Super Bowl

Better late than never, right? It's not too late. The game isn't until tomorrow. I have plenty of time.

But, since I'm writing this article in exile -- I have no power and no Internet at home due to the blizzard of 2010 aka Snowpocalypse and I'm at a bar that has WiFi -- I'll be brief. Well, brief as I can be, which means this will end up being 2,000 words.

I think that this has the potential to be one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time. The Giants-Patriots Super Bowl was great, but that was primarily for schaudenfreud reasons. The Colts-Bears Super Bowl kinda sucked. Super Bowl XL -- aside from the fact that the Steelers won, which I think I may have mentioned -- was a disappointing game. The one before that lacked drama and we had to see Donovan McNabb puke. The one before that was pretty sweet and the rest involved a crappy blowout, the start of the Patriots dynasty, and the hated Ravens hoisting the Lombardi trophy. So, those sucked. That means, counting last year's awesomeness -- and this is not a subjective assessment... Super Bowl XLIII consistently ranks in the top five of all-time great Super Bowls, there were two plays from it in the top ten plays of the Super Bowl for the 00s, and, of course, the Steelers won which I *know* I mentioned -- there have really only been two great games since we all looked like morons for fearing the 21st century. Lots of great storylines, but really only two great games.

In this game, you have two fantastic offenses led by two of the best quarterbacks in the league against two defenses that are, for the most part, pretty much just serviceable. They have their strengths, they have their upside, but... yeah. This isn't a game that's going to be a defensive standoff.

Both teams can score a ton of points. The Saints had the number one scoring offense, the number one passing offense, and the number one offense in terms of yards per game. They're good. They have a lot of weapons. It's interesting to note that Jeremy Shockey -- good and completely crazy as he is -- is the fifth best player on this offense. If Reggie Bush shows up, he can do a lot of damage. Marques Colston is such a big, good red zone target that he was listed as a tight end in most fantasy leagues his rookie year. Devery Henderson is crazy fast. Robert Meachem can do a lot of good things if he isn't playing with his head jammed up his anus.

This defense destroyed and demoralized Brett Favre. By the midpoint, he was slinking around midfield and asking for his binky.

New Orleans has themselves a damn good team and they're making all the jerkoffs that tore their labrums jumping off the Saints bandwagon look like... well, jerkoffs.

But...

The Colts are a great team, too. They're a better team. They're a more complete team. They're a more together team. They've been here before. There are a ton of guys on the roster that were on it when Indianapolis pulled through a crappy win in Super Bowl XLI. That's gonna make a difference in the game. Remember when the Steelers won Super Bowl XL? Both teams were tight, neither team wanted to try to do too much and both teams were trying to do everything. Everyone was nervous and they were pressing, but since everyone was pressing, there were a lot of plays that went without incident. Well, the Colts won't have that issue, but the Saints will. And that's one big difference in this game.

The other big difference is Peyton Manning. In the AFC Championship game, when the Jets had momentum, they had hit on a few big plays, and it seemed like they were going to take the game over, they made one fatal mistake. They didn't bleed enough time off the clock and they didn't score to make it 21-6 at halftime. Manning would not have given up at that point, but at least New York would have had a fighting chance. Instead, they kicked a field goal and gave Manning and the Colts two full minutes to close the gap on a 17-6 score. He proceeded to shred the number one defense in 58 seconds -- and the Jets had a defense that was on par with the 2008 Steelers defense -- and close it to 17-13. And they got the ball in the second half. I'm sure New York felt the noose start to tighten at that point. And they ran some stupid, conservative gameplan at the end of that half. Sure, they could have been gunning to go into the half with the lead, but the subtext was there. They didn't want to go three-and-out and give Manning another 58 seconds to make them look stupid.

Even though the Colts were down 17-13, the game was over. All Manning had to do was take care of business. And he did. And he has. All season. That's what he does. That's all he does! That Manning is out there. He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. And he absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until you are DEAD. Do you understand?

Peyton Manning is a modern day Terminator. That's all there is to it. He's not human. He's too calculating, too efficient. When he needs to do something, he does it. The only way to stop him is to lead him into the Cyberdyne facilities and crush his CPU.

I can't bet against Peyton Manning. I just can't do it. He has too much at stake. Prior to Super Bowl XLI he was the great stats quarterback that couldn't win it all. Now he has the stats. He has a championship. And he has a chance to cement his legacy with another championship. He cannot fail now. He cannot tarry. If Manning wins another Super Bowl and plays another five years at this level -- or close to this level -- he's the greatest quarterback of all time. Sure, there will always be debates, but he's got four MVPs, one ring (possibly two, maybe more), and every significant passing record on the books (if Favre actually retires and Manning keeps things status quo the next five years). Manning knows what is at stake and he will not allow his team to lose. Ever.

On the basis of experience at this level and the Manning Factor, I am picking the Colts. And I am picking them to cover.

Prediction:
Colts 31, Saints 17