Dreams really can come true

A lifelong dream came true Sunday night.

In my youth as a New Orleans Saints fan and seeing what happened from the infancy of this franchise in 1966 and having covered this team for the past 26 years it is still hard to believe.

The New Orleans Saints are World Champions.

The 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts was very much orchestrated like what we have seen for most of the season for this team.

The Saints fell behind early, made a strong run to catch up in the second quarter and then Drew Brees and a very aggressive and underrated defense took over in the fourth quarter.

Just think about the fact that the Saints have played six quarterbacks that have started in Super Bowls and the defense held Eli Manning (New York Giants) Jake Delhomme (Carolina Panthers), Tom Brady (New England Patriots), Kurt Warner (Arizona Cardinals), Brett Favre (Minnesota Vikings) and Peyton Manning (Indianapolis Colts) to just three touchdown passes and forced seven pass interceptions in those six outings.

That’s playing some pretty strong defense and you would figure that the game-breaker Sunday night was a 74-yard pass interception by cornerback Tracy Porter for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

How ironic it is that a young man who grew up in Port Allen and then was not recruited by LSU and had to play his college football at the University of Indiana, intercepted a Louisiana-bred quarterback in Peyton Manning to seal the Super Bowl deal.

The best off-season move this team made was to bring in Gregg Williams to take over their defense.

Quarterback Drew Brees was marvelous to say the least. We all know that Brees is a certain NFL Hall of Fame choice, but for those few doubting-Thomas’, this game all but  proved it. Without him in the lineup we would not be celebrating this great achievement.

But like all season long it was a total team effort.

From Brees to Porter, Pierre Thomas, Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Reggie Bush, Lance Moore, one of the best offensive line units in the NFL, Scott Fujita, Scott Shanle, Jonathan Vilma, Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins, place-kicker Garrett Hartley and Thomas Morstead.

All season long this has been a team of destiny and they played like a unit on a mission for themselves, for their teammates and for a region that needed something really good to happen to them.

For a region that has been devastated by weather events out of anyone’s control and fighting to get back on their feet, God blessed us with a football team that has eased the pain and misery suffered by many.

Do you believe in miracles? Yes.

Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

 

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