Yeah, I was thinking that the Saints outplayed the Colts on every conceivable level. Payton totally outcoached Caldwell, particularly when he went for it (and failed) on 4th & goal right before the half while Caldwell just gave him the ball back. Great coaching by Payton, awful coaching by Caldwell.
Bress clearly outplayed Payton, Saints defense outplayed the Colts defense, and the New Orleans special teams kicked the ever living shit out of the Indy special teams. Just an all-around beatdown,
A good friend of mine has been a diehard Bills fan since the 80s. It’s not just the agonizing Superbowl losses – the first of which was by far the most painful – but also consider the last 10 years for a Bills fan, since the uber-painful “Music City Miracle.” It’s just brutal.
The only thing a longtime Bills fan has to hang his hat on is the greatest comeback in playoff history. Go Frank Reich!
Yeah, I think country is probably the way to go. Garth isn’t really doing much nowadays, is he? How about Willie Nelson? Brad Paisley? Faith Hill & Tim McGraw?
BEP bore me, and I think you’re in the minority Ellis as most football fans in their 40s don’t know any of their songs.
Sheryl Crow would have been an excellent choice about 8 years ago. Katy Perry’s appeal would be “sex” and the NFL doesn’t want that, and again, nobody over 35 knows her “music.” If Whitney Houston’s comeback gets on track she could get the nod.
I do think that the AI invasion is coming (shudder). Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, and - God forbid - Daughtry are waiting in the wings.
I don’t think any Black artist in hip-hop is universal enough. Jay-Z and Li’l Wayne don’t have crossover appeal. Actually, maybe Jay-Z with Enimem or Jay-Z with a major rock artist might work.
Okay, back to the game itself: you know, the cliche that EVERY opposing coach and EVERY sportscaster always spouts off is “the way to beat the Colts is to keep Peyton Manning off the field.”
The snag is, teams have always tried to “keep him off the field” by trying (and failing) repeatedly to establish a power running game, and playing traditional ball control.
Drew Brees and Sean Payton accomplished the task WITHOUT running much. They showed that you can control the clock and play ball control and keep the opposing offense off the field by PASSING. A seven yard pass here, a six yard pass there, an eight yard pass there… suddenly, you’re on a 6 minute TD scoring drive and you’ve hardly run the ball at all.
Every time they showed Manning on the sidelines, you could see that disgusted look on his face. He was plainly thinking, “Geez, would you guys STOP him just once, so I can get in the game???”
His frustration was probably part of what made him get sloppy down the stretch. When you’re not sure you’ll ever get the ball back if you don’t score NOW, you’re liable to get a bit desperate and to try and force some passes you shouldn’t be attempting.
It’s still better to do it by running, it’s just that the Saints couldn’t run so they had to do it by passing.
Running is better because it lets your OL tee off on the defense, beating them down as the game progressing until by the fourth quarter you can have your way with them. No amount of short passes has that kind of cumulative physical effect because pass blocking is done on your heels backing up, so you can never beat the defense into submission.
We’ve already done country haven’t we? Yeah, back in 1994. I don’t think we need to overdo it and have another country-oriented halftime show yet, do we?
To be frank, I wish they would book some halftime music of the kind that black people like. Which does not include “man-in-hat” -style country music or the Who. I mean, black folks play & watch football too, don’t they?
Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Patti Labelle, Donna Summer (retro but not as retro as the Who), Lionel Richie… any of these would be good.
Otherwise, I say bring back Carol Channing from the 1970 show.
I could see Beyonce getting the gig. Still, if they’re going to stick with old British acts, why can’t we have Motorhead or Maiden or Judas Priest? They go way better with football.
He attempted a “comeback” a couple years ago. The local country station ran the single from his CD into the ground for a few weeks, and then we never heard anything else and it was back to his old hits.
They could’ve had a New Orleans /Indianapolis musical showdown, with a funky group like the Meters going up against a marching band playing songs from “The Music Man” or something.
Black folks comprise about 12% of the audience, so tailoring a halftime show to suit them would be silly. Country music would probably hit the mark for the highest percentage of viewers.
If you want to target a minority, women would be the smarter play since tens of millions of women who normally never watch a football game will watch the Superbowl.
EDIT: I don’t hate the idea of using acts from the market of the two teams in the game, though. That has some definite appeal.
Judas Priest singing “Screaming For Vengeance” along with “The Ripper”, “Hell Bent For Leather” and “Breaking The Law” in medley would have been pretty sweet…
I wonder if Jimmy Buffet might get the nod for the halftime show next year? He’s well known to us geezers, reasonably family-friendly, and still touring, I think…