Saints and Colts Move on to the Championships

Mad Louisiana Superdome, two teams enter, one team moves on. The New Orleans Saints move on in the playoffs after dismantling the Arizona Cardinals both offensively and defensively. Ater Hightower took the first play of the first series 70 yds for a touchdown, the Saints answered with a touchdown of their own, and there was no looking back. The Cardinals were looking at the backs of the Saints runners and receivers as they crossed the goal line. The final score was Saints over the Cardinals 45-14.

Where do you begin with the Saints. It was a full team effort. No one player stood out statistically. If you were to pick out the player of the game, it would be Reggie Bush. Bush put out an outstanding rushing effort with 84 yds on 5 carries and a touchdown, but it was his 83 yd punt return for a touchdown that made him the standout player of the game. Drew Brees did not rack up the yardage as he usually does in the passing department, but he was very efficient with the 247 yds he spread around the field to his various receivers. Colston, Henderson, and Shockey were all recipients of Brees passes for touchdowns.

The Saints defense shut down the could-have-been potent Cardinal offense as they harassed Kurt Warner and  stifled the running game after the Hightower run. The defense only had one sack and three quarterback hits, but with superb pass coverage, they disrupted Warner and his receivers enough to keep them off balance.

Indianapolis defeated Baltimore 20-3 in the night game. There were no real individual standouts in this game. Peyton Manning had 246 yards on 30 completions out of 44 attempts and two touchdowns. Manning spread his passes among seven different receivers. Joseph Addai had only 23 yds on 11 carries. Wayne and Collie each had a touchdown off Peyton passes. A fairly decent effort for the Colt offense.

The Colts defense kept the Ravens offense in check. Joe Flacco had only 189 yds on 23 completions and was picked off two times by the Colts secondary. Ray Rice had 67 yds on 13 carries and 60 yds on 9 receptions, but was unable to cross the goal line. The Colts defense shut out the Ravens in two red zone attempts and went away with one field goal for their efforts.

Saints and Colts move on to the next level in the Playoffs and it looks like the road to the Superbowl is running through New Orleans and Indianapolis at this point. We will see what happens today in the Dallas at Minnesota and NY Jets at San Diego games. I am not yet fully convinced Dallas has what it takes to get past the Vikings and San Diego has to get over the mountain of falling short in the Playoffs after they beat the Jets, who have not matured enough for this level of play

Picture: No doubt that Reggie Wayne crossed the plain of the goal line.