As the last piece of tickertape settled at the end of an unforgettable night at Miami's Sun Life Stadium, one sound continued to resound through the stairwells and across the parking lots. It sounded suspiciously like booing and yet its message was quite the contrary. "Who Dat?"
The words belonged to 19th-century minstrel songs, and were later reprised in the jazz numbers that filled the French quarter in the Thirties. Exultant Saints supporters, not daring to believe that a city under water five years ago could ever reach a day like this, kept up the refrain almost until their lungs burst.
Drew Brees, the winning quarterback and all-American boy who has thrust himself to the heart of the city's relief efforts since Hurricane Katrina, put it best when he dedicated their first Super Bowl to "the entire Who Dat Nation."
Jonathan Vilma, the Saints linebacker, felt a more powerful sense of accomplishment than most. As a man of Haitian descent, he had the aftermath of not one natural catastrophe, but two, weighing on his mind in the mayhem of Sunday. Drained of emotion, he looked squarely into the camera and asked: "Who dat say gonna beat dem Saints?" The answer was no one, not this year.
To defy all predictions, the Saints outgunned the Indianapolis Colts 31-17. It seemed fitting, too, that cornerback Tracy Porter, as a Louisiana boy, produced the decisive fourth-quarter score when he jumped in front of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning's intended receiver, Reggie Wayne, before returning the interception 74 yards for the touchdown.
Expect Porter to assume a prominent role when the Saints ride their hometown floats today. Do not be surprised, either, if he and his team-mates are honoured with a tea party at the White House – President Obama is an avowed fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers but he, like all in attendance in Miami, remains acutely sensitive to the plight of New Orleans.
The plaudits will be bestowed mostly upon Brees, who eclipsed Manning, his far more celebrated contemporary, by completing all eight passes that gave the Saints their lead in the final quarter. It would be wrong to overlook, though, the inspiration of Sean Payton, the head coach whose calls galvanised his players to rally from 10-0 down. It was Payton, too, who took the gamble of ordering a short kick-off to start the second half, triggering a mêlée from which the Saints, somehow, emerged with the ball, before Brees picked out Pierre Thomas to score.
"Everybody in New Orleans gets a piece of this," Payton called out as he held aloft the Vince Lombardi Trophy, the first in Saints history. The moment completed an astonishing run by his team – they won three post-season games this year, having managed just two in their previous 42. It also signalled the emergence of Payton as a master tactician on the grandest stage, far removed from his struggle to carve out a living in Leicester in the late Eighties, in Britain's now-defunct Budweiser League.
Hollywood royalty were out in force to watch a story of Hollywood pathos unfold: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jamie Foxx and Adam Sandler were in the sky boxes, all apparently cheering for the Saints. They witnessed the thwarting of Manning, by common consent the finest quarterback of his generation, but this was not the narrative of the night.
The story lay in how the Saints managed to engineer a decisive second-half shift in momentum. Such was the threat of Manning, they needed the clear water of a seven-point margin before they dared dream. Jeremy Shockey's touchdown gave the opportunity, but Payton's boldness allowed it to be converted.
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The men's and women's shoe sells for $105 online through Thursday with 10% of the price of each pair sold going to Haitian relief effort Mercy Corps. Bush also designed a companion pair featuring the Saint's black and gold with the "Help Haiti" inscription.
"Partnering with Adidas and Mercy Corps to design this shoe is just one way to raise awareness, raise money and do my part to help the people of Haiti," Bush said.
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The Saints entered Super Bowl XLIV in Miami listed as 4.5-point underdogs but were able to defeat the Indianapolis Colts by a final of 31-17.
The two finalists combined for 48-points, which went Under the Total of 56.5.
New Orleans entered halftime down 10-6.
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The Jacksonville Jaguars' playoff chances were in their own hands just three weeks ago. Three disheartening losses later, the Jaguars need what amounts to a minor miracle to qualify for the postseason -- and winning their finale is suddenly far from a sure thing.
The Jaguars look to bounce back from a four-touchdown defeat and give themselves a glimmer of hope Sunday when they visit the resurgent Cleveland Browns, who try to close with their first four-game winning streak in more than 15 years.
