Saints into Their First Super Bowl
Minnesota scored first after a 19-yard play came with 9:41 to play in the first quarter. Adrian Peterson took the hand-off from Brett Favre to score untouched after running left then straight up the middle of the Saints defense. The TD came on the end of an 80-yard 10 play opening drive.
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.
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