Super Bowl Picks

The most bittersweet day of the year for football fans is here. The excitement for the biggest game of the year is tempered by the fact that there is no more NFL football after tonight, until August.

So let's get right to it.

New Orleans (+5) at Indianapolis
Over/Under - 56.5

Gabe: I have gone back and forth on this pick for two weeks. At first I thought Colts all the way. Peyton Manning is the best in the league at diagnosing defenses on the fly and countering. Also, he has two weeks to prepare for a New Orleans defense that is ranked in the mid-20's in the NFL. He has already dismantled the no. 1 and no. 3 defenses in the playoffs on the way to the Super Bowl.

BUT........

The Saints have all of the motivation in the world to win this game. On top of Katrina and helping rebuild their city and everything that comes with that, all they have heard for two weeks is how Peyton Manning is going to do his thing and smoke them. They have had to hear that they are a nice story but just won't get it done on the field. Well, when the Colts defense takes the field in this playoff game, it won't be journeyman Joe Flacco or rookie Mark Sanchez under center, it will be Drew "Motha' Fuckin'" Brees. The Saints aren't going to try to keep this game in the high teens or low twenties, scoring-wise. They are going to come out and want to run with the Colts, and if there is any team in the league that can run with the Colts, it's the Saints. The Saints offense is going to be able to match the Colts and I think the Saints defense will pressure Manning and his receivers. When the Colts receivers catch the ball they better wrap it up, because the Saints defenders will be looking for the strip, constantly, and it only takes one lost fumble after a fifty yard gain to change the momentum of a game.

Here's my prediction in a nutshell...I think the Saints, led by Drew Breeeeees!, get the outright win, with a field goal at the end of the game or in overtime, by a score of 31-28. So my official pick is the Saints (+5) and the over.

Dave: Colts(Under) - The Saints offense, while still potent, hasn't been the fast break, explosive, '99 Rams reincarnation that they looked like early in the season. That could be attributed to the fact the running game never took off to make the defenses lay off the Brees' air attack.

Plus, and this may get me in some trouble, I'm quite frankly annoyed by all of these out-of-towners suddenly jumping on the Katrina bandwagon. Hurricane Katrina was 5 years ago. If you were going to use Katrina as a reason to support the Saints(or New Orleans, in general), 2005 would have been a nice start. This sudden idea that the Saints are America's Team because they bounced back from a national tragedy to make the Super Bowl(Nevermind the fact that they were in the NFC Championship in '05. But hey, I guess if you've only been a Saints fan for three weeks, you don't remember that) is downright ridiculous. Plus, while thousands losing their lives in New Orleans is terrible and we all have a sentimental reason to back the city of New Orleans, keep in mind that this city also brought us Lil Wayne(without question, the most overrated rapper in the genre's history) and Harry Connick Jr.(I really don't have a reasoning beyond the fact that he's Harry Connick Jr and he once did a guest spot on "Friends", which is only the worst show to ever come across TV sets EVER....and that includes "The Mike O'Malley Show" and "Homeboys In Outer Space"). So if there's a reason why I'm turning my nose up at the Saints, it's because I've spent the last two weeks watching rich white women yell "Go Saints!" when they couldn't tell the difference between Drew Brees and Drew Carey.

Now, as for the Colts, they are a well-oiled machine. They've also been here before. You don't have to worry about coach Jim Caldwell getting the big game jitters because a. he has about as much emotion as Joe Buck and b. The Caldwell/Manning combo is like the Uncle Junior/Tony Soprano combo in "The Sopranos"(which IS the greatest show to ever come across TV sets....and I'm including "The Wire" and "Jersey Shore"). In other words, one man holds the title of being the boss(Caldwell playing the Uncle Junior role), while everyone knows the young prodigy is really running things(Peyton being Tony Soprano). Manning's the closest thing to a player-coach in the NFL, which is great because Caldwell's expression on the sidelines makes me wonder if he's asleep at the wheel like Kanye West. The Colts have proven that no deficit is too big for them to come back from and Peyton Manning is now the quintessential QB you can never count out. The Saints defense is swiss-cheese, with its only saving grace being free safety Darren Sharper(whom, if you read our Prop Bet piece, I have taking at least one Manning INT to the house). The Colts have something that mildly resembles a running game, while the Saints have Rashard Mendenhall's caddy at Illinois(Pierre Thomas) and the man mopping up Ray J's sloppy seconds(Reggie Bush).

Reggie Bush has been so ineffective after all the hype coming out of USC, that he's probably one crap season away from joining the cast of "Keeping Up With The Kardashians". Bush is obviously the X-Factor(as is injured pass rusher Dwight Freeney). If Bush shows signs of a pulse, the Saints have a chance for an upset, but if the Saints can't establish the run early and keep the D honest, then we're looking at a shootout. And in a shootout, Peyton Manning is Neo, and Drew Brees is Agent Smith.

So, with this being our final pick of the season, here's my final score: Colts 28, Saints 17.

Your Super Bowl MVP: Pierre Garcon(because he's reppin' Haiti....and that's not so 5 years ago.)


Thank you, and good night!