Jacksonville (7-8) opened with consecutive losses and endured a 41-0 drubbing at Seattle three weeks later, but five wins in its next seven games left coach Jack Del Rio's team in the driver's seat for an AFC wild card berth thanks to a 6-2 conference record.
The Jaguars were in a precarious position after consecutive home losses to Miami and Indianapolis in early December, and after visiting New England last Sunday, now find themselves on the brink of elimination. The Patriots held a five-touchdown lead one play into the fourth quarter, and David Garrard's fourth-quarter run was the only scoring Jacksonville could muster in a 35-7 loss.
"Blew it," said running back Maurice Jones-Drew, who leads the AFC with 15 rushing touchdowns and needs one rushing or receiving to tie Fred Taylor's single-season record (17) set in 1998. "That's pretty much what it came down to. We didn't do what we needed to do to win games. It wasn't really what other teams did to us, we just beat ourselves."
Jacksonville isn't eliminated, but needs to beat the Browns (4-11) and have a bevy of other results go their way. Five teams are ahead of the Jaguars in the wild-card race, meaning they need at least four losses among games involving Baltimore, the New York Jets, Pittsburgh, Denver and Houston to get in.
"For all that to happen it would be crazy," said linebacker Daryl Smith, the team's leading tackler. "That's not our focus. Our focus is on getting a win at Cleveland. The opportunities were there. Three straight home games and we just let it slip away."
Beating the Browns seemed like the least of Jacksonville's concerns a few weeks ago, but it now looks like quite a challenge.
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After the Indianapolis Colts all but threw away their chance for an undefeated season -- creating a swirl of controversy in the process -- they have even less reason to play their starters in the regular-season finale.
Peyton Manning and the rest of the Colts' stars will almost certainly see an abbreviated afternoon of action in Sunday's postseason tuneup against the host Buffalo Bills.
Leading 15-10 in the third quarter against the visiting New York Jets last Sunday, the Colts were in good shape to improve to 15-0 and win their 24th straight regular-season game until coach Jim Caldwell replaced Manning with rookie quarterback Curtis Painter.
Wide receiver Reggie Wayne, tight end Dallas Clark and running back Joseph Addai were also removed, and Painter turned the ball over twice as the Jets surged to a 29-15 victory.
Team president Bill Polian had insisted all season that the Colts' lone goal is to win the Super Bowl, and with the top seed in the AFC already secured, they proved it by removing the three-time league MVP and his top weapons from harm's way.
"The perfect season was never an issue with us," Polian said. "We've said it time and time and time again. It's somebody else's issue, but not ours. That was of no concern. Football logic has to come into play, and that logic is it makes no sense to have guys out there with the potential for injuries."
The decision did not sit well with the team's fans, who booed as it became clear the Colts (14-1) would not become the first team to finish unbeaten since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
"Until any player in here is the head coach, you follow orders and you follow them with all of your heart," Manning said. "That's what we've done as players. We follow orders."
Besides earning critics, Caldwell's move also affected the AFC playoff race, giving the Jets the inside track on a wild-card berth following their victory. There won't be nearly as much controversy about Manning coming out early against the Bills, who are guaranteed to miss the playoffs for the 10th straight season.
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NFL Odds:
Line: Colts -3
Over/Under: 41.5
Jacksonville missed the post-season party last year and was labelled as one of the NFL’s biggest disappointments. When Sportsbook Online posted win totals and odds for the Jags to improve this season the projections were much more modest and the team has responded positively.
Following a 41-0 loss at Seattle in Week 6 the Jags have played their best football since 2007, going 5-3 SU and at least putting themselves in position to make a charge at one of two AFC Wild Card spots. The Jaguars will make the playoffs as a wild-card team if they beat the Colts, New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns in their final three games.
Okay, if the first two teams on that list suddenly made you cross the Jags off your playoff party invite list, consider that Indianapolis has one of the longest injury reports in the entire league right now. HC Jim Caldwell has publicly announced that he is treating this game just like any of the first 13 Indy has won this year, but keep in mind, the guy is a rookie. What else can he possibly say?
