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I have a HUGE crush on this woman.- Mr Review

1. You are going to hear the word “Manning’’ more in the next two weeks than you’ve heard in a lifetime. Peyton Manning is the quarterback of the Colts. He’s also a New Orleans native and son of Archie Manning, one of the few legends in Saints history. But this game, at least from a New Orleans standpoint, isn’t about Archie or Peyton. It’s about Drew Brees. His name has been floated around the last few years as an elite quarterback, like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, but the counterpoint to that always comes back to, “Yeah, but what’s he ever won?” Brees now has a chance to win the Super Bowl.

2. Gregg Williams’ defense is going to get its biggest test yet. Ever since the Saints hired Williams as their defensive coordinator in the offseason, they’ve been talking about a different attitude or culture. That’s not just lip service. The major difference between the very ordinary Saints of last season and the very good ones of this season has been the defense. These guys don’t really shut down offenses, but they’re extremely good at coming up with turnovers. Now, they’ve got to find a way to do that against Manning and the Indianapolis offensive machine.

3. If you’re looking for a portion of the Saints that hasn’t received enough praise, try the linebackers. Yes, Jonathan Vilma was selected for the Pro Bowl, which he now won’t have to play in because he’ll be getting ready for the Super Bowl, but Scott Fujita and Scott Shanle don’t get nearly the credit they deserve. Vilma, Shanle and Fujita combined for 19 tackles, an interception, a quarterback hurry, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries against the Vikings. They’ll need to be even better against the Colts.

1. Two Big Dogs, no big underdog. Looking for Cinderella? The Colts were 14-0 this year and are led by four-time MVP Peyton Manning. Because of their history, the Saints will likely be cast in the underdog role, but Indianapolis isn’t going to buy it. Like Indianapolis, New Orleans came into the playoffs as a No. 1 seed and won two home games to qualify for the Super Bowl.

But the Saints, known as lovable losers for so long, are the fresh story. A city, still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, gets a huge boost from the team’s first trip to the title game. Might the Saints be in positioned to be overwhelmed by the experience while the Colts, who won the game just four years ago, benefit from the experience?

2. Hey kids, do you like the passing game? The Colts (second in NFL) and Saints (fourth) live by the pass. They’re centered on top-flight quarterbacks. That will make for a lot of prognostications about an aerial assault and a big shootout in Miami.

Trouble is, it’s pigeonholing either club to suggest it’s all about Peyton Manning or Drew Brees.

The Saints are a balanced offense, with a run game that was sixth in the league keyed by Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas. The Colts have a stingy scoring defense that’s allowed only 18.2 points a game and limited opponents in the regular season to seven passing plays of 30 yards or more.

Turnovers, always a key, are a New Orleans forte. The Saints were third in the NFL with a plus-11 differential, while Indy was plus-two.

3. Manning against the team of his youth. Manning is from New Orleans, where his dad, Archie, starred for the Saints. Cooper Manning, Peyton’s older brother, admitted Sunday it’d be awkward for him and some of the family, but they looked forward to sorting through it all.

The Colts are 5-5 all time against New Orleans. Manning lost his first two games to his hometown team, but has won the last two by scores of 55-21 in 2003 and 41-10 in 2007.

The Colts are also 2-2 all-time in Super Bowls in Miami, where they’ve played all four times they’ve advanced. Baltimore lost Super Bowl III to the Jets, won Super Bowl V over Dallas and won Super Bowl XLI over Chicago, all in south Florida. The Indianapolis Colts beat Chicago in Miami in Super Bowl XLI.

AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)Saints defenders Scott Fujita (55) and Anthony Hargrove were among those making it a long night for Vikings QB Brett Favre.

