I went to the craziest "Undercover Boss" party yesterday...

  • I picked the Saints because they were a live underdog and I knew Sean Payton would roll the dice.  He and his staff made three calculated gambles that led to a Super Bowl win.
  • Gamble #1: He went for it on 4th and Goal trailing 10-3 with under two minutes to play in the 2nd quarter.  On the surface, the decision did not pay off, but it actually worked to perfection.  If Pierre Thomas scores, the Saints are knotted at 10.  If they kick a field goal, it's 10-6 Colts plus Indy gets the ball back after a kickoff with timeouts and Peyton Manning, which is exactly how the AFC Championship game turned around.  As for the calculated risk, by going for it and not getting it, Sean Payton guessed that the Colts would sit on the football and their lead, backed up in their own end.  The Saints forced a three and out and got their field goal anyway without the Colts having the time or the field position to answer.
  • Gamble #2: The on-side kick was a game-changer.  The ensuing dogpile was the moment of the Super Bowl as the entire stadium and the viewing public begged for the ball.  The Saints were not going to wait for openings to get back in the game.  They created them.
  • Gamble #3: DC Gregg Williams played 5 or 6 men in the box all night.  New Orleans dared the Colts to run and Indy responded to great effect (5.2 yards per carry).  The Saints defensive staff bet that the Colts would not be willing to totally overhaul their pass-happy offensive identity and commit to winning the game with someone other than Peyton Manning as the star.  Like a basketball player who always wants to come back to his dominant hand, the Saints shaded the Colts one way and eventually forced the turnover that put them over the top.  On the telling drive that ended with Tracy Porter's sprint to glory, the Colts passed seven times without a single run. 
  • While I picked the Saints, I take little glory in getting a 50-50 call right.  However, how about my Garrett Hartley as the surprise hero call?!  In a playoff season characterized by choking kickers, this kid drilled three 40+ yarders in the Super Bowl like it was his job.  
  • Speaking of choking kickers, eight of the eleven losing playoff performances featured at least one missed field goal, including Matt Stover's 51-yard momentum shifter in the Super Bowl. 
  • And now my favorite stat...turnover margin.  The Saints went a big +1 in the big game, but I call it a +3 with the missed FG and the on-side kick.  The Colts had only eight possessions in the entire game (12 is typical).
  • If you read my preview, my head picked the Colts, but the intangibles swayed me to the Saints.  Coaching, special teams and sports karma were the deciding factors in my choice and as it turned out...the game.
  • Yes, Peyton Manning is still the greatest quarterback of all-time.  If you want to overreact to one timing pattern gone wrong thanks to a well-timed blitz (unless your Phil Simms, who had just finished saying how the Saints should not blitz), be my guest.  I'm not going there.  His 9-9 playoff record is the closest thing to a black mark on his career resume, but it does not do enough to sway me in someone else's favor.
  • For the most "overrated player on the planet", Reggie Bush has helped win a lot of games in his career.  63 yards from scrimmage on 9 touches ain't bad.  How many guys own BCS Championship rings and Super Bowl rings?  How many guys did it in the same stadium?  How many guys have done it with a Kardashian?  Let's just say the answer to the third question is far greater than the first two.
  • Can we take a moment to thank referee Scott Green?  His crew threw just eight flags, which led to the fastest moving Super Bowl that I can remember in years.
  • Lil' Jalen took the commercial cake.  "Keep your hands off my momma and keep your hands off my Doritos."
  • What does it say about our country that the only company that can afford Super Bowl advertising makes a chip covered in nacho cheese dust? 
  • Also, did you notice the commercials came in pairs this year?  There were back-to-back pantsless commercials, back-to-back slapping people in the face jokes, two hot chicks in a bathtub spots, two women getting tackled ads, etc..  The advertising industry may want to protect their ideas a little better next year.  The movie industry has the same problem (Dante's Peak and Volcano, Deep Impact and Armageddon, etc.).  
  • I get that the world will never be the same after seeing a pasty on Janet Jackson's boob, so now we all have to listen to classic rock until the end of time.  With that conceded, do we have to pull the performers out of an old-age home?  When you have to take a pee break in a three-song set list, you're too old to rock my television.  How about knocking it down a generation or two with next year's performance?
  • Cris Carter is 3rd all-time in catches and 4th all-time in touchdown catches.  How can the Hall of Fame voters overcomplicate it so badly that Carter misses out on his first two tries at Canton?  They make Congress look straightforward.
  • Throw-away Super Bowl prediction for 2011: Packers over Steelers.