For the Saints to be in the Super Bowl was amazing in itself and something to celebrate. They had won just two playoff matches in 42 years. Now with a Super Bowl win they have won three in a season. Today the Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.

The key play came at the start of the second half when the Saints coach called for an onside kickoff. At the time the Saints were down 10-6. The Colts had opened the match with a 10-0 first quarter. Once the Saints recovered the onside kick it was all Saints.

The plays that followed saw Pierre Thomas complete the drive with a touchdown. He caught the ball near the 20 yard line and cut left and then with another big step he was over.

With the game still on the line the Saints grabbed an intercept to give themselves a 31-17 lead with a couple of minutes to play. The Colts had the ball over the line with around a minute to go but the receiver did not take a pass that he should have. From there it was game over.

Drew Brees took the MVP after matching the record for completions in a Super Bowl with 32 to match Tom Brady.

Mardi Gras is on in under two weeks, New Orleans now has something bigger to celebrate…

The Saints hit back just over three minutes later when Drew Brees found Pierre Thomas off a screen pass for a 38-yard TD. Thomas caught the ball near the 40-yard line and still had plenty of work to do. He cut outside and evaded several defenders before stepping inside to make the Vikings tacklers look foolish.

The Vikings were not going to let the Thomas TD get them down, they came back with a TD when Brett Favre found Sidney Rice for a 5-yard touchdown. Rice had run straight then stepped left to receive the Favre pass as four Saints players watched from close range. The TD came with 2:11 to play in the first quarter and took the Vikings out to a 14-7 lead.

In a see-sawing match the Saints then followed up with two TD’s to take the score to 21-14. First Drew Brees connected with Devery Henderson for a 9-yard TD pass to tie, then Thomas ran in a second TD, this time for close range to complete a 9-yard play.

The Henderson TD saw him cut outside once he was in the end zone to give him space, Brees had plenty of time to eventually throw the pass which led to the TD.

Thomas got his second TD after running straight up the centre of the Vikings defense. He was tackled just short of the line but was able to reach out to break the line for a TD.

Just to keep things exciting the Vikings got the scores back on level terms when Peterson also scored his second TD. He crashed over to complete a 1-yard play.

Now what would happen? Would one team finally be able to break away and take their place in Super Bowl XLIV? The answer was no. First the Saints scored through a 5-yard Reggie Bush reception then the Vikings levelled at 28 apiece when Peterson went in for TD no. 3.  That’s how the game ended after regular time.

The Saints won the toss and received the ball in OT. From the kickoff they made good ground and then steadily worked the ball towards the Vikings goalline. A few penalties along the way helped the cause.

The refs made a tough call for pass interference on a ball that appeared to be uncatchable against Ben Leber, it was tough as Thomas and Leber’s feet got tangled up. Leber hit back on the next play to force Bush back for a five-yard loss, then came a Brees pass to Meachem for 12-yards that saw the ball spotted on the Minnesota 22-yard line.

Then came the inevitable Garrett Hartley field goal from 40-yards to give the Saints a 31-28 win and a ticket to the Super Bowl.

In the end it was the six fumbles and two interceptions that did not help the Vikings prevent the Saints from reaching their first Super Bowl.

The turnaround came as Peyton Manning found Austin Collie in the end zone for a 16-yard TD just over a minute out from halftime. It was poor coverage from the Jets that allowed Collie to take the touchdown pass. A perfect pass when Manning went long for a 46-yard play to Collie a couple of plays earlier had setup the TD.

The Jets had established there first half lead thanks to two great passes from QB Mark Sanchez. The first came early in the second quarter when from the Jets 20-yard line Sanchez found Braylon Edwards wide open. Edwards had run a nice in and out fake to shake his defender and a pump fake from Sanchez gave him a crucial second to get the pass away from 15-yards. After Edwards caught the pass he accelerated to complete an 80-yard play. The extra point saw the Jets up 7-3.

The Jets second TD came when Sanchez found TE Dustin Keller for a 9-yard touchdown on a third and six play. Sanchez just got his pass away before the defender knocked him to the ground. The score was 14-6 after an extra point was slotted though the goals.

A Jay Feely field goal took the Jets to a 17-6 lead in the second quarter. That was the last score to come from the Jets.

The go-ahead TD came for the Colts with the clock at 8:03 in the third quarter. Manning found Pierre Garcon close to the right side out of bounds in the end zone for a 4-yard score.

This was followed by a 15-yard TD pass from Manning to Dallas Clark down the middle. Clark went over untouched after a fake to a running back made space downfield.

Late in the game Kelvin Hayden intercepted a Mark Sanchez pass to seal the win and send the Colts to Super Bowl XLIV to be played on February 7, 2010.

The Colts took care of the Ravens with a 20-3 win. The Vikings easily saw off the Cowboys with a 34-3 win. The Saints cruised to a 45-14 win over last years Super Bowl runnerup Cardinals. That left the Chargers to close out the weekend with a win to see all favourites advance.