NEW ORLEANS — In these parts, they refer to it as lagniappe, a Cajun word that roughly translated means “a little bit extra.” On Sunday in the Superdome, the underappreciated New Orleans Saints defense provided a dose of lagniappe to this long-suffering franchise. The Saints’ defenders compensated for a sometimes conservative New Orleans offense in a 31-28 overtime victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game. “We just weren’t going to lose, no matter how much we had to do,” said cornerback Tracy Porter, whose interception of Brett Favre with seven seconds remaining in regulation killed a Minnesota drive that had reached the Saints’ 38-yard line. “We said to ourselves, ‘OK, it’s on us, right?’ We just felt like somebody would step up … and that someone just happened to be me.” The Saints earned the first Super Bowl berth in franchise history courtesy of Garrett Hartley’s 40-yard field goal nearly five minutes into the extra period. Hartley’s game winner sent the 71,276 fans dancing onto Bourbon Street. But the Saints’ defense was the difference maker. After surrendering touchdowns on Minnesota’s opening two possessions, coordinator Gregg Williams’ unit settled in and began pounding away at Favre and the Vikings. It crowded the line of scrimmage, blitzed on every passing-situation play and it took the ball away, netting five turnovers. Favre was not sacked, but the Saints’ rush hit him plenty and forced him to unload some throws before he could set his feet. Not surprisingly, the Porter interception and 26-yard return came on a third-and-15 play on which the Saints brought inside pressure. The rush forced Favre to roll to his right and he threw across his body into Porter’s hands. The heavy pressure took a toll on Favre. The veteran suffered a left leg injury in the third quarter, but returned to finish what could be his final game. Favre, who came out of retirement a second time to resume his NFL career with the Vikings, was disconsolate after the loss, but declined to publicly suggest that the game was his swan song. “I think we led the league in quarterback pressures — maybe not sacks but hitting the guy — and we came at [Favre] all night,” said right end Will Smith, who finished with six tackles and one forced fumble. “They weren’t love-taps, either, man. I think it had a [cumulative] effect on him. After he got hurt, you could tell it was bothering him. He was limping around and could barely make it to the line of scrimmage at times. We knew we had to take advantage of that.” The New Orleans defense failed to take advantage of a lot of breaks, though, for much of the game. The butterfingered Vikings fumbled six times, including a pair by tailback Adrian Peterson, but the Saints recovered only three of the bobbles. One recovery, by defensive tackle Remi Ayodele in the fourth quarter, set up a Drew Brees 5-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Bush that staked the Saints to a 28-21 lead. But the Vikings rallied back to tie the contest at 28 on Peterson’s third score of the game, a 2-yard run, setting up a nail-biting finish. Peterson rushed for 122 yards on 25 carries, snapping a career-long streak of eight games without a 100-yard performance. But the Saints’ defense, burned on a run-blitz on the opening possession, when Peterson romped thorough a wide hole off the left side for a 19-yard touchdown run, kept coming. The Saints’ defenders tackled well close to the line of scrimmage, if not always in the secondary, and limited Peterson’s cutbacks. The Vikings more than doubled the Saints in first downs (31-15), and had healthy advantages in total yards (475-257) and time of possession (36:49-27:56). Still, the Saints didn’t alter their defensive calls. It became almost a pattern: On virtually every second or third down, the Saints would send at least one extra rusher, the Minnesota line would hold firm in terms of not permitting a sack, but Favre would absorb a shock. “Sooner or later, we just felt that if we kept hitting him, he would [throw] one in our hands,” said strong safety Roman Harper. “As great a player as he is, he’s known to do that, you know? He threw us a few and we didn’t hold onto them. But we still got our share [of interceptions].” In addition to Porter’s late interception, middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma also had a pick, to go with five tackles, two passes defensed, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. In addition to the recoveries by Vilma and Ayodele, linebacker Scott Fujita pounced on a loose ball on the New Orleans 4-yard line that came near the end of the first half and preserved a 14-14 intermission tie. And then there were the countless hits on Favre, who still completed six passes of 20 yards or more. Said Favre, who looked all of his 40 years afterward: “I’ve felt better. It was a very physical game … probably more so than people think.” The outing was indicative of a New Orleans defense that statistically ranked 25th in the NFL during the regular season, but was second in the league in takeaways (39). It’s not often that a defense could surrender 28 points and allow a quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards (310) and still advance to the Super Bowl. But the emotional Saints — and owner Tom Benson, who boogied on the sideline, trademark parasol in hand, after Hartley’s game winner — will meet New Orleans native Peyton Manning and the AFC champion Indianapolis Colts on Feb. 7 in Super Bowl XLIV. For this team, this city and this defense, another Cajun phrase, Laissez les bon temps roulez, comes readily to mind. Let the good times roll.

