The big day is here, gang. Yeah, I know it's not what we as Patriots fans would've wanted, but you have to admit it's a good chance to pull people together, cook up some food, and have a good time. That's what I plan to do. Who do I want to win? Well, it's incredibly hard for me to cheer against the Saints. HC Sean Payton has spoken gushingly of our New England organization and Bill Belichick, so how can you not like the guy even if his team absolutely destroyed our Patriots?
I'm having a very hard time coming up with a prediction on this one. The Saints, with Drew Brees, are a high powered offense capable of tossing the ball to any number of "receivers"; Brees is extremely good at spreading the ball around the field. However, as good as their offense is, their defense has been cracking heads all year. They're known for beating up receivers within that 5 yard zone and knocking them off of their routes.
The problem? Peyton Manning is having one of the best years of his life. As much as us Patriots fans hate to admit it, he really is one of the most dangerous QB's on the field today. The only chance for the Saints to win is to take away his receivers. Sure, pressuring a quarterback is the easy answer and everyone uses that as the magic bullet, but Manning has one of the fastest releases in Football and will burn you on a blitz. I believe the Saints best chance is to beat up Indy's receivers when they start their routes. They used that tactic with our Patriots and it worked.
SB Nation has tons of coverage for today's big event. Check it out after the jump.
1) SB Nation Colts blogger, BigBlueShoe from Stampede Blue, was
credentialed by the NFL and has been on the ground in Miami for the
media days providing incredible coverage and interviews from a Colts
fan perspective. He has setup a special section on his blog that
gathers all his reports together:
http://www.stampedeblue.com/
2) SB Nation Saints blogger, Saintsational at Canal Street Chronicles,
was also credentialed by the NFL and just landed in Miami to cover the
Super Bowl for the Who Dat Nation. Check out his coverage:
http://www.
3) For you stat heads, mgrex03 on Stampede Blue has a stats preview
series:
I: http://www.stampedeblue.com/
II: http://www.stampedeblue.com/
III: http://www.stampedeblue.com/
4) BigBlueShoe got a really interesting interview with Peter King
including some back + forth about sports blogs:
Part I: http://www.stampedeblue.com/
Part II: http://www.stampedeblue.com/
5) We also have Joel Thorman from Arrowhead Pride credentialed at the
Super Bowl and covering it for SBNation.com. He has been updating an
epic Super Bowl StoryStream from the ground + Dave Halprin has been
adding the best content from around network. This is an excellent
single big PREVIEW link that pulls everything together:
http://www.sbnation.com/2010/