Here’s hoping that New Orleans makes it out of this one.
For a city that survived the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, it might not be able to make it through its greatest moment since. The New Orleans Saints, eternal scrubs of the National Football League and the loveable losers of the Big Easy, are Super Bowl champions for the first time in history with a 31-17 victory over the favored Indianapolis Colts.
Bourbon Street, already getting greased up for Mardi Gras, just a got a reason to extend the celebration for another year or so.
“Mardi Gras may never end,” said Drew Brees, the Saints’ Austin-born quarterback who completed 32 of 39 passes for 288 yards and two scores. “The celebration will never end.”
Other than giving the city an excuse to endlessly party, the game was one of those all-too-rare moments in sports where the outcome transcends the final score. In most instances, the Super Bowl is just a chance for the diehard football fan to mingle over chips and dip with the commercial lover.
This time, it meant something more.
No city has held quite the same relationship with a team that New Orleans shares with the Saints. While Red Sox and Yankee fans would beg to differ, they’ve got plenty of other teams to compete with for attention in Boston and New York. The Saints are the only show in town other than the still-new Hornets of the NBA.
The Saints were forced to relocate to San Antonio after Katrina, and there was plenty of speculation that they would stay there. Instead, they returned and began turning their home — the Louisiana Superdome — from a shelter back into a football stadium.
More than four years later, the Saints were back. More than back, actually, considering they had never even sniffed a Super Bowl appearance.
“Louisiana by the way of New Orleans is back,” Saints owner Tom Benson said. “It’s back.”
And they earned it the hard way.
The Saints didn’t just have their daunting history of mediocrity to battle; they had arguably the greatest quarterback in NFL history leading the opposing team. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was trying to solidify his legacy by winning his second Super Bowl, this time against the franchise that he grew up idolizing.
Manning still put up typical numbers (333 yards, one touchdown, just 14 incompletions), but the Saints beat the Colts in one key category: resiliency.
Down 10 at halftime with the Colts slated to get the ball, New Orleans recovered an onside kick in maybe the gutsiest move in Super Bowl history. Later, with the Colts down just seven and driving, cornerback Tracy Porter intercepted a Manning pass 74 yards for the clinching score with 3:12 left.
The two plays were just the latest example of what New Orleans does best: surviving. Now the Saints and their city have the hardware to prove it.
“Everyone in New Orleans gets a piece of this trophy,” Saints coach Sean Payton said.
“What can I say? I tried to imagine what this moment would be like for a long time, and it’s better than expected,” said Brees, who was named MVP.
Once all the dust settles in New Orleans, maybe they’ll have a chance to do it again. For now, let’s all enjoy this moment.
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