1. Rex Ryan doesn’t have a favorable history against Peyton Manning. Ryan established his reputation as a defensive genius during his decade with the Baltimore Ravens, and despite overseeing some of the greatest units of this generation, he has been unsuccessful in trying to solve Manning. When the Jets beat the Colts in Week 16, Manning left the game with a 15-10 lead. Backup quarterback Curtis Painter should be charged with that loss, much like a reliever with a blown save. Eliminating that game, Manning has gone 6-1 against a Ryan-influenced defense. Manning has posted big points, too. Only once have the Colts been held to under 20 points, when they scored 15 to eliminate the Ravens from the 2006 playoffs.

2. Time of possession will be critical for the Jets. The Miami Dolphins established the offensive blueprint for defeating the Colts when they met on Monday night in Week 2. The Dolphins nearly knocked them off by dominating in time of possession, obnoxiously holding onto the ball for 45 minutes, 7 seconds. Problem is, the Dolphins’ defense played like cardboard cutouts and surrendered 10.2 yards per play in a 27-23 loss. The Jets’ defense can contain the Colts better than the Dolphins. If the Jets maintain no worse than a one-score deficit, then their offense will be able to keep handing off to Shonn Greene and Thomas Jones against the 24th-ranked run defense. The benefit would be twofold: It would prevent Mark Sanchez from being forced into a shootout and will keep Manning off the field.

3. The Jets can’t expect to get multiple big breaks again. A lot of talk in the Jets’ locker room this week justified the notion they can go toe-to-toe with the Colts because they played them so tightly a month ago in Indianapolis before Manning and other starters were removed from the game. But the Jets can’t deny the repeated blessings they received before then. How often can they count on Brad Smith to return a kickoff 106 yards? What about blocking another extra point? Can the Jets count on another below-standard Manning performance and expect him to misfire with Reggie Wayne as often as he did the last time? No, no and no.

1. This is Drew Brees‘ game. Yes, all the hype has been about Brett Favre. When a 40-year-old legend gets his team this far, that’s expected. But I think this game is more about the legacy of Brees. For the past few years, he has put up numbers that put him in the conversation with Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Favre as the league’s best quarterback. But the one thing Brees doesn’t have that they all do is a signature win. It might be time for Brees to sign his autograph.

2. Reggie Bush will be a huge factor. I wrote in this space a week ago that Bush would be a huge factor against the Cardinals — and he was. My logic was simple. When you throw a bunch of good athletes on the field, the best athlete out there will rise up and make plays. Once again, I think Bush is the best athlete stepping onto the Superdome floor Sunday.

3. Matchup of the week? It seems like the ultimate mismatch with New Orleans left tackle Jermon Bushrod going against Minnesota defensive end Jared Allen. On paper, it probably is. But let’s face it, the Saints aren’t going to leave Bushrod on an island by himself. They’ve been covering him up with help all season as he’s filled in for an injured Jammal Brown. Bushrod hasn’t really been exploited because the Saints help him and their offense is designed for Brees to get rid of the ball quickly. This matchup might not be as big a deal as many people think.

4. Payton’s big chance. We already mentioned how important this game is for Brees’ status. It’s kind of the same deal for his coach, Sean Payton. This will be two NFC Championship Games in four seasons. Win this one and Payton will go from being just a great offensive mind to being a great head coach.

5. Sharper image. We’ve heard all week about New Orleans safety Darren Sharper’s familiarity with Favre. A lot of people have said that could work to the Saints’ advantage. But Payton has done his best to downplay that aspect and frequently said players going against former teams is overrated. I disagree. I think Sharper’s knowledge of Favre is important, and I’m guessing that the Saints have been tapping into it all week. But I think the real issue here isn’t so much what Sharper can tell his teammates. I think it’s whether Sharper can take all his knowledge of Favre and come up with an interception against his former teammate.

Tempers flared Sunday at the Metrodome after Minnesota’s final touchdown of a 34-3 playoff victory over Dallas, as Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking sprinted toward the Vikings’ sideline, taunting coach Brad Childress and later calling the late score “classless.”

