was. I’m basically trying to talk myself into picking the Saints because I know the Colts are the logical, safe and, ultimately, right choice. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Peyton Manning is playing quarterback better than anybody I’ve ever seen play quarterback.
As much as I like the Saints, I’ll go with the team that has Manning.
The Super Bowl pick: Colts 41, Saints 35
1 comment:
very useful post. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did you hear that some chinese hacker had hacked twitter yesterday again.
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