Sunday, January 24, 2010

Do the Saints have the right attitude? (sport, NFL)

So the Superbowl matchup is set. The clock struck midnight on the Jets' Cinderella story, as they still played really well but could not hold off the Colts. The Saints survived a tough back-and-forth game against a comeback master that went to OT despite 5 turnovers from the Vikings.

They kept talking during the post-game show about the Saints being a "team of destiny", but I don't know if that's enough to get them the win in the big game. It seems to me that the best attitudes to have are either the "nobody believes in us" of the Giants two years ago, this year's Jets, and the Patriots in their first superbowl, or the "been there, done that, get the job done" swagger of last year's Steelers, and the Patriots' repeats.

The Saints' high-powered offense makes it hard for them to play the "nobody believes in us" card, but I also don't see the swagger of a confident team. They were not able to take and press their advantage with the turnovers. It felt more like the turnovers were gifts that bailed them out every time it felt like the Vikings were about to take the momentum. When the Saints finally got a lead late, they played super tight and certainly did not have the swagger of a team ready to put the opponents away. If they don't get up a big lead on the Colts, I see Peyton and Co. grinding them down.

Maybe the Saints are the team of destiny, but it doesn't feel like they're playing like they believe it themselves.

2 comments :

Memphis MOJO said...

I saw a line of Indy -4 and o/u of 52. Sounds about right, you agree?

The Pretender said...

The opening line was Indy-4, but was bet all through the night and should be at Indy-5/5.5 right now, although there should be public money on the Saints soon enough. Lowest o/u to open was around 54 I thought. Quickly bought up to 55.5. As I was discussing with my friend, he basically said, there are just too many weapons on both offenses, so 55.5, despite being the highest Superbowl total ever, is probably more realistic.