From Aints to Saints

Saints make history - In a game that live up to all expectations by giving us a spectacular overtime extravaganza, one team was sent home as the other punched their ticket to Superbowl XLIV. The 31-28 victory over the Minnesota Vikings was the first ever win for the New Orleans Saints in an NFC Conference Championship, resulting in the team's first Superbowl appearance in franchise history. However, the final score only tells a fraction of the story. By looking at the box score and the way the Vikings dominated almost every statistical category possible, you would think Minnesota would have came out on top before viewing the final score. But a number of costly turnovers late in the game would prove to be just that -- costly.

Saints Quarterback Drew Brees didn't have his typical game by throwing for some absurd amount of yards, but he did manage to throw 3 touchdowns, despite being held under 200 yards. The Pro-Bowl QB who has been replaced in this year's All-Star game, finished the day with 197 yards on 17 of 31 passing attempts. Brett Favre on the other hand, had the big day between the two in the passing game. The future Hall of Famer threw for 1 touchdown and 310 yards on 28 of 46 passing attempts. But Favre's biggest throw of the the game, would be his last. Deep in Saints territory with 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and a chance to win the game in regulation, Favre threw a questionable pass across his body in traffic intended for WR Sidney Rice. Instead, the pass was picked off by Saints CB Tracy Porter, preventing the Vikings to possibly kick the game winning field goal and book a trip to Miami.

Although Favre clearly made a mistake, it was the Vikings coaching staff who deserves to be blamed. On the play prior to the interception, Minnesota was penalized 5 yards for having too many men on the field(12), knocking them out of field goal range. Also worth mentioning was the play calling. The final Vikings play that Favre threw an interception on should have been a run, as the team still had a timeout left. & It didn't help that Favre's injured left leg kept him from running for a few yards either. Regardless, the pick then led to overtime, where the Saints won the toss and the rest is history. On the Saints' first possession of overtime, kicker Garrett Hartley nailed a 40-yard field goal to send the team to Miami. Even though the Saints won fair and square, this was the type of game that you wish had the college overtime rules instead of sudden death, given you knew whichever team won the coin toss was going to win the game. And sure enough, that's what happened.

Fans that were at one point hiding their faces with paper bags, now have all the reason in the world to feel nothing short of proud as they can finally embrace their team as winners. The coaches and players however, will tell you they haven't accomplished anything until they win the Superbowl. With a little bit of help from their noisy fan base, the Saints won their first ever NFC tittle in front of a loud crowd of 71,276 screaming fans, marking the largest crowd ever in the Superdome for a Saints game. With that being said, WHO DAT? WHO DAT? WHO DAT SAY DEY GONNA BEAT DEM SAINTS?!?!?

Noteworthy - Despite the numerous fumbles, Vikings RB Adrian Peterson ran for 122 yards and 3 touchdowns alone, as the Saints' duo of Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush ran for a combined 69 yards with only 1 touchdown to show for. Sunday's game hosted 6 fumbles and a total of 6 turnovers (Minnesota-5, New Orleans-1), including 2 inside the red zone. Turnovers proved to be the key factor in the downfall of the Vikings and the glory of the Saints.