The Sports Monitor

The push for the Super Bowl begins in earnest later today, with more than an outside chance of all four home teams losing this weekend. Will it happen? Take a look below. Saints at Seahawks: The Seahawks are the first team with a losing record to make the playoffs. Does it make them a lock to lose? When the Cardinals made the playoffs two seasons ago, they were considered a lock to lose in the first round. That, of course, didn't happen and they made it to the Super Bowl. I think that's where the parallel ends, even though the Saints have never won a playoff game on the road and are missing two running backs. Drew Brees should have a field day. Saints 34-17. Jets at Colts: This is a rematch of last year's AFC title game. Rex Ryan makes it very easy to root against the Jets in this one. New York has been uneven down the stretch and Peyton Manning has had success against Ryan-coached teams. When it comes down to it, however, I don't see Mark Sanchez making a big...

Random thoughts from Super Bowl XLIV: Give Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams some credit. He was masterful with his adjustments. After giving up 10 first-quarter points, the Saints outscored the Colts 31-7. Drew Brees is a logical choice for MVP. I couldn't argue with Tracy Porter being picked, too, after his game-clinching interception. Heck, coach Sean Payton deserved consideration if a coach could get the award. What about Thomas Morstead? He's the kicker who had the best onside kick ever. It doesn't get much better than that. My memory's fuzzy, but I recall Santonio Holmes having a touchdown overturned in last year's AFC Championship Game against the Ravens. He fumbled after diving into the end zone after getting two feet down to make the catch. I'm still not sure how that was ruled incomplete and the Saints' Lance Moore got credited for a catch on the 2-point conversion. That said, Payton made a great call to challenge the catch.  Porter ...

Peyton Manning had a chance to cement his legacy Sunday night. The Colts were trailing the Saints 24-17 with less than 6 minutes left in Super Bowl XLIV. The Colts needed a touchdown. Manning needed to lead his team. Neither happened. Manning's pass was intercepted by Tracy Porter and returned 74 yards for a touchdown. It wasn't James Harrison rumbling 100 yards for a score, but it was the nail in the coffin for the Colts. Game over. A year ago, a quarterback with something to prove needed to lead his team down the field at the end of the game to win the Super Bowl. Ben Roethlisberger did it. Manning didn't. Manning can have the statistics and MVP awards. Roethlisberger has two Super Bowl rings to Manning's one. I'll take the titles. Whatever he does the rest of his career, Manning will never be able to join Joe Montana or Terry Bradshaw as having a perfect record in the big game. Roethisberger still has that chance. And Manning still had a lit...

Random thoughts from Sunday's championship games: The New Orleans Saints have faced two Hall of Fame quarterbacks in back-to-back rounds and still won. They beat up, battered and bruised Brett Favre and the Vikings in the NFC title game and did the same to Kurt Warner and the Cardinals. It's looking more and more likely that the Saints sent both Warner and Favre into retirement. Up next, another Hall of Fame QB, Peyton Manning. I don't think that'll be his last game. The Jets still had a chance to win the AFC title game until Reggie Wayne recovered his own fumble in the fourth quarter. Had the ball bounced the other way, the Jets could be making travel plans for Miami. The Vikings got too cute at the end of regulation trying to confuse the Saints and got burned. The 12-men-on-the-field penalty cost them the game. Well, Favre's interception didn't help either. Vikings RB Adrian Peterson looked like former Steelers RB Tim Worley carrying the football. If I...

To go from 6-2 and end up 6-5 is hard to take. A chance to win the division title was within the Steelers' grasp a couple weeks ago. Now, they need some help to get back into the division title chase and are simply relegated to contending for a wild-card playoff berth. That might be a bit of a fall for the Steelers, but you don't need to get a first-round bye in the playoffs to win the Super Bowl. The Cardinals made it to the big game last year after playing in the first round. And I think the Steelers did pretty well playing all of their games on the road before winning Super Bowl XL. The biggest need the Steelers have right now is to get Troy Polamalu healthy. The team can't win a game right now, let alone a playoff game, without him. A healthy Polamalu makes this team dangerous. That's why I'm not ready to hit the panic button on this season just yet. Polamalu's impact on the defense reminds me of the Colts' need for safety Bob Sanders when th...

Bill Belichick gambled against the Colts on Sunday night. Peyton Manning made him pay. Leading 34-28 with about 2 minutes left in the game, the Patriots faced a fourth-and-2 from their own 28. Common sense dictates punting from that spot and turning the game over to the defense. Belichick is anything but common. The Patriots gained 1 yard, the Colts got the ball and scored. Then the debate began. Was it a good call? There shouldn't be a debate. Such a call shouldn't be made. Only someone so full of himself would even consider going for it. Only someone with a warped sense of the sport would attempt to pull of such a stunt. "We tried to win the game on that play," Belichick said after the loss. Yeah, right. No. He tried to show his superiority. Now we have a better idea what kind of "genius" he really is. It's not very often when a coach truly is responsible for losing a game. Usually, it's the players' fault. Not this ti...