Vikings nose tackle Pat Williams, meanwhile, said Brooking was lucky to escape the Minnesota sideline in one piece.

“We don’t care what Keith Brooking says,” Williams said. “He was about to get his ass whupped on our sideline over there. It don’t matter. Nobody said anything when they blew out the Eagles [the past two weeks].

“It’s the playoffs. It ain’t no regular-season game. If you lose, you go home. We take no pity on them. Do they expect us to? I don’t care about no Brooking. He can say whatever he wants to say.”

With the Vikings leading 27-3 late in the fourth quarter, Childress left his starters in the game. The Cowboys gave up the ball on downs at their 37-yard line with 5:26 remaining, and the Vikings threw three passes on their ensuing six-play drive. The final one was an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Visanthe Shiancoe on fourth-and-3 with 1:55 remaining.

“Just staying aggressive with it, if you will,” Childress said after the game. “We put our defense back on the field and we talked to all the coordinators — offense, defense, special-teams guys– that we weren’t going to put the field goal group on the field.

“As Lou Holtz used to say, ‘It’s our job to score points. It’s their job to stop us from scoring points.’ That happens. It wasn’t rubbing it in. It’s just taking care of business and being aggressive at the end of the game.”

Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said the Vikings ran up the score, and Brooking agreed.

“I thought it was classless,” Brooking said. “I thought it was B.S. Granted, we get paid to stop them, but we had zero timeouts left. I didn’t think there was any call for that.”

Shiancoe laughed after hearing Brooking’s comments. “OK, we apologize. I’m sorry. Better?”

Rex Ryan is on a roll. The rookie coach who declared his team Super Bowl favorites after he figured out they were still in the playoffs, is just a game away from being hailed for his psychic powers.

His Jets are still playing.

Rookies Mark Sanchez and Shonn Greene led New York to a stunning 17-14 upset of San Diego in the divisional playoffs Sunday, each providing a touchdown in the fourth quarter that marked another Chargers postseason pratfall.The jovial, rotund Ryan isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind, and his players are taking his lead as they head into the AFC Championship Game against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.”A matchup that probably nobody wanted, but too bad,” Ryan said. “Here we come!”He means: “Here we come again.”

It was the Colts who pulled Manning and other starters in the second half of their Week 16 game against the Jets, who rallied for a victory that put them in control of their playoff destiny.Before that game, Ryan said his holiday wish was for the Colts to rest Manning & Co.”I don’t know if Santa Claus will be that good to me again,” Ryan said. “But I will say that I’d like to see Peyton Manning not play this week.”After the Jets finally did clinch a playoff spot by routing Cincinnati the following week, Ryan created a postseason itinerary for his players that included the Super Bowl in Miami followed by a parade two days later.He might be onto something.Maybe this week he’ll predict the Jets’ opponent in the Super Bowl.”We believed the whole time, the whole year, when it probably wasn’t the popular choice,” Ryan said. “We don’t have to apologize to anyone.”The upstart Jets (11-7), who have won seven of their last eight, advanced to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since 1999.”It’s a big win for our franchise, and we’re not done,” Sanchez said.”Don’t pay attention to the words he says,” linebacker Bart Scott said about his coach. “Pay attention to the content. We’re not the same old Jets, and we’re trying to change what people think of us.”As glum Chargers fans headed out into the equally gloomy evening, several thousand New York fans thronged in the stands behind New York’s bench and chanted, “J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!”One held a sign that read: “I don’t have another 41 years,” a reference to the Jets’ only Super Bowl title, the one that Joe Namath predicted.They hope another one is lurking.

Sanchez threw a go-ahead, 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dustin Keller three plays into the fourth quarter, then Greene gave the Jets some breathing room with a 53-yard scoring run on their next possession.The mistake-prone Chargers let New York hang around long enough, and the Jets finally got out of their own way, becoming the only road team to win in the divisional round.After Philip Rivers scored on a 1-yard sneak with 2:14 left to pull the Chargers within three, the Jets recovered the onside kick.Facing a fourth-and-1 from the 29 with 1:09 left, the Jets called timeout. Ryan decided to go for it and Thomas Jones bulled through the Chargers’ line for 2 yards.”That symbolizes what this team is all about,” guard Alan Faneca said. “The hard nose. We’re coming at you. We’re that kind of team.”Sanchez pumped his fist and pointed his hand forward in the first-down signal.On the sideline, Ryan lifted much smaller offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer off the ground in a bear hug.

