Why the Saints will win Super Bowl XLIV

By Bob Herman

For those have been looking at the Saints to win Super Bowl XLIV, there’s always the one statistic that is so obviously in the New Orleans Saints favor that it goes unmentioned: The Saints have the best offense in the league this year, period.

Yes, yes, I know. “Defense wins championships,” yaddy yaddy yada. But sometimes the best defense is an unparalleled offense. The Saints best defense February 7, 2010, will be to stay on offense and keep Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning off the damn field.

Let’s cut through the crap. This game will be about the quarterbacks: Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. They are impetuses of both offenses, without a doubt, and both have only complementary running games, not dominant ones (sorry, but Joseph Addai, Pierre Thomas, and the other merry band of running backs most likely won’t win the game running the ball…and if they do, may I eat my words). And throughout the year, defenses simply couldn’t get to either quarterback with any type of consistency (Colts have allowed the fewest sacks, while the Saints have allowed the fourth-fewest sacks).

Drew Brees, the pride of all those rootie-tootin Boilermakers in Lafayette, has arguably had his best year as a pro. He tied his career-high in touchdown passes (34), fourth-most passing yards in his career (4,388), but he set new career high in completion percentage: 70.6 percent. So not only is he the same Brees of old, but he’s a more accurate Brees of old.

The Saints made the Cardinals, the Super Bowl XLIII runners-up, look like fools in a 45-14 thrashing in the NFL Divisional game. Brees was his same self, and, to many people’s surprise, Reggie Bush showed flashes of his USC days on the return game. And after squeaking by the Vikings two weeks ago, 31-28, the Saints can actually thank their defense for solidifying that win: They forced six fumbles, three of which were recovered, and they picked off two passes from the “holy” Brett Favre (OK…those interceptions were more or less of Favre turning into his reckless and stupid gunslinging alter-ego, but the picks were impressive nonetheless).

This isn’t an anomaly. The Saints don’t have a dominant defense by any means (25th in the league), but they have had an opportunistic defense all year. They have rolled in eight defensive touchdowns, more than any other team in the league, and three of which are courtesy of safety Darren Sharper. And to keep things in perspective, the Colts only have the 18th best defense in the league.

Either way, this game will be about two very mediocre defenses pitted against two incredible high-octane offenses. Drew Brees, an effective special teams game featuring Reggie Bush, and the Saints’ opportunistic defense are the three keys for Nawlins to take the figurative Super Bowl cake. But the biggest reason why the Saints will win the Super Bowl?

Because EA Sports says so.

These simulations have correctly picked the winner of five of the past six Super Bowls. (The one they didn’t pick correctly? The Giants-Patriots Super Bowl. But really, who expected that?)
And the day I don’t listen to artificial intelligence is the day I’ll be dead.