History. Period.

Feb 16, 2010 by

As I said in a previous entry, you don’t need me for that anymore. It’s all history now. Every pass, catch, drop, step, yard and point. They’re all Saints records. Of course, a few things happened along the way which will lead to a re-write in the pages of Super Bowl history:

First, New Orleans won. Yes, yes, we know it’s our first win but it puts us in the undefeated class of Super Bowl Victors: San Francisco, Baltimore, Tampa Bay and the New York Jets. SF dominates this category with five wins, the rest have one each. While this doesn’t sound too impressive, remember that post-season powerhouses like the Steelers, Packers, Giants, Cowboys, Colts and Patriots are excluded from this club.

What’s more, being Super Bowl “rookies”, the Saints beat the odds and went straight to the “W” column, bypassing the Cardinals, Falcons, Panthers, Chargers, Seahawks, Titans, Bengals, Eagles, Bills and Vikings each of whom lost their first Superbowl appearance and some of whom have been multiple times without a win. And while 28 of the 32 NFL teams have been to the Big Dance, only 18 have won it. (Unless you count the Colts twice–once as Baltimore and once as Indy–but we won’t.)

23 year-old Garrett Hartley stormed into the books as the first kicker ever to make three 40+ yard FG’s in a Super Bowl with dingers from 44, 46 and 47 yards. Hartley also joins nine other kickers in second place for most FG’s made in a game with three. New Orleans joins nine other teams for second-place in the most team FG category. Both teams combined for four FG’s placing them in an nine way-tie for second-place, most FG’s by both teams and a seven-way tie for most FG’s attempted by both teams with five.

Drew Brees tied Tom Brady for first for most completions in a Super Bowl with 32 and combined with Peyton Manning to set a Super Bowl record of 63 completed passes in one game. If 2PC’s count in the consecutive completion category, then Brees enters a second-place, three-way tie with P Simms, T Aikman and K Warner with 10 consecutive completions. If not, then his 9 CC’s put him in third-place with J Kelly, N O’Donnell, S McNair and Peyton Manning. Not bad company, eh?

Brees Super Bowl completion percentage of 82.1% puts him in second-place behind Phil Simms 88% in the one-game category. That would be a first-place mark in for career completion percentage, but unfortunately he was one attempt shy of the 40 needed to qualify for that category. (No sense getting all the records at once, eh?)

Lance Moore added his name to the books by catching a two-point conversion. He joins Mark Seay (SD), Alfred Pupunu (SD), Mark Chmura (GB), and Kevin Faulk (NE) in a five-way tie for first place for most 2PC’s in a game.

Tracey Porter’s 74-yard interception is the fourth longest INT in a Super Bowl and the third longest INT returned for a TD. Porter joins nine other players in second-place for most INT’s for a TD in a game with one, as does New Orleans in the Team category. For fewest INT’s by both teams, Super Bowl XLIV joins seven others with one for second-place. Super Bowl XLIV joins SB XXI in second place for fewest turnovers by both teams with one.

New Orleans and Indianapolis combined for just 37 rushing attempts, tying last years record for fewest rushing attempts in a game. The 150 combined rushing yards by both teams will put us in third-place for fewest combined rushing yards by both teams.

Both New Orleans and Indy join 20 other teams with 0 fumbles in a Super Bowl. Combined we tie Super Bowls XIV, XXXI, and XL for having the fewest (0) fumbles by both teams.

New Orleans joins six other teams in third place for the fewest rushing first-downs with 3, however, New Orleans and Indy combined for 32 passing first-downs, (16 each,) to tie three other SB’s (XIX, XXXIX, and XLIII) for first place in that category. Both teams combined to take second-place for fewest punts by both teams with 4 total. (2 each.)

So there you have over a dozen spots in the Super Bowl record books which will have New Orleans written next to them. Not bad for one appearance, hmm? But there are some other interesting records that popped up along the way…

No NFL team has ever lost its final three regular season games and gone on to win the Super Bowl. Until now. I have to admit, some of these stats are just odd, but a record is a record, eh?

The Saints became the first team to ever start a Super Bowl half with an onside-kick. In fact, it was the first time any team used an onside-kick before the 4th quarter.

Over 106.5 million Americans watched the game, the highest viewership of any American television program. Ever. It beat the series finale of MASH by half a million viewers and even beat last years Super Bowl viewership by 8 million!

Then there was Monday. As the Saints arrived at Armstrong International Airport they were met by 40,000 fans strewn across two miles from the airport’s back gate, down Bainbridge, along Veteran’s Blvd, and down a section of Williams Blvd to the Interstate. Fans even parked along the Airport Road interstate on-ramps to watch the players pass beneath them.

Dat Tuesday the city held the largest parade we’ve ever seen with estimates between 800,000 and one-million people lined up to hail their heroes in a special Lombardi Gras parade. Essentially, we more than doubled the city’s population for one parade.

Then there are the intangible records. We may never know if the 6-1 fan advantage the Saints had in Miami is a record or not. I’m guessing it was. From the analysts and experts who picked the Colts to win at a ratio of at least 3-1, we learned that they’re really not that expert at all. According to one ESPN analyst, unlike Brett Favre, “Peyton Manning does not throw 4th quarter interceptions.” See you in the unemployment line, kid.

Then there’s the freaking Twilight Zone of history… As Super Bowl XLIV got underway, there was an e-mail detailing some oddities circulating. Super Bowl 44 played while the 44th President of the United States sat in office. There were 44 days from Christmas 2009 to the 2010 Super Bowl. The Saints organization is technically 44 years old. It has been 4 years and 4 months since Hurricane Katrina and the Saints won the NFC Championship game against Minnesota 4 minutes and 44 seconds into overtime.

A few other things I noticed after getting that e-mail: Hartley’s winning FG was a 40-yarder and he made 4 extra points that day, Tom Benson graduated from St Aloyisius in the class of ’44, Garrett Hartley’s second FG was a 44-yarder, and wouldn’t you know it, when the Saints knelt down on the last play of Super Bowl XLIV… there were :44 seconds left on the clock!

-M Styborski

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