February 8
Miami Herald
columnist Linda Robertson
"
Like New Orleans, Drew Brees once was left for dead. He was damaged. He became a reclamation project. Few had faith in his future. ``Who dat?'' might have been a question about Brees when he came back from shoulder surgery. But not now, not after Brees led the New Orleans Saints to a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV. Not after his acceptance of the MVP trophy started a celebration back home in the City That Care Forgot, a celebration that will make the typical Mardi Gras seem like a tea party. One day, it will sound like a fable: Quarterback decides to reincarnate his career in New Orleans, ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, so he can help reincarnate the city. While ..."
February 8
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
columnist Mark Bradley
"
I ask you: What's the world coming to when a guy can't even be right about Peyton Manning? I quote my erring self: "He never throws the ball to the wrong team with the game on the line." Except for the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIV, that is. OK, so I was wrong again. That's only about the 5,00th time this year. But I feel a lot better about this whiff than, say, the BCS title game. That one still drives me nuts because Texas, even with Colt McCoy lost on the first series, could still have proved me right if not for Mack Brown and his doggone SHOVEL PASS before the half."
February 8
Houston Chronicle
columnist Richard Justice
"
Tracy Porter knew the play was coming. He'd studied it for days, thought about it, prepared for it. He watched so much of the Indianapolis Colts in these situations that he believed he could think along with Peyton Manning. He convinced himself that this Super Bowl might go right through him. Every player in Super Bowl 44 probably thought the same thing. They were all going to be heroes. Let's face it, champions aren't timid. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said early in the week his teammates had been jittery, nervous, anxious. By Thursday, everything had changed. The Saints believed they were so well prepared that this opportunity would become their moment. "We were confident," ..."
February 7
Green Bay Press Gazette
columnist Mike Vandermause
"
Based on their overall record during the past decade, the Green Bay Packers have been an overwhelming success. Based on their inability to reach the Super Bowl during that time, they have been a resounding failure. The Packers' 95-65 record spanning the last 10 seasons (2000-09) is second-best in the 16-team NFC. trailing only Philadelphia (103-56-1). It is fifth-best in the 32-team NFL behind Indianapolis (115-45), New England (112-48) and Pittsburgh (103-56-1). When it comes to regular-season prosperity since the turn of the century, the Packers rank right up there with the best of them. Only three NFL teams have appeared in the playoffs more often than the Packers over the last 10 ..."
February 7
Cleveland Plain Dealer
columnist Bill Livingston
"
All this talk of dynasties in the past and of disparity this season. But it's the outsiders that have made this a decade of Superduper Bowls. First-timers like Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Carolina and the least likely customers of all, New Orleans and Arizona, made the big game. Baltimore's appearance created vast depression in orange-and-brown land. But the Saints and Cardinals -- even as Cleveland, along with hapless Detroit and expansion Jacksonville and Houston, made the "Final Four" of teams never to qualify for the big game -- meant there was hope for even the most bug-squashed among the downtrodden. New Orleans is a great story today, one of redemption for a bungling franchise and ..."
February 7
St. Paul Pioneer Press
columnist Charley Walters
"
If Brett Favre has decided to retire as Vikings quarterback, it would seem an announcement could come this week, after the Super Bowl, because the NFL prefers not to have distractions that would interfere with its big game. If Favre is undecided and wants the Vikings to improve the $13 million deal for which he is signed for next season, that should be known by the end of the month. The consensus guess is that Favre, 40, will return. But Favre has proved it's virtually impossible to predict what he'll do next. If Favre has decided to retire, he no longer has any motive to drag out the drama as he did with the Green Bay Packers to get to the New York Jets, and with the Jets to get to the ..."
February 7
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
columnist Michael K. Bohn
"
The Super Bowl. Americans love their annual indulgence of hype and ballyhoo, advertising excess, halftime extravaganzas, beer, chips and, oh yes, the championship game of the National Football League. This raucous ritual, the prime example of money-driven sports entertainment, arose from more modest origins during the Great Depression in the 1930s. The NFL held its first playoff to determine the league championship in 1932, and the game proved to be a milestone in pro football's maturation as a national sport. Starting with its inaugural season in 1920, the league had crowned the team with the best winning percentage to be the champion. In 1932, the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth (Ohio) ..."
February 7
L.A. Daily News
columnist Vincent Bonsignore
"
If you're looking for a sign on who will win Super Bowl XLIV today in Miami, consider this: The New Orleans Saints shouldn't even be there. Let's face it, had the Minnesota Vikings not sent 12men to their huddle with 19 seconds left in the NFC championship game two weeks ago, resulting in a 5-yard penalty that knocked them out of field-goal range, they would be in Miami - not the Saints. Which clearly establishes one important fact when trying to pick a winner today: The Saints have destiny working for them. Think about it. The Saints are a team that wasn't supposed to be here, yet made it. The New York Giants had fate on their side two years ago while toppling the undefeated New England ..."