by Troy Rogers and Reg Seeton
As CBS Sports celebrates its 50th year of broadcasting
the NFL, President of News and Sports, Sean McManus
and The Super Bowl Today team of Dan Marino, Boomer
Esiason, Shannon Sharpe are ready for Super Bowl
XLIV and the highly anticipated showdown between
the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints.
Interestingly, since many are saying Super Bowl
XLIV will be dominated by the passing games of
Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, former NFL greats
turned CBS broadcasters Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason,
and Shannon Sharpe know a thing or two about offensive
running and gunning on the field for big games.
Ahead of Super Bowl XLIV, Marino, Esiason, and Sharpe join broadcast teammates James Brown and former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach, Bill Cowher, for The Super Bowl Today, CBS Sports Super Bowl XLIV pre-game show, which begins at 2:00pm ET.
With the hype building for Super Bowl XLIV and the showdown between Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, we joined CBS Sports head Sean McManus, Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, and Shannon Sharpe on a recent conference call for Super Bowl XLIV to get their thoughts on the many match-ups on the field, the story behind the Saints, why the Colts are such a force, and the ingredients necessary for a successful NFL franchise.
What do you believe in today's NFL makes a successful franchise and a less successful franchise and in particular what is New Orleans and Indianapolis doing right these days?
BOOMER
ESIASON: First of all, it's the structure
of the entire organization if you ask me. And
then secondly, if you get a guy like Peyton
Manning or Drew Brees, it's so much easier to
win football games because they really, truly
are different. In the case of a guy like Peyton
Manning, he's offensive coordinator, he's the
coach, he's the guy that is really running the
entire football operation, when you think about
it, on the practice field. And you know, Dan
[Marino] was one of those players. I'd like
to think I was one of those players, where the
other players follow you. Those players are
the ones that step up.
Drew Brees has been that, reigniting his career under Sean Payton. Before Sean got there, really what they were dealing with, playing games in Texas and moving all over the place, the fact that they kept them there and they were allowed to establish their personalities there. You realize that a strong head coach, a strong quarterback presence, and quality personnel people are really truly what make a good franchise. In the case of the Colts, they've been a great franchise when Peyton Manning arrived.
Now in the last four or five years since Sean Payton has been there, there has been a really good quality structure set up now down in New Orleans. You add that with a great quarterback and you have a good team. Unfortunately, although they haven't won a Super Bowl yet, they're going to be a very competitive team as long as Sean Payton and Drew Brees stay together.
Looking at the Saints, it seems one of their most effective offensive is when they have their running game going. I guess it was number six in the regular season. How big a factor is that going to be in how effective they are in running the ball, and do you think they'll be successful against the Colts doing that?
SHANNON
SHARPE: Well, they have to try it. Peyton
Manning proved he can beat you if he only has
the ball for fifteen minutes. But the Colts
need to have somewhere around thirty six tackle
submissions to keep Manning off the field. He
doesn't make the mistake that they've got to
win big to go to the championship game. So before
he's on the field, before he happens to make
a play, you don't want him on the field. So
if you can run the football and you only get
a hundred yards, that's going to use time. That's
going to take five or six minutes off of the
clock that he doesn't have the football. You
have to try. I just don't think they're the
team that can go toe-to-toe with them.
DAN MARINO: You know, when you think about the Saints, I think about them all year being a very balanced football team, and I'm sure they're going to go in with that same attitude. It's going to be important not only to run the ball but the balance part is converting on third down and trying to keep Peyton off the field. That all goes into it, field position, special teams, all of that. But the other thing is, which I think may be a little tougher for the Saints, is running the football. I mean, the Colts did it and did a great job against the Jets. I think they held them to eighty-six yards running the football. The Colts are a very fast defense and they're pretty aggressive in their front seven. So I think the Saints are going to have to have that balanced offence and continue to drive. But I do think they're going to have a good chance, they really are, because they played real well all year. And you never know in a football game, that's the way it is.
As
good a match up as this appears to be, all else
being equal, would Brett Favre in this game
have produced a better number [in ratings] than
the Saints will?
