Two Sundays from now, we will all get to watch the biggest sporting event in America, the Super Bowl, for the forty-fourth time. There have been plenty of epic showdowns (just look at the past two years), but Super Bowl XLIV has the potential to top every title game that has come before it. Going into Miami, Florida, for the season’s final game, is the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. 

This game had the ability to receive even more hype than it currently is getting. Going into Week 15 of the regular season, the Colts and Saints were both 14-0. Football fans everywhere were dreaming of a never-before-seen Undefeated Super Bowl. Ultimately both teams made it to the Super Bowl, but neither has a perfect record. In Week 15, Indianapolis squeaked out a four-point win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. New Orleans was not as fortunate, however, falling in a game that went down to the wire against the Dallas Cowboys, the final score reading 24-17. Many of the Colts starters got limited playing time in Week 16’s game against the New York Jets, leaving a large majority of their fan base frustrated as the team got their first loss with two weeks left in the regular season. 

The Saints also lost in Week 16, and fell for the third straight game in the final week of the season. With all momentum appearing to be lost, it did not look like the Saints would have what it takes to get the job done in the postseason. But they proved all critics wrong, simply destroying the Arizona Cardinals 45-14 in the Divisional Round and making it to the Super Bowl after winning in the NFC Championship Game. The conference title game was a thriller (and to some, controversial), and the Saints marched out of overtime with a 31-28 victory over Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. New Orleans easily picked up where they left off in Week 14 as the postseason began, made the big plays when they had to be made, and have found themselves in their first Super Bowl ever. 

The Colts’ road to the championship game was fairly easier than the Saints’. Like their Super Bowl counterpart, they earned a first round bye and easily defeated their Divisional opponent, the Baltimore Ravens, 20-3, after ending their season on a two-game losing streak. Everyone in Lucas Oil Stadium had to panic a little in the AFC Championship Game, however, when they found their home team down at halftime against the New York Jets. The Jets just came off of a huge upset of the San Diego Chargers, the hottest team in the league at the time, and had their eyes on Miami. But Indy got their act together in the second half and prevailed, 30-17. 

Now that everyone knows who will be playing in the Super Bowl, who will win, the Saints or the Colts? This showdown does not look like a mismatch at all; a blowout could happen, but it really is not expected by anybody. Both teams stack up rather evenly with each other, and even if this game does not match the legendary status of Super Bowls XLII and XLIII, it should be an intense, close contest until the end. 

Both teams rely on their passing games heavily. Peyton Manning carried most of the load for the Colts, ranking second in passing yards during the regular season. The Saints have Drew Brees, though, and he ended up sixth in yards. Manning only topped Brees by 112 yards. Both quarterbacks average around 35 pass attempts in a game, give or take a throw or two, and they are also efficient. Manning threw 33 touchdowns over the season with a respectable 16 interceptions while Brees racked up 34 touchdowns with only 11 picks. In other words, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are two quarterbacks that will not be afraid to put on a show in Miami. 

The running games for both teams are polar opposite of their passing attacks. Indy’s top rusher in the regular season, Joseph Addai, only ran for 828 yards, for an average of 3.8 yards per carry and 55.2 yards per game. On New Orleans’ side, Pierre Thomas ran for just 793 yards to top their rushing list, but averaged 5.4 yards per carry; he had 72 less carries than Addai. In the playoffs, though, the running game got a little more productive for the Saints. Reggie Bush emerged as a nice threat on the ground for the Saints. With Thomas racking up 113 yards rushing in his two playoffs games, Bush got enough touches to come in right behind him with 92 yards. The difference is, Bush did all of that on only 12 carries. In other words, Bush has averaged 7.7 yards a carry in the playoffs, and combined with Thomas gives New Orleans a nice ground attack to complement the aerial display Brees has been putting on. The Thomas-Bush duo was far more effective than Addai was in his two playoff games. His 103 yards rushing yielded no touchdowns so far, while they have combined for two scores on 205 yards. It looks as though the Colts will run into a lot of problems if their passing game falters, while the Saints should still be able to move the ball downfield. 

So can either team’s defense stop the top-of-the-line quarterbacks that will definitely be throwing at them all night long? Both teams did average jobs of stopping the pass during the season. The Colts came in at fourteenth with 212.7 passing yards allowed per game, while the Saints finished in twenty-sixth with 235.6 yards per game. Those averages do not tell the whole story though, and can be very misleading. Though the Colts gave up less passing yards than the Saints, they allowed 19 passing touchdowns and only picked off the ball 16 times. The Saints, on the other hand, only gave up 15 touchdowns through the air and played lockdown D at times, with guys like Darren Sharper compiling a total of 26 interceptions, third-best in the NFL. When it comes down to stopping the pass and making game-changing plays, the New Orleans Saints has a nice advantage on the Colts. 

This game will obviously be huge for both teams. With two pass-heavy offenses lead by two of the best quarterbacks in the game, the possibility of a shootout is there. New Orleans seems to have a slight edge when it comes to running the ball if the throwing game isn’t there. They also seem to have a small advantage when it comes to slowing down the other team’s quarterback. While the advantage is small, it can payoff big time when both teams rely on their quarterback to rack up yards and touchdowns more than any other team in the NFL, since the running backs usually do not put up big numbers. If one team has to be favored going into the game, it looks like the Saints should be able to come away with a small victory. 

But there is a reason the Super Bowl, or any other NFL game, is not played on paper. Emotions run especially high in a game of these proportions, and when the stakes are high you can never tell what the star players can do in the clutch. On Indy’s side, Peyton Manning will want to make a statement. The debate of last decade was deciding what quarterback was better and/or would have a better career, Manning, or the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady. Brady has more rings, and if Peyton can win his second Super Bowl, his side of the argument will look all the more stronger.  

On the other hand, the Saints will want to win it all for New Orleans in their first Super Bowl. Their football team has been a sign of hope for the city since they moved back into the Louisiana Superdome after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and many other towns in Louisiana in 2005. With their first Lombardi Trophy just sixty minutes away, it seems like New Orleans is ready to explode in excitement.  

The Super Bowl has seen its upsets, its blowouts, its epics, and plenty of amazing plays along the way. Now it has the chance to see a first-time winner or one of the game’s greatest quarterbacks score title number two. It can go either way. The Saints look like they have a better chance. But as Herm Edwards says, “You play to win the game!”, and neither team is going to go down without their biggest fight of the season. This should be a classic.  
 

Eric Shultz writes for Informative Sports, but can also be found on his new blog, A Lost Cheesehead.