It was not to be as the New York Jets broke Chargers hearts with a 17-14 away win. Two intercepts off the passing of Phillip Rivers saw the Jets surge in the final quarter to take the win. In Q4 they scored 14 points after touch downs to Dustin Keller and Shonn Greene

After the second Rivers intercept the Jets made him pay with points. Not long after on third down, Sanchez rolled right and threw to Keller, who shook off linebacker Tim Dobbins in the back corner of the end zone and made a 2-yard catch that put the Jets ahead 10-7.

Greene followed that up with a match winning run for a TD after going 53 yards to score.

A key to the loss was the kicking form of San Diego’s All-Pro kicker Nate Kaeding. He missed three field goals. He was wide left from 36 yards on San Diego’s second possession and was short from 57 yards as the first-half clock expired. With the Chargers trailing by 10 with 4:38 to go, he was wide right from 40. Who knows how it would have been if I sent one of those attempts between the posts.

Next week we discover who will be in the Super Bowl. The Jets next will play the Colts for the AFC Championship while in the NFC we see the Saints playing the Vikings.

How would it be to see a Vikings-Jets Super Bowl?

The match went to OT and it was a recovered fumble by Karlos Dansby that he ran for a 17-yard return after reserve cornerback Michael Adams sacked Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers. The fumble that followed led to the game winning recovery. The Packers had won the won the overtime toss and were in the box seat to take the win before the costly error by Rodgers.

This was a match that saw a combined 1024 yards of offense and 62 first downs. That and the 96 combined points were playoff records in the NFL.

The Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner threw for 379 yards including five touchdowns. His completion rate was 29-of-33 passes. This all came against the No. 2 ranked defense.

Arizona’s Neil Rackers must be feeling relieved after seeing the winning touchdown. He had seen his game winning field goal attempt from 34-yards go wide with just 14 seconds left in regulation time. “I just hooked it” said Rackers.

For the losing side Rodgers did enough to get a win until that fateful moment. He completed 28-of-42 passes which gave him a Packers playoff-record of 422 yards with four touchdowns all coming in the event filled second half. He and the Packers came back from 17-0 after one quarter, 31-10 early in the third quarter. At that stage you could have given it to the Cardinals. The Packers were not giving up and twice drew level in the fourth quarter at 38-38 and 45-45.

In the end it was the Packers 3 turnovers that proved costly. There was an interception from a Rodgers pass, a Donald Driver fumble and of course the final fumble by Rodgers. The Packers had just 16 turnovers in 16 regular season games which was the fewest in the NFL.

In the other playoff match on Sunday in the NFL the Ravens took out the Patriots with a 33-14 win. The Ravens took control of the match with a 24-0 opening quarter.

Next week the AFC Divisional matchups see the Ravens take on the Colts, the Jets play the Chargers. In the NFC the Cowboys play the Vikings and the Cardinals play the Saints.

For the Jets Shonn Greene starred as he tormented the Cincinnati defense running for 135 yards and a 39-yard touchdown on a career-high 21 carries. The Bengals could have closed to within a score with a 28-yard kick by Shayne Graham that would have brought his team within one score with 3:49 remaining. To add to their woes Graham had already missed a field goal attempt.

It is hard to imagine but the Dallas Cowboys had not won a finals match since 1996. Against the Eagles they were close to having the game wrapped up at the half leading 27-7 going into the break. The closes the Eagles were was 7-7 early in the second quarter after Michael Vick was brought in for a play and he threw a 76-yard touchdown pass. Vick later messed up a hand-off deep in Eagles territory which Dallas recovered then turned it into a touchdown for a 24-7 lead.

Tony Romo was 223 of 35 for 244 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers. Felix Jones had a big game for Dallas and finished with 148 yards from 16 carries including taking a short catch and turning it into a 30-yard gain on the opening drive.

Next for the Dallas Cowboys who have now ended a six game postseason losing streak, is the Minnesota Vikings away. Tony Romo will faceoff against his childhood hero Brett Favre.

The New York Jets take on either Indianapolis or San Diego depending on whether New England or Baltimore wins on Sunday.

Steve McNair, former NFL player – photo from Wikipedia, taken by Keith Allison.

Steve McNair who had a 13 year NFL career as a quarterback with the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens was found dead on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn., according to Nashville police.

McNair was a three-time Pro Bowler and was the NFL MVP in 2003. He retired in 2007.

The former NFL star was found in an apartment with multiple gun shot wounds.  A woman was also found deceased. She has been identified as Sahel Kazemi, a “friend” of McNair’s. A pistol was found near her body. According to police Kazemi had a single gunshot wound to the head.

In 2000 McNair led the Titans to the Super Bowl before going down to the St. Louis Rams.

McNair was married and leaves four children. It has been report that Kazemi was McNair’s girlfriend.

Police have ruled McNair’s death as a homicide, the case is still under investigation and the police have not ruled on Kazemi’s death.

Titans owner Bud Adams said the following in a statement he released regarding McNair, “We are saddened and shocked to hear the news of Steve McNair’s [death] today. He was one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans. He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as they deal with his untimely passing.

