It has finally happened Saints fans, after 43 years as an NFL franchise the Saints are the new NFC Champions and are now headed to Super Bowl XLIV to face the Indianapolis Colts.

After the trials, tribulations, the ups, the downs, the good times, the bad times, the winning seasons, the losing seasons, the bags on our heads,  we have now been validated because we are the Aint’s no more.

We are the NFC Champs!!

New Orleans faced down the Vikings and never has it been so apparent a team was destined for greatness after the Saints surrendered 475 total yards to the Vikings but still won the game  by forcing six turnovers and two interceptions including the pick in their own red zone late in the fourth quarter as the Vikings were threatening to score which forced overtime.

The Saints won the coin toss and elected to receive, a series of plays later, accompanied by booth challenges and penalty flags, the Saints faced a fourth and three at the Minnesota twenty-two yard line.

From there young Saints kicker Garrett Hartley lined up for the forty yard field goal which he nailed dead to rights, just like that the Saints are headed to Miami as the NFC representative at Super Bowl XLIV.

Hate to say I told you so but I told you so!

Take this time and  enjoy it Saints fans, relish in the moment so you can take this feeling to work with you Monday to tell all the doubters who mocked you for being a Saints fan, “Who’s going to the Super Bowl?”, and you can finally answer the Saints. 

Tonight is a night of celebration so we don’t intend to go into detail about the game, catch us later for that but in the meantime we are going to celebrate.

WHO DAT SAY THEY GONNA BEAT THEM SAINTS, WHO DAT, WHO DAT, WHO DAT SAY THEY GONNA BEAT THEM SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The Saints have done it! The Saints have done it! They are the Super Bowl Champs!

Let it sink in Who Dat nation, the Saints are WORLD CHAMPIONS!

It may have taken 43 years to accomplish the feat and the Saints may have once been the worst team in the league but from here on out they can never  be called the Aint’s again and fans will surely never wear paper bags again.

No one can ever argue that the Saints were not a team of destiny and if anyone picked against them they had to be crazy as it just seemed to come together for them all season long.

The Super Bowl was no different.

Rallying from a 10-point deficit the Saints dominated the fourth quarter, in typical fashion, and pulled out a 31-17 victory over the Colts Sunday night in Super Bowl XLIV.

Brees set a new record for the most passes completed in a Super Bowl game with 32 en route to throwing for 288 yards and two touchdowns, he was also named the MVP.

Young kicker Garrett Hartley was also pivotal to the Saints win booting three field goals of 40+ yards (46, 44, 47) which is a new Super Bowl record.

It seemed fitting that Hartley would find success in the play-offs after a tumultuous year where he battled through a tough off season, followed by a four game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

If that wasn’t enough former Saints kicker John Carney was brought back to take Hartley’s place, Carney was then awarded the starting job for most of the season but was alleviated from his duties when he started to experience issues with missed field goals and extra points.

As big a part of the win as Drew Brees and Garrett Hartley where what really turned the tide in the game were plays made on special teams and defense.

Head coach Sean Payton pulled out all the stops and after being stopped for no points on a fourth and goal before half time to remain down by four at 6 -10 he knew he could not given Peyton Manning back the ball.

Payton would then make one of the brashest play calls in Super Bowl history to start the third quarter when he called for the surprise on side kick resulting in a Saints recovery.

His call was the first time an on side kick had ever been used to start the third quarter in a Super Bowl game and obviously the recovery was the first ever successful in the third quarter as well.

Brees would take full advantage of the possession and pilot the Saints on a six play 58 yard drive that was capped by 16 yard touchdown pass on a screen play to Pierre Thomas that gave New Orleans it’s first lead of the game at 13-10.

The onside gamble definitely paid off.

Indianapolis would re-capture the lead on their very next possesion traveling 76 yards in seven plays before Colts runningback Joseph Addai pinballed his way into the endzone for the go ahead score and four pint lead at 13-17.

That however would be the last time Indy would score in the game.

Hartley closed out the the third quarter scoring when he kicked his last and longest field goal of the day to bring the Saints within one point of the Colts at 16-17, subsequently Indy would drive down the feld consuming nearly five minutes off the clock before kicker Matt Stover lined up for a 51 yard field goal that he botched a little too short and to the left.

 Now down by seven after Shockey’s touchdown and a made-good-by-review two-point conversion, Manning drove to the Saints’ 31. On a third down, he looked for Reggie Wayne on a slant.

Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams sent a six-man blitz that was enough to make Manning rush his throw. Porter jumped the route and it took it 74 yards for the defensive touchdown with 3:12 remaining in the game.

It seemed unlikely that Manning could rally his team from a 14 point deficit with a little over three minutes reamaining but in the NFL stranger things have happened but even the “great” Peyton Manning couldn’t pull this off.

Manning would lead his team down field and into scoring range consuming most all of the clock but the Saints were able to make the red zone stand and keep them out of the endzone, New Orleans would take over with :44 seconds remaining needing only to take a knee to seal the game and their first ever Super Bowl Championship.

A great end to a great game for a franchise who was long overdue. Head Coach Sean Payton, quarterback Drew Brees have done the impossible by bringing back a struggling franchise from the brink of self destruction to the NFL’s elite. The City of New Orleans, the Saints and it’s fans are forever changed, is it too soon to talk about a repeat?

