Gibberman: Lasting image
Feb 8, 2010, 9:42 PM | Updated: Jan 14, 2011, 4:27 pm
I was 100% sure Super Bowl XLIV was going to overtime.
Peyton Manning got the ball with 5:42 left in the fourth quarter and this was going to become one of those career defining drives.
This was going to join the Colts-Patriots 2007 AFC Championship game when he brought Indy back from an 18 point deficit in the second half to start to build a playoff legacy that matched his regular season success
Joe Montana had “The Catch”, his game winning touchdown pass to John Taylor in the 1989 Super Bowl, and three other NFL Super Bowl titles.
Manning had reached the level in my head where he could do no wrong.
The question I was thinking about was not whether the Colts would tie the game, it was who was going to score the touchdown and would Manning work the clock to perfection like he always does leaving the Saints no time to answer in regulation.
My buddy sitting next to me at the Super Bowl party, who happened to pick the Saints to win, says under his breath pick to the house. Next thing I know he is jumping up and down screaming as Saints cornerback Tracy Porter is running untouched into the end zone.
Complete and utter shock.
This was not what was supposed to happen.
This was supposed to be Peyton Manning winning his second Super Bowl and starting to join Joe Montana as not only one of the greatest regular season quarterbacks ever, but one of the greatest postseason quarterbacks ever.
Manning is only 33 years old, he still has time to build his case to become the greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL, but the image of watching Porter score the game defining touchdown is something that is going to be hard to forget.
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