QB Peyton Manning and all of his receivers will take the field for the final Thursday night game of the year but there is no guarantee they will be out there for the full 60 minutes. On defense we can expect to see DE Dwight Freeney and LBs Clint Sessions and Gary Brackett along with safety Antoine Bethea for much of the first-half but Caldwell has been with the Colts through all of their success the past decade and knows that being healthy for a run to the Super Bowl is far more important than a perfect regular season record.
As for the Patriots and Browns, well, Jacksonville better concentrate on taking this one day at a time. The drama coming out of New England right now is already serving as a big enough distraction for Tom Brady and his crew.
The Jaguars need to be focused on cutting down the number of mental mistakes that were so common last week against the Dolphins because there is little margin for error available. Dropped passes and penalties are what cost the Tennessee Titans in Week 13 at Indy and even if Manning doesn’t plan to finish the game, it doesn’t take him long to capitalize on a mistake.
Jacksonville is the least penalized defense in the NFL and playing in their final home game of the season, which also happens to be their third straight at home, the opportunity for betting on the Jags to keep their playoff hopes alive still exists.
Sportsbook Online SPORTSBETTING.com is reporting balanced action on this game, with 56% of the volume on the road favorite Colts. This would be higher if the speculation wasn’t about a short game for some of the key Indy players. Hard to be on a team when you don’t know if Manning, Reggie Wayne, Joseph Addai, etc. will be on the bench in the 4th quarter.
The Over/Under has come down a point or two since opening at 43, as again, the sports betting public feel the Colts might rest key players. The betting trends show that all five Thursday Night Football games this season so far have stayed under the posted total.
I look at this game and like the home underdog. I think if they limit mistakes, they can stay close and have a great shot at the upset win. So I’m playing a unit on the Jaguars.
Good luck and enjoy the game.
If it’s beginning to feel like a tradition for Thanksgiving’s first game of the day to seem a little meaningless, as far as playing a part in shaping the playoff picture, it’s because the Lions have only come into this game with a winning record once in the past nine years.
Detroit did excite fans at Ford Field last Sunday with a 38-37 come from behind victory against the Cleveland Browns but QB Matt Stafford was injured on the game’s final drive and has been all but ruled out of this contest vs. Green Bay. Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said Stafford is in incredible pain and that Daunte Culpepper is going to be the starter.
The Packers lead this series 87-64-7 all-time and even when provided with a generous line from oddsmakers the Lions are 0-4 ATS in 2009 against divisional opponents.
Oakland Raiders vs. Dallas Cowboys
Midday action pits the Oakland Raiders (3-7) against the Dallas Cowboys (7-3) and while this game is viewed by many as a token trip to Jerry Land for a Raiders team that has set records for futility, the underdog has been the one getting the Online betting action in this one so far. Online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com reported that over 60% of the volume at -14 was on the Raiders. Since the line move to -13.5, the wagering activity has balanced off on both teams.
Originally sets as a two-TD favorite, Dallas has been bought off the key number down to -13.5 points at sportsbooks. After a Week 2 loss to the New York Giants the Cowboys played three games on home turf, posting a perfect 3-0 ATS record. When the Washington Redskins paid a visit in Week 11 the betting trends were on the road team and the Skins nearly won the game straight-up.
Dallas does not seem content to rest on the laurels of its one-point victory and during its three-game win streak at home the Cowboys did cover the spread by an average of more than 11 points per game. Oakland has gained confidence under the leadership of newly named starting QB Bruce Gradkowski and is playing off a 20-17 upset win over Cincinnati.
It’s the third time the Raiders have surprised an opponent this year, getting a straight up win. However, it is worth noting that after their first two wins they have not performed well in their next start, going 0-2 straight and up and against the spread and it wasn’t even close, as the Raiders were beaten by 20 and 38 points.
NY Giants at Denver:
The New York Giants (6-4) are in Denver (6-4) for the nightcap and just four days after ending a losing streak that lasted 42 days, the G-Men are laying points on the road. Lines opened at Giants -5 but New York seems like the consensus best bet as they have been bet as high as -7 at several betting outlets.