In a statement to the AP, Ozzie Newsome, executive vice president and general manager of the Baltimore Ravens, stated:
“This is so, so sad. We immediately think of his family, his boys. They are all in our thoughts and prayers. What we admired most about Steve when we played against him was his competitive spirit, and we were lucky enough to have that with us for two years. He is one of the best players in the NFL over the last 20 years…”

Leave your comments about Steve McNair below.

It looks like one of the readers here at OneManSportsNetwork is off to the Super Bowl in Tampa. I saw in my stats that they purchased a ticket. It looks like all the lower priced tickets have been snapped up as the best price I can see is $1521 for an upper level end zone ticket.

The lucky person that already got the Super Bowl ticket paid less than a thousand dollars. I would love to be going there myself but just now it is out of the question due to the fact that I live in Australia and don’t have much spare cash lying around.

I do plan on making it in the next couple of years. Following the NFL from here I always make sure I watch the Super Bowl. Super Bowl XLIII will be more special for Australians as Ben Graham is in the squad. Unfortunately he is currently injured and is listed as being questionable. If he does take his place in the team he will be the first Australian to play in the Super Bowl.

Getting back to tickets from what I can see, the Ticket Network guys have the best prices. I looked at StubHub, TicketsNow, OnlineSeats amongst other. The lowest price I saw was $1521 for tickets through Ticket Network.

Also when comparing the price of the Super Bowl Luxury Suite it is listed for $235001 at Ticket Network. This compares with $241 500 at TicketsNow and $288 243 at StubHub.

Tickets have a price range from $1521 to $7651. If you are looking for a Super Bowl suite they seem to range from $54 900 to the above mentioned $235 001.

Are you looking to buy tickets for the Super Bowl? What is the factor that influences you when buying online? If you want to check out the tickets at TicketNetwork click on the banner below.

If you are the reader who clicked my link I would love to hear from you when you go to the Super Bowl.

This comes following their exciting 32-25 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Phoenix.

For Kurt Warner it will be another shot at a Super Bowl ring after leading the St. Louis Rams to a title back in Super Bowl  XXXIV.

The match started well for the home team as Kurt Warner hit Larry Fitzgerald down the middle for nine yards after a 5:40 opening drive. The extra point giving the Cardinals a 7-0 lead. Fitzgerald made the catch between the hashmarks before brushing away the potential tackles of two Philadelphia defenders to cruise into the end zone.

The Eagles could only manage a field goal on their opening possession. The score at the end of the first quarter was 7-3.

The Cardinals looked to have busted the game wide open in the second quarter as they piled on 17 points to 3. The Cardinals first scored with another touchdown to Fitzgerald. This one will make the highlight reels as Warner threw twice in one play to find Fitzgerald again as he out-jumped an Eagles defender before completing the play by running into the end zone for a 62 yard TD.

The next Eagles play was again ended with a field goal as they were unable to breach the Cardinals line. With 9:05 to play in the second quater the score was 14-6. More was to come for the Cardinal fans. Once again it was Warner to Fitzgerald on a fade play as the Arizona receiver went in for his third TD. The score was now out to 21-6. The Cardinals ended the first quarter with a field goal to make the half time score 24-6.

Was that enough for the Cardinals to earn their first ever Super Bowl berth? As the match unfolded it was looking like they were tanking and the Eagles worked their way to a 25-24 lead with 10:56 to play in the match.

A touchdown was scored by the Eagles through Brent Celek at the 4:13 mark in the third quarter to trim the lead to 24-13. McNabb connected again with Celek for a 30-yard scoring strike, the score was now 24-19.

A 62-yard touchdown throw by McNabb to DeSean Jackson saw the Eagles on the back of a 18-0 run take the lead.

Would the Eagles continue the roll or did the Cardinals have an answer? As we saw the Cardinals did in fact have the answer. With 2:29 to play in this exciting match Warner hooked up with Tim Hightower to score what was the game winning touchdown.

Is this a fairytale or what? The Cardinals with the third oldest quarterback in the game are off to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII. Warner has done it before, can his team help him win another ring?

If you don’t want to miss out on an awesome Super Bowl experience Buy Your Super Bowl Tickets Now!

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Baltimore’s Matt Stover has kicked a 43-yard field goal with 57 seconds remaining in the match against the Tennessee Titans to take them to the AFC title game at either Pittsburgh or San Diego.

The Chargers play the Steelers on Sunday to decide who will face Baltimore.

In Saturday’s match rookie Chris Johnson was dominating early. The Titans scored first to open with a touchdown with 4:45 to play in the first quarter. The extra point was good for 7-0. Before Johnson went in for the TD Collins hit all three passes on a 65-yard drive that was helped by an illegal contact penalty on former Titans cornerback Rolle.

The Ravens hit back on the next drive. They took 8 plays before Derrick Mason caught the ball and ran in for a touchdown at the end of a 48-yard play.

From here it was the field goal kickers that scored the points. Three field goals were kicked over in the final quarter. The second and third quarters were scoreless.

With the win the Ravens are the second No. 6 seed since 1990 to reach the conference championship (joining the 2005 Steelers).

For the Titans it was an inglorious end to a promising season. The Titans are the third team since 1970 to start 10-0 or better and lose in divisional playoffs.