SEAN MCMANUS: I don't think so. I think we have the person who a lot of people would say for the past number of years is the greatest quarterback playing in the NFL. So I think we're covered in that storyline. I really think for the non-football fan - and a lot of people that watch the Super Bowl are not your normal viewers that watch every Sunday- I think the New Orleans story has as much appeal as the Brett Favre story just because it's so emotional in this country with the reclamation of the city and it's an inspirational story. So I think we would've been fine with Brett Favre and I think we'll do just as well with the Saints to be honest with you.
Every time we have a press conference we talk about the ratings for the Super Bowl. I'd like to make a point that the most important factor of any rating for any Super Bowl is not the way they match-up, it's the quality of the game. And everybody was all exorcised about the fact that the Super Bowl we had with the Patriots and Carolina was because Carolina is a tiny market, but we had a great game and a really great rating. So Brett Favre would've been terrific and a great story in the NFL, but I think the New Orleans Saints are equally as good a story and even have a more broad appeal.
How is the Colt's defense so good and yet so small?
ESIASON:
Well, if you listen to what Jim Caldwell, their
head coach, has said, he's talking about being
fast at the end of the year. And that's one
of the reasons that they claim they took the
last two weeks off with their key players both
on offence and defense, he wants fresh legs.
He wants speed and then of course you have to
be fearless. If you saw some of the tackles
that Melvin Bullitt threw out there last week,
that Gary Brackett threw out there last week,
you can see this team has really taken the pride
sack to another level.
You know, it's very simple when you're on defense. And it's one-on-one, you either make the tackle or you don't. Right now, because of that speed and because of their suitability, the Colts' defense is playing great. But unfortunately for them, they get overshadowed by the fact that they're playing with the great Peyton Manning.
I think I said this somewhere along the year that, especially towards the end of the season, the Colts [had their] best defense going into the playoffs therefore Peyton Manning's best support. When you have a high functioning quarterback who's playing well like they did against the Jets last week then you have an opportunistic defense, and the defense is flying all over the place. You have what we saw against the Jets, a team that dominated them in the second half.
The Colts and this decade, I mean, we all think about the Patriots as being the team of the decade winning three Super Bowls, and rightfully so. But can you just talk about what's made Indianapolis? They won more games this decade than anybody, all these consecutive playoff appearances, etc. Why are they what they are?
SHARPE: They've got the best quarterbacks. I mean, the plays they can make, they got Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon. I thought for sure. They are going to make those plays they made in championship games more than any other team. I'll give you an example: When I went to Denver, John Elway said to me, "Look, I'm looking to you to make the plays. I will come to you in some situation, third down, whatever it is, I'm counting on you." You don't know what that does to a young guy's confidence.
You take a Pierre Garcon, you take an Austin Collie, and say, "You know what? They're probably going to take [Reggie] Wayne away. They're probably going to double Dallas Clark. You two guys are going to have play a match up and step up and play." You don't know what that does to a person's confidence. And I was talking to someone on the radio today, and I said, "If you really look at it, over the next four years you can just hand pick Manning for the MVP because he's going to have 4000-4500 yards, between 30-40 touchdowns, and his team is going to win every year for the next four to five years." Unless you put up a Tom Brady MVP leader, I just don't see there are that good guys in the system.
MARINO:
Yeah. But I would say that New England still
is the team of the last decade and because of
winning the three Super Bowls. That's one thing,
Indianapolis has had quite a bit of success.
But at the same time, they only got to the Super
Bowl once and they won it, obviously, and that's
outstanding. We talked about this earlier: It's
the GM, it's the coach's ability to coach them,
and the quarterback quite honestly.
The GM now ... They have that vision of what they want their team to look like. So they lose a Marvin Harrison and they go out a draft these young guys who kind of step in and fill his shoes there and guys can make plays for Peyton Manning. So they have a vision defensively and they want the speed. You know the guys in linebacker can run the field. So when you have a quarterback, the guy that's running the show like Napoleon, go out and get a supporting cast. The other thing is how Peyton takes those young guys under his wing and teaches them in the off season so they're ready to play. Quite honestly, that is something, I wouldn't say unique, but I'll say it's one of the reasons why they're so successful right now.
