Super Bowl XLIV

For the first time since the 1993/1994 season the number one seed in the AFC will play against the number one seed in the NFC in the Super Bowl. Every season there are two teams that everyone from fan to expert say will make it all the way to the Super Bowl. Every season the masses are wrong, and a surprise team pulls a playoff upset or two to advance to the Championship game. In 2007 I picked against the New York Giants each round of the playoffs, only to see them rattle off four straight playoff wins and cap it all off with a Super Bowl victory. At the end of the 2008/2009 season the NFL world was shocked by the 9-7 Arizona Cardinals reaching, and nearly winning the Super Bowl. However, this year is the anomaly with the Saints and Colts (both number one seeds) battling for the championship in Super Bowl XLIV. Every since the middle portion of the season people have been saying that the Super Bowl would be Colts VS. Saints; and for the first time in many years the NFL was predictable.

In a league of "any given Sunday" it is nearly impossible to predict who will make it to the Super Bowl, but for some reason this year what we all thought would happen has. I thought the New York Jets were going to beat the Colts yesterday because of how far they had come, and because they were the team everyone was doubting. I didn't want to make the same mistake I (and many others made) in 2007 doubting the Giants every step of the way. The Jets seemed like that team with the "x-factor" on their side, the team with supreme confidence and a team that was playing stout defense. After the Jets scored to go up 17-6 I was feeling even more so that I had correctly preordained the winner, but as the Colts have done all season long they came roaring back. As far as the NFC was concerned, I thought that the Vikings would win with their superior defense, dominant running game, and a matured Brett Favre at the helm. Favre had what he himself calls "my best season" with only seven interceptions and career highs in completion percentage and  quarterback rating. However, five turnovers and an old "Favresk" bad interception late in the game held a superior Vikings team out of the Super Bowl. I went against the popular notion that the Colts and Saints would square off in the forty fourth Super Bowl by selecting the other teams to make it. It had seemed that if you pick against who you initially think is going to win that you would be correct, but not this year. This is the year of the predictable; the year of the number one seeds in the Super Bowl.

None of this is to say that this will not be an exciting Super Bowl, for it will be, but it is disheartening that it will not include the Patriots or a chance for Favre to be the oldest Quarterback to be in the Super Bowl, or any team I care for. Now it all comes down to the following: please don't let Peyton Manning win another Super Bowl title. I am rooting for the Saints 110% and I do expect them to win. This is an offensive battle between two high octane point scoring machines each led by an exceptional quarterback. Drew Brees is the most accurate passer in the NFL (70.6 % NFL record) and Peyton Manning is the smartest and best quarterback in professional football. I like the Saints to win this game because they have more weapons on the offensive side of the football, a better running game, and they have an opportunistic turnover savvy defense.