Betty White, Um, I Mean Saints Win Super Bowl

Kudos to you if you had the Saints winning by two touchdowns. Not sure anyone saw that one coming (full disclosure, I had Colts 32, Saints 23).

It also seems like the NFL is finally out of it’s rut of crappy Super Bowls. How’s this for three in a row; Giants-Patriots, Steelers-Cardinals and now Saints-Colts.

Granted the score tonight was a bit lopsided, but the game was definitely not indicative of the final score.

Some early thoughts:

I’m always happy to see a team win the big one for the first time…and how can you not be thrilled for New Orleans.

Surely those folks can still use all the attention and good will they can get, and this should be a boon for the city at least in the short term.

Peyton Manning finally got bested by an opposing defense this season.

Didn’t we all get the feeling in the AFC title game that Manning would light up the Jets after making halftime adjustments??

I didn’t get that same inkling tonight once the 3rd quarter began. I knew the Saints had some tricks left up their sleeves that Peyton hadn’t yet decoded.

Jeremy Shockey can finally say he played on a Super Bowl winner and ACTUALLY played in their championship game. Not only that, he scored what proved to be the go-ahead touchdown.

I liked Shockey when he was in New York and was surprised how quickly he wore out his welcome and fell out of favor. Good for him that he finally caught on somewhere where his contributions are appreciated.

Is it time to start bashing Jim Caldwell for making the “we’re not trying to have a perfect season, we’re just trying to win the Super Bowl” decision? How’d that one work out for him. Guess we’ll never know if going for 19-0 would have made a difference in the game tonight.

From an X’s and O’s standpoint, I think you do point the blame at Caldwell for going for the 51 yard field goal early in the 4th. Instead of giving the ancient Matt Stover that shot (what were the chances he hit that, really….40% at best??), Indy should have realized field position was the game at that point and punted.

Best commercial? It was a run away in the sports office: Betty White and Abe Vigoda in the Snickers ad.

Betty’s line “that’s not what your girlfriend said” was the highlight of the entire night.

(According to Chris, Betty’s a nasty ol’ girl with a mind firmly entrenched in the gutter…apparently things got a little frisky back in the ‘Match Game’ days.).

All in all, another excellent Super Bowl with good football, a great storyline and a fantastic cameo by a Golden Girl.

Matt Estreich for The Huddle