Superbowl XLIV

While not Buffalo related, the Super bowl is a holiday for fans of football all over and this week's match-up between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts should be truly special.

New Orleans:
The year is 2006, Sean Payton was just hired as the head coach of the struggling New Orleans Saints (struggling is an understatement, their 2005 record was 3-13) and needs to make some changes. What does he do?

He convinces his front office to put forward the money to out-bid the San Diego Chargers for the four year veteran Drew Brees, a free agent signing that very well may have been the best of the decade.

With the New Orleans Saints, Brees set NFL records for most completions in a season with 400 in 2007, highest completion percentage with 70.62% in 2009, and came 15 yards short for tieing Dan Marino's record for the most passing yards in one season (Brees had 5069, Marino's record is 5084) in 2008.

Brees also holds 21 franchise records.

Bringing in Brees wasn't the only brilliant move Payton made that off-season however, in the 2006 NFL draft Sean Payton selected vital role player Reggie Bush, their current starting strong safety Roman Harper, a rotational defensive end Jahari Evans, and Marques Colston who, for a seventh round pick, may very well have been the best pick of the draft.

Fast forward to the 2008 off-season. Sean Payton is now known as an elite offensive mind throughout the NFL and the Saints are once again (actually I shouldn't say once again, they've never really been) a respected franchise.

Under Payton they've made the playoffs but they're still missing something. In 2008 the Saints passing defense finished 23rd and was clearly their Achilles heel. So now what does Payton do?

He goes out and signs Free Safety Darren Sharper from the Minnesota Vikings, brings in Cornerback Jabari Greer, and uses their top draft pick on the top cornerback prospect in the draft Malcom Jenkins.

All they did was combine for 12 interceptions (9 of them coming from Sharper who was tied for the league lead and was a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year) and lift the Saints to the elite level that their franchise has never really been on.

Payton has been phenomenal for the New Orleans Saints and certainly helped in the healing from Hurricane Katrina.

Indianapolis Colts:
Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell didn't exactly have it as difficult as Sean Payton.

Inheriting a team that Tony Dungy generously left him with 7 pro-bowlers, Caldwell made the wise decision of sitting back and not trying to make any radical changes. In letting quarterback Peyton Manning and offensive coordinator Tom Moore do their thing, Caldwell showed he's a firm believer in the philosophy of, "If it's not broke don't fix it," .

Obviously it now appears Caldwell's decision to keep things as they were was the smart thing to do.

The Colts this year went 16-0 (including playoffs) in games where their starters played for the entire duration of the game. Peyton Manning had arguably his best season and won his NFL record 4th Most Valuable Player award.

The one change Caldwell did actually make was bringing in defensive coordinator Larry Coyer. Coyer's more aggressive play-calling didn't yield much better results statistically, but if you were to ask offensive coordinators and head coaches around the league they would tell you they much preferred playing against Dungy's conservative Tampa 2 scheme.

So who's going to bring home the Lombardi Trophy?
Going into the Super Bowl, the Saints are currently a 5.5 point underdog. Despite the somewhat wide margin, don't let it fool you into thinking we won't have our third consecutive thrilling Super Bowl.

Both participating offenses are phenomenal and this game could easily turn into a shootout won by whichever team makes the big turnover or simply has the ball at the end of the game.

At the same time however, both teams have had two full weeks to prepare for the other. Preparation has to do entirely with coaching and it's clear that the Saints have a better head coach than that of Indianapolis. With 14 days at their disposal, who knows what Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Greg Williams have cooked up for Payton Manning and that methodical offense.

Ultimately, I feel like the New Orleans, "Who Dat," nation will be too much for the Colts to overcome. The game will virtually be a Saints home game as, since Katrina, the nation has shown love to New Orleans and it wouldn't matter where the game is set at, the crowd would be pro-Saints.

I see Sean Payton and Drew Brees hoisting their first Lombardi Trophy above their head in a 35-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.