Porter Writes History, New Orleans Saints Win Super Bowl

NFL News - February 8th, 2010 - Written by John

It was supposed to be the drive that cemented the legend of Peyton Manning. The one that showed the world that he was, in fact, unstoppable when determined. The one that sealed his place in history as the greatest NFL quarterback of all-time.

History was made alright. But Manning would prefer to forget it.

With the Indianapolis Colts driving late in the fourth quarter, down only seven and pushing deep into Saints' territory, Terry Porter stepped in front of Manning's pass to Reggie Wayne and took it 74 glorious yards to the house. This time, owner Tom Benson could celebrate without err.

In about four seconds, the history of the New Orleans Saints was rewritten as Porter glided into the end zone to secure the franchise's first Super Bowl ever.

Drew Brees threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns as the Saints beat Manning Fever, 31-17, on Sunday night.

"We play for so much more than ourselves," Brees said. "We played for our city. We played for the entire Gulf Coast region. We played for the entire Who Dat nation that has been behind us every step of the way."

Porter, who got a haircut the day before with a picture of the Lombardi Trophy, the Super Dome and "SB44" etched in, may not have gotten the MVP (that would be Brees). But his touchdown will go down as one of the biggest plays in franchise history after outsmarting the quarterback that always seemed to be one step ahead of the big boys.

Every question Manning fielded about the pick afterwards was met with, "He made a great play. Porter made a heck of a play." He maintained he would say nothing more.

Nothing more was needed.

Manning came into the game as the odds-on favorite to win MVP after racing through the regular season and easily advancing as the AFC Champion, and was nearly error-free through the game's first 55 minutes. But he was undone by the kind of film study that made him enviable for much of his career, said Porter.

"In film study, I’d seen that play over and over," Porter said. "Third down, that was a big route for them to convert upon. Through the numerous amounts of film study that we’ve done all week in preparing for the Super Bowl, when that route came, it was just like I was watching it on film. I made the break and here comes the end zone."

But the other Saints certainly did their part in getting Porter to that stage. After the Colts opened the game on a 10-0 run, Brees managed to put together two field goal drives before halftime. Down four, head coach Sean Payton decided it was time to roll the dice and told his team inside the locker room that he was calling an on-side kick the start the third quarter.

Thomas Morestead delivered a crisp roller and Chris Reis pounced on it, erupting the New Orleans bench. Six plays into the ensuing drive, Brees hit running back Pierre Thomas with a screen pass that ended in a 16-yard touchdown to give the Saints their first lead of the game.

"We were really excited when he made the call," Jonathan Casillas said about Payton's call. "That changed everything."

"We're going to be aggressive," Payton said. "We'd seen the onside kick all week and guys executed it well. It turned out to be a big change of possession."

Indianapolis had an answer on the very next drive when Joseph Addai plunged into the end zone from four yards out to make it a 17-13 game.

But New Orleans bit down, and kept the Colts off the scoreboard the rest of the game, scoring 18 unanswered, including Lance Moore's acrobatic two-point conversion reception that made it a seven-point game.

That's when Manning began his would-be epic drive that almost always ends with a touchdown Indianapolis' way. He got all the way down to the 26, but a short crossing route that would have gained a first-down was foiled by Porter's instincts, all but ending the game right there.

“I knew it was game, set, match," said safety Darren Sharper. "Even though they had a few minutes left.”

Manning finished with 333 yards, well over his over/under NFL Betting line given by Bodog, and had a touchdown. Dallas Clark led all receivers with seven catches and 86 yards, and Addai's 77 rushing yards was a game-high.