Sharp Brees gives Saints biggest win

MIAMI — By any logic known in the National Football League, what we saw Sunday night in Super Bowl XLIV was never supposed to happen.

At just 6-feet tall, Drew Brees was too small to be a successful NFL quarterback. Even if that wasn’t true, Brees’ right shoulder had been nearly destroyed in the last game of the 2005 season while he was with San Diego. Quarterbacks certainly don’t recover from that.

Then there was the city of New Orleans and the football team that represents them. The Saints’ history is one of futility, a team that only knew how to lose and playing in a city that had been knocked to its knees. After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the Saints were packed off to San Antonio for a season and almost stayed there.

All this proves is that you should never make assumptions without first taking heart into account — and boy did we see a lot of that here at Sun Life Stadium.

The quarterback who overcame it all led a team and a city on a ride that few could ever have imagined. But there they were, dancing in confetti and ready to party beyond the dawn after beating the favored Indianapolis Colts 31-17 behind one of the sharpest performances by a quarterback any of us will ever see.

“Four years ago, whoever thought something like this could happen?” Brees said.

Well, nobody.

Brees was 32 of 39 for 288 yards and a pair of touchdowns and the Colts never did figure out how to stop him. The MVP of this Super Bowl shook off an early lead by the Colts and made this game his own. He was 29-for-32 in the last three quarters and in the frantic, final period it was Brees who made the plays while his counterpart, Peyton Manning, threw a disastrous interception.

The 10-point comeback matched the best in Super Bowl history. After falling behind 10-0, the Saints outscored the Colts 31-7 over the final three quarters. Brees was the major reason why.

“He’s a great leader,” Saints guard Jahri Evans said. “His performance was awesome. He has been awesome all year and today he showed it.”

Brees’ 2-yard scoring pass to Jeremy Shockey with 5:42 remaining put the Saints ahead for good. New Orleans clinched it when cornerback Tracy Porter returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown just as Manning was moving the Colts toward a possible tying touchdown.

Minutes later, there was Brees, holding the Lombardi Trophy aloft as Saints fans showered their most popular player — most popular person in the state of Louisiana, no doubt — with love as the improbable scene unfolded. They cheered, they chanted, but mostly they just savored the realization of what had finally happened.

“It’s destiny,” Brees said.

Joe Henderson is a staff writer for The Tampa Tribune.