Drew Brees flawless

The New Orleans Saints won their first Superbowl defeating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV yesterday. Quarter back Drew Brees tied a Super Bowl record with 32 successful pass completions to win the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award (MVP).

Brees finished the regular season with a completion percentage of 70.62 which established a new NFL record. Also, in 2008, Brees threw for 5,069 yards, finishing 15 yards short of the NFL record of the single season set by Dan Marino in 1984.

Saints coach, Sean Payton, called an onside kick at the start of the 2nd half which was recovered, this along with Payton Manning's interception in the 4th quarter were the two turning points of the game.

Was the onside kick a roll of the dice? Well, since the 2000 season, more than 500 onside kicks have been attempted by NFL teams. Nearly half took place in the fourth quarter and the kicking team was able to recover the ball less than 15 per cent of the time. However, when the tactic has been used in the first three-quarters the success ratio approaches 60 per cent.

Super Bowl XLIV had a US television audience of 106.5 million topping that of 1983’s final episode of M*A*S*H to become the most-watched programme in US history.

Ref: Wikipedia Irish Times - America at Large Print this post