Schottenheimer’s father, Marty, presided over two playoff losses with the Chargers, one against the Jets after the 2004 season and one against New England after the 2006 season in which top-seeded San Diego imploded in a flood of errors.This one was just as big a nightmare. Many people had San Diego picked to win its first Super Bowl title.”We didn’t, obviously, play our best game and it’s disappointing,” said coach Norv Turner, who was trying to guide the No. 2-seeded Bolts to their second AFC title game in three seasons.The Chargers (13-4) saw their 11-game winning streak end.”It was the best defense I’ve played this year,” said LaDainian Tomlinson, who after nine seasons might have played his final game with the Chargers. “Run, pass, and they are really prepared. Hats off to them.”Sanchez, playing in his native Southern California, went from looking like the rookie that he is to a guy who has now has two straight playoff wins on the road.

He was intercepted by Quentin Jammer midway through the third quarter, but the Jets got the ball back on an interception when the ball ricocheted off Vincent Jackson and into the hands of cornerback Darrelle Revis as both were sprawled on the ground.The Jets weren’t able to capitalize on that pickoff, but Rivers’ second interception was costly. On second-and-9 from his 5, Rivers underthrew Antonio Gates, who hadn’t even turned around, with safety Jim Leonhard intercepting and returning it to the 16.

On third down, Sanchez rolled right and threw to Keller, who shed linebacker Tim Dobbins in the back corner of the end zone and made a sprawling 2-yard catch that put the Jets ahead 10-7.

Sanchez and the rest of the Jets ran over to congratulate Keller, then the rookie QB kept running to the bench, stopping once to celebrate with a teammate.

The Jets turned to their top-ranked running game on their next drive, and Greene, a third-round pick from Iowa, broke his long scoring run up the middle, running over safety Eric Weddle in the process.”Once I got to the secondary, I had one tackle to break and I did, and it was off to the end zone,” said Greene, who had 128 yards on 23 carries. “A lot of people didn’t know about me, but they know about the Jets.”Greene rushed for 135 yards and a TD in last week’s playoff win against Cincinnati.

San Diego’s All-Pro kicker Nate Kaeding 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.Ryan pumped his fist and smiled after Kaeding’s third miss.The last time these teams met in the playoffs, after the 2004 season, the rookie Kaeding was wide right from 40 yards on a wet field in overtime. The Jets moved down the field and won it 20-17 on Doug Brien’s 28-yard field goal.

Five years later, the Jets left Qualcomm Stadium winners again.”We’re not supposed to be here,” Faneca said. “All week, people were basically thanking us for providing the game, and we went out and took it.”

Game notes
New York had four straight three-and-outs, failing to pick up a first down until its fifth drive, midway through the second quarter. … Rivers threw a 13-yard TD pass to third-string tight end Kris Wilson in the second quarter. … Jets DE Shaun Ellis left in the first quarter with a hand injury, but returned

Peyton Manning beat the Ravens and buried a myth.Say goodbye to the bye-week blues.In his first game since winning an unprecedented fourth NFL MVP award, Manning threw for two touchdowns Saturday night in the Indianapolis Colts‘ 20-3 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. The decisive win came after a playoff bye, something that had been a plague, not a respite, for Manning and his teammates.