New York has scored an average of 26.6 points per game this year compared to the Broncos average of just 17, but the Giants also allow more than five points per game more than Denver on the defensive side of the ball.
Favs and dogs have split the first two Thursday night matchups this season and both games have stayed under the posted total. That’s a sharp contrast to 2008 when Thursday night primetime games produced six overs to just one under. The total in Denver is 42.
Enjoy all the Thanksgiving Day NFL action.
Making money with NFL Betting Odds means sometimes risking money on teams who appear to be “down on their luck” and the odds are stacked against them. This week in the NFL, Week 11, it looks like there will be at least six home underdogs, potentially seven, depending what number your online sportsbook puts up for San Diego at Denver…so there are plenty of opportunities to be a “dog” bettor this Sunday.
While overall, the numbers when betting home dogs this year show a subpar 20-24 ATS (against the spread) record, stats from the past seven weeks alone can be looked at in a different light. In Week 7, road favorites went 7-0 straight up and ATS, but from Week’s 4 through 10 (not including the seven wins from Week 7), road favorites were just 11-11 straight-up, covering the spread only seven out of 22 times.
So betting the home dog in that span produced a 15-7 ATS record (68.2-percent), but why is it still so hard to pull the trigger on a pup, even with home field advantage?
First of all, when a team is getting points at home it often means they are either A) Facing a far superior opponent or B) A bad team.
For these bad teams, playing at home can actually be a worse experience than playing in front of opposing crowds, as fans have become disgusted after a few months worth of terrible performances and can be unruly in their treatment of the home side.
Look at last week’s Monday Nighter between the Ravens and Browns. The only thing that quieted the disgruntled
Things haven’t gotten quite that bad yet for the Week 11 home dogs, so let’s look over the matchups and see if there is any value.
Home dogs for Week 11
**All lines are courtesy online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com
Chiefs +10: Star Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu missed four games earlier this year with a knee injury and the defense was not the same without him. It is all but certain he will miss this date. The Chiefs, despite their record, are actually starting to play better on both sides of the ball.
Ravens +1: The Indianapolis Colts may be unstoppable at home but on the road they are only 8-1 since Oct. 2008 (smile)…tough spot for this home dog…let’s move on.
Bucs +11: Before QB Josh Freeman took over the Bucs were averaging just 13.7 points per game. Since his arrival, they're putting up 30.5 ppg.
Rams +9:
Raiders +9.5: Loyal Oakland fans won’t bail out on their team (as tough as things are) and with QB Bruce Gradkowski starting the team is optimistic. Raiders are 2-1 ATS at home in past three non-divisional contests.
Bears +3: The Bears will need a magical home field advantage through the next six weeks to salvage this season. But for bettors, this line might continue to move up, giving some value playing on the home dog.
Good luck betting the games.
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Bill Belichick is famously unsentimental. That, really, is his legacy as a football coach. Herm Edwards shouted "You play to win the game!" but that was just fun talk. It is Belichick who has lived those words during his amazing career as a coach.He callously releases and trades beloved players if he thinks it will help the team win. He benches quarterbacks if he thinks it will help the team win. He videotapes the opposition sidelines if he thinks it will help the team win. He has players change position, he has no use for stars, he tears up the team's game plan week after week and replaces it with a new game plan, a specific game plan that, like the prizes on "The Dating Game," was chosen just for you.
This is what Belichick is all about: Winning football games without sentiment. Like Michael Corleone says in The Godfather, "It's business." If the Packers were about Vince Lombardi's pursuit of perfection, and the Steelers were about the Steel Curtain, and the 49ers were about the West Coast Offense ... the Patriots are about business. They are about Tom Brady, I suppose, but they won their first Super Bowl when he was still learning, and their second when they had the best defense in the NFL (and a middling offense). They are about good team defense, I suppose, but they haven't played truly great defense in a while. The truth is they're about winning games. Whatever that takes. It's business.