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Gotta love Saints DB Tracy Porter shaving “SB44″ and the Superdome in his dome. Just awesome.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees has been looked over or discounted in one way or another for most of his professional football career, largely in part to his now well chronicled stature.

After all Brees stands a claimed six foot even, according to the stat sheet from the Saints website,  but the reality is he is closer to 5′9 or 5′10 than six feet tall.

Now having met Drew in person, and I stand a shade under six feet,  I can clearly recall looking slightly down at him and thinking “Man, I thought he would be bigger than that.”

But that is exactly what people think when they meet him and inevitably what follows  is questions of how can he see the field so well or how does he have the arm strength to get the ball deep down field.

Well he does and the answers to those questions are easy to find. All you have to do is look at the numbers he has put up since becoming a Saint in 2006.

He has thrown for 18,298 yards, 122 touchdowns and has averaged a combined passer rating of 97.85.

Brees had the second most prolific season of any NFL quarteback in 2008 when he threw for 5,069 yards, a mere 15 yards shy of Dan Marino’s NFL record of 5,084 set in 1984.

Greatness for a quarteback however is not measures on pure statistics and accolades alone, great quartebacks are measured by how many Super Bowls they have won.

If you stop to think about it the quarterbacks that stand out in your mind are the ones who have won multiple Super Bowls — Joe Montana (SB XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV), Troy Aikman (SB XXVII, XXVIII), John Elway (SB XXXII, XXXIII).

There is no escaping it for an NFL quarterback, your legacy is and always will be tied to how many Super Bowls you’ve won.

Brees  has taken a franchise and turned it from the hapless Aints into the great Saints after guiding the team to it’s winningest season in franchise history (13-3) and first ever Super Bowl berth.

If he can win this Sunday against the Colts IN Super Bowl XLIV he will certainly become the greatest quarterback in Saints fracnshise history but more importanly a win would help solidify his case as one of the greats.

So heres hoping the 5′9, 5′10, 5″11, or six foot tall Brees finally get his dues and makes his mark on the NFL.

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Gatorade  has given whodatdish.com access to a sneak peal of their “The Final Journey” commercial to run before the Super Bowl this Sunday featuring the Saints.

Check it out below. WHO DAT!

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After 43 years as an NFL franchise the Saints have finally broke through and made their first ever Super Bowl appearance after beating the Minnesota Vikings in overtime to become the 2009 NFC Champions.

It sure is a great time to be a Saints fan!

The wins have not come without a price as the Saints defense, along with coordinator Gregg Williams, have now been labeled “dirty” for repeated blows on Brett Favre in the Championship game and Kurt Warner in the Divisional round.

Both quarterbacks suffered constant pressure and repeated blows that included vicious hits by DE Bobby McCray on both quarterbacks in both games, prompting fines over 20K for excessive roughness on McCray.

Warner has since retired from the NFL and Favre’s status is questionable that he will return for another season with the Minnesota Vikings.

Favre and his agent Bus Cook also released photos of Favre’s bruised leg and ankle in attempt to thwart the misconception that he could of run for several more yards to setup his kicker for the game winning field goal instead of throwing for it, which ended up an interception that returned the ball to the Saints.

The photos of Favre’s leg can be viewed at this link.

However you put it seems far fetched that anyone would attempt to label the Saints defense as “dirty” when all they are doing is playing fast, hard, aggressive football.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams sumed it up best by saying, “Unless your defense is feared, then it’s not really a legitimate defense,” said Williams. “And how that comes about is through contact, it comes about through speed, and it comes about through the fear of making a mistake against that type of defense.”.

Now the Saints have set their sights on Peyton Manning and winning Super Bowl XLIV, neither Williams or the Saints have made any secrets of what they plan to do and thats pressue Manning all game long.

On to the links:

• Where we always start, NOLA.com and the Times Picayune coverage of the Saints follow this link to view.
• I love to feature these Madden simulations even though it is already posted to NOLA.com: Madden 10: New Orleans Saints win Super Bowl XLIV with first half fireworks, late ball control.
• San Diego Union-Tribune: Brees found exaclty what he was lookin for in New Orleans.
• Reuters: Saints running ”Three-headed Monster” could be key.
• Eric Edholm of Pro Football Weekly gives his take on a key matchup: Saints DE Will Smith vs. Colts LT Charlie Johnson.
• Judy Battista of The New York Times takes a look at the Saints D: The Strip is the Saints’ not so secret weapon. 
• Indianapolis Star updates the status of Colts DE Dwight Freeney: Freeney misses practice yet again.
• Greg Stoda from the Palm Beach Post profiles Jeremy Shockey: Shockey sees Saints as career renewal.
• Gorilla in a Forth Worth Zoo chooses Saints over Colts (Video). linked here.
• ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli features the unusual diet habits of some of the Saints receivers: Healthy diet helps Saints wide receivers emerge.
• Davis Haugh of the Chicago Tribune tells the tale of RB Pierre Thomas: Saints Thomas primed for Super Bowl.
• Brett Martel of the Associated Press: No. 1 offense can lift Saints past the Colts.
• Nice piece from the Wall Street Journal that breaks down how much effort goes into an NFL season and Super Bowl berth: The time it takes to win it all.

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