“I don’t think it matters if you’ve had a bye or you’re playing home or away,” Manning said when asked about Indy’s previous 0-3 record after sitting out the wild-card round. “This myth that you can’t win after a bye week, I haven’t believed in it.”The Colts (15-2) will host the AFC championship next Sunday against San Diego or the New York Jets.”Whoever it is, we know it’s going to be a challenge and we have to step it up another notch,” coach Jim Caldwell said.Manning and the other Colts starters got lots of rest when the rookie coach sat them for long portions of the final two regular-season games, both losses after they had opened 14-0. Then they had the bye, a reward for owning the league’s best record.But previously a curse for the Colts.”There’s no question how the guys used the off week,” Manning said. “We kind of called it preparation week. I thought we had good preparation coming into this game, thought we came out sharp and kind of set the tempo from the get-go.”Not quite from the outset. When the Ravens (10-8), who routed New England in the wild-card round, marched 87 yards for an early field goal, the All-Pro quarterback’s sour face told it all.

By halftime, the scoreboard told it all: Indianapolis 17, Baltimore 3.It didn’t get any tighter, even though Ed Reed got his fourth career interception of Manning in the third quarter. Reed was stripped of the ball by a sprinting Pierre Garcon, the intended receiver, at the end of a 38-yard return. Dallas Clark recovered, and Reed was robbed of another pick five plays later because of a pass interference call on Corey Ivy.The Ravens’ vaunted defense was self-destructing, and Manning gave it another push toward the offseason with a 14-play drive to Matt Stover’s 33-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.Directing a patient offense, Manning finished 30-of-44 for 246 yards. He showed the Ravens there’s a price to pay for keeping the ball out of his hands: Once he gets it, he doesn’t give it back — at least not until he’s gotten the Colts plenty of points and a playoff win.The last time the Colts hosted the conference title game was three years ago, when they won their only Super Bowl representing Indianapolis. That championship victory came in Miami, the same site as next month’s Super Bowl.Indy’s 18th-ranked defense gave Manning lots of help, shutting down a running game that romped for 234 yards against the Patriots. Even when Ray Rice, who had 159 yards rushing a week ago, burst through for a 20-yard gain, Raheem Brock forced a fumble and the Colts recovered. It was Indy’s third of four takeaways.”Our defense did a tremendous job,” Caldwell said. “Anytime you hold that offense the way they run the ball, and Ray Rice, under 100 yards, our defense did indeed play hard and well, tackled well, and they were opportunistic. It was a heck of a performance.”Baltimore, with rookie Joe Flacco at quarterback, won two road games last January to get to the AFC championship game, where it lost to Pittsburgh. Flacco struggled in this postseason and was intercepted twice Saturday night.

Stover, the career scoring leader for Baltimore who joined Indianapolis in October, also had a 44-yard field goal. Billy Cundiff had a 25-yarder for the Ravens’ only points.The Colts have won eight straight against Baltimore, a city they once called home. The last time they were so stingy in a playoff game was as the Baltimore Colts 39 years ago, a 20-3 win over Cleveland — where the Ravens once lived as the original Browns.”The better team won today,” Rice admitted. “You shouldn’t be afraid to say that.”The Ravens threw a wrinkle at Indianapolis on their first possession, using a no-huddle offense for portions of the 15-play drive that kept Manning on the sideline for nearly 8 minutes. What Baltimore didn’t do was finish the drive with a touchdown, and it was fortunate to get Cundiff’s field goal after Antoine Bethea dropped an interception at the goal line.Manning must have been jealous of that series, because he soon led the Colts on an 8-minute, 75-yarder, converting a fourth-and-4 pass to Joseph Addai along the way. His pinpoint throw to Collie in the left corner of the end zone — the kind of pass that has become a Manning trademark — made it 10-3.Then it was back to the quick pace the Colts are known for. After Baltimore’s three-and-out, Manning needed just 1:23 to make it 17-3. The drive was aided by Ray Lewis‘ personal foul on a helmet-to-helmet hit against Collie in the end zone, and Wayne then leaned in with a 3-yard pass with 3 seconds remaining in the half.Following its impressive first possession, Baltimore had the ball for less than 4 minutes in the opening half, gaining 9 yards in the second period.”We didn’t play well enough to win this game against this team on this day,” coach John Harbaugh said. “They played defense the way they always do, they just played it well.”Game notes
It was Indy’s first postseason win since the Super Bowl in January 2007. … Manning is 8-8 in the playoffs. … Baltimore has never allowed a 100-yard rusher in 13 playoff games. … Indy allowed a league-low 13 sacks, but gave up two on Saturday.