New Super Champions

Saints Beat Colts

by Bob Chan

Drew Brees and the Saints are NFL champions, rallying to upset Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 Sunday night in one of pro football’s most thrilling title games.

Brees tied a Super Bowl record with 32 completions and was chosen the game’s MVP.

A surprise onside kick sparked the Saints’ second-half comeback. Their 25th-ranked defense made several key stops, and Tracy Porter’s 74-yard interception return on a pass from Manning, clinched it.

An NFL embarrassment for much of their 43 years, the Saints’ football renaissance, led by Brees and coach Sean Payton, climaxed with Shockey’s touchdown and Lance Moore’s 2-point conversion catch, originally ruled incomplete but overturned on Payton’s challenge. Porter’s pick, just as dramatic as his interception of Brett Favre’s pass to force overtime in the NFC title game, was the game’s only turnover. It’s one Manning will forever regret.

The Saints won three postseason games this winter. They beat Arizona, Minnesota and Indianapolis all division winners for their first title.The championship came 4 1/2 years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, making the Saints nomads for the 2005 season. There even was some doubt they would return, but the NFL refused to abandon the city. The Superdome was repaired and the Saints won the NFC South in ’06, their first season with Brees and Payton. That was the season Manning won his only Super Bowl. He had the Colts, favored by 5 points, in front for much of this one, but New Orleans’ league-leading offense outscored Indy 31-7 after falling behind 10-0. That matched the biggest comeback in a Super Bowl.