Major Super Bowl Preview Part 3

Major Super Bowl Preview - Part III

(Editor’s note: This is Part III of Carter “The Power” Bryant’s Major Super Bowl Preview. Part I & II can be read on www.klsu.fm.)

The term “Team of Destiny” is being used abundantly to describe the 2009-10 New Orleans Saints.

But it’s for good reason, because the Saints really are a “Team of Destiny.” And I ‘m not talking about the “underdog”, “four years after Hurricane Katrina” and “never been to a Super Bowl” voodoo magic everyone already knows about.

There have actually been two happenings since the NFL Championship weekend that signifies the Saints winning Super Bowl XLIV.

The first involves uniform color.

For the past five years, the team wearing white as won the Super Bowl.

It may not seem important, but the Indianapolis Colts chose which jerseys the teams will wear Sunday because they had a better regular season record than the Saints.

The Colts selected to wear their home uniforms, which are their blue jerseys.

The Colts were in the Saints position in Super Bowl XLI when the Chicago Bears elected to wear their navy uniforms. The result was Colts quarterback Peyton Manning getting the “monkey of his back” with a 29-17 victory.

The Saints have also won all of their games this season when they wore white jerseys except in the Week 17 loss versus the Panthers. But starting quarterback Drew Brees and many other Saints starters rested the game to get healthy for the playoffs.

This isn’t good for a Colts team that is playing a “Team of Destiny.”

The second happening involves virtual reality.

Video game phenomenon “Madden NFL” has correctly picked five of the last six Super Bowl winners in their yearly game simulation.

The game it missed was the New York Giants defeating the New England Patriots two years ago in one of the most significant upsets in Super Bowl history.

In this year’s animated battle, the game ended with the Saints defeating the Colts 35-31 with Drew Brees taking home the MVP honors.

This isn’t good for a Colts team that is playing a “Team of Destiny.”

The only piece of magic I found in the Colts favor involves the city of New Orleans. This is because it involves NOLA native Peyton Manning.

Before this season began, Manning was notorious for being a superb regular season quarterback but mediocre playoff performer. Like I mentioned in Part II, Manning’s Super Bowl run wasn’t too spectacular.

But players as good as Manning eventually figure things out because of repetition. And I knew before this season began he would eventually put up massive playoff statistics because his playoff career is similar to two-time Super Bowl champion John Elway.

Manning coming into this postseason was a career 7-8 in the playoffs. Elway was a career 7-8 before his Super Bowl runs.

I know those records just happen to be the same, but in actuality they were both at the same points their careers. Look at their statistics at this point in time. (Remember, the Denver Broncos ran the football more than the Colts.)

J. Elway - 3547 Yds, 21 TD’s and 18 Int’s

P. Manning - 4208 Yds, 22 TD’s and 17 Int’s

Also, both players had one shining moment in playoffs after their first 15 playoff games. Peyton’s was his first championship and Elway’s was this.

But still, it’s not really close in a destiny contest. The Saints have everything falling in their favor. Just look at hobbled Colts stars Reggie Wayne and Dwight Freeney.

And to add fuel to the fire for the Colts, I am predicting Manning to win his second Super Bowl title in a 24-20 slugfest. I am 4-6 picking playoff games this season.

This isn’t good for a Colts team that is playing a “Team of Destiny.”