With that in mind, I fully understand Belichick's decision to go for it on 4th and 2 in Sunday's night's remarkable Patriots-Colts game. You already know the situation: The Patriots led by six, they were deep in their own territory -- the first down marker was at their own 30 -- and there were just a few ticks more than two minutes left.
The conventional choice there is to punt. In fact, "conventional choice" does not begin to describe it. It was the obvious choice. The incontestable choice. I suspect 31 other NFL coaches would have punted there without even thinking twice about it. I suspect that had Belichick decided to punt there, nobody -- not one interviewer, not one talk show host, not even one radio caller -- would have second-guessed him there (and anyone who would second-guess him there would have been mocked and told to learn about football). I simply cannot remember any team going for it in a similar situation. You punt the ball and make Peyton Manning and the Colts go 70 yards to try to score the game-winning touchdown. It's as obvious as bringing Mariano Rivera in the game in the 9th. Read More at Sports Gambling Blog
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Gambling Online - It’s always easy to evaluate a decision based on its results. Sunday’s NFL action gave us two prime examples of what are now being called a good decision and a bad decision based mostly on their results.The Indianapolis Colts’ come-from-behind 35–34 victory over the New England Patriots in Indianapolis will be remembered for Bill Belichick’s decision to go for it on 4th-and-2 from his own 28-yard line with 2:08 left in the game with his Pats up 34–28.
The New England Patriots head coach made a controversial decision. The other choice would have been to punt the ball away to the Colts and make Peyton Manning run the typical two-minute drill.
Instead, Belichick weighed the balance of probabilities and felt that offense was his best form of defense. He is a Hall of Fame coach with a Hall of Fame QB (Tom Brady) and he has to gain two yards to win the game. He liked that choice over having his above average defense take on the league’s best at the two-minute drill.
“Thought it was our best chance to win,” said Belichick in his Monday morning press conference. “I put the team first. I would hope everybody understands that.”
Belichick did put the team first but, reading between the lines, he did not have enough confidence in his defense’s ability to get the job done.
“You have to give your defense a chance to play defense,” said ESPN football analyst Tom Jackson. Conventional wisdom would say that you have to trust your defense has to come up big when called upon.
On the play, Tom Brady threw a short pass to Kevin Faulk, who bobbled the ball but eventually caught it. But he was stopped short of the first down. Football is a game of inches. Because of that bobble, Faulk was ruled to only have possession of the ball after he had been stopped short of the first down.
Peyton Manning and the Colts got the ball back on the New England 29-yard line with two minutes to play. That’s an easy two-minute drill for the master that is Peyton Manning.
Belichick was slammed for his decision to not punt the ball and make Manning go the length of the field. But Manning is not some ordinary QB. He forced Belichick to do something unconventional. How would we have reacted had Faulk not bobbled the ball and made the first down? It’s not hard to see how Belichick would have been credited with yet another brilliant coaching decision.
Taking a Knee
Sports Gambling - A decision that is widely being labeled as being smart took place near the end of the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New York Jets.
But it very easily could have gone all wrong.
Jags running back Maurice Jones-Drew could have scored the go-ahead touchdown with his team trailing 22–21 late in the fourth quarter. Instead, the running back was instructed not to score the TD so that the Jags could run some more time off the clock before kicking the game-winning field goal.
All went according to plan for the Jags, as Jones-Drew took a knee at the Jets’ 1-yard line. Three plays later, Josh Scobee kicked a 21-yard field goal to give the Jags a 24–22 win on the last play of the game.
But, suppose there was a bad snap on the field goal attempt. Suppose the field goal was blocked. Suppose the Jags fumbled on one of the plays following Jones-Drew’s run. Then, in all likelihood, the Jags would have lost.
What if Jones-Drew had scored the TD? The Jags would be up 28–22 and rookie QB Mark Sanchez and the mediocre Jets’ offense would be forced to run the two-minute drill. If you’re a Jaguar, you probably like your chances in this scenario.
A strong case could be made for Jones-Drew scoring the TD. But because the desired result was achieved with Jones-Drew taking a knee, the Jacksonville coaching staff and Jones-Drew’s decision is being lauded as good.
