Laissez les bon temps rouler.
The New Orleans Saints will play in their first Super Bowl against the city’s greatest hometown player in Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. Oh, the good times will roll, all right.
For everyone who isn’t a defensive coordinator, anyway.
The Saints, with a 31-28 victory in overtime against the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC championship game, and the Indianapolis Colts, with their rout over the Jets on Sunday in the AFC title game, will bring two of the league’s most explosive offenses into Super Bowl XLIV in Miami.
Which means two defenses that finished the regular season 25th and 18th, respectively, in yards allowed per game will be squarely in the cross hairs of Manning and Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
There certainly will be no shortage of story lines as the Saints carry the hopes of a city still rebuilding from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on their shoulders and Manning continues to carve out his Hall of Fame legacy against the team he grew up watching — the team his father, Archie, played with for 11 seasons.
The stories will be framed in almost every way imaginable during the days leading into the title game. And somewhere, staring with furrowed brows into migraine-inducing video on the screens in front of them, will be Gregg Williams and Larry Coyer.
And it just may be those two — in what they do over the next two weeks, in the decisions they make — who determine who carries the Lombardi Trophy off the podium in Miami.
Williams, in his first season as the Saints’ defensive coordinator, is aggressive by nature and, having spent 11 seasons with the Oilers/Titans, is well- versed in facing Manning over the years.
Coyer, a former Broncos defensive coordinator, is finishing his first season as the Colts’ defensive chief and is aggressive as well with a coaching resume that dates to 1965.
The numbers say Williams has the bigger task. His defense was 21st against the run in the regular season, 26th against the pass and surrendered 475 yards to the Vikings.
Williams has publicly admitted his group isn’t talented enough to survive on a steady diet of playing it straight. So it attacks and forces turnovers.
The Saints did not sack Brett Favre, but they punished him mightily, hitting him at least 17 times and forcing him into two interceptions, including one in the closing seconds of regulation.
During the year, the Saints were third in takeaways with 39 — safety Darren Sharper tied for the league lead in interceptions with nine — and third in turnover margin at plus-11. They finished with five takeaways and were a plus-four Sunday.
The Colts, having finished the season with the league’s worst rushing attack, are decidedly one-sided in their approach. But Manning is so well-schooled, so well-prepared, it hasn’t mattered.
Jets coach Rex Ryan, a proven defensive mind who also leans to the aggressive side in the pass rush, said Manning “threw for about a billion yards” after watching Manning finish with 377 yards passing and three touchdowns.
In 18 games this season — 16 in the regular season and two in the playoffs — only the Broncos held Manning to less than a 60 percent completion rate, but he still threw four touchdown passes.
The Colts also start fast, scoring on their first offensive possession eight times in 18 games this season.
And they have taken possession of the ball inside two minutes before halftime and scored six times — four field goals and two touchdowns.
For his part, Coyer will try his luck against the most balanced offense in the league, one that led the NFL in scoring in the regular season and had 11 different players score at least one touchdown on offense.
The Colts do it with speed and have pushed aside at least some of the two-deep look — both safeties deep — that was their signature under former coach Tony Dungy. They blitz more under Coyer, play a bigger variety of coverages and keep teams out of the end zone.
Indianapolis finished eighth in scoring defense at 19.2 points per game. They are undersized up front, however, and teams ran the ball right over the center 36 percent of their running plays.
That’s an issue for the Colts because the Saints, despite their top-tier passing game, still had eight games in the regular season when they ran the ball more than they threw it and one more game where the split was 50-50.
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com
What to watch for
Saints starting cornerbacks Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter and safety Randall Gay have to understand that Colts quarterback Peyton Manning has two weeks to study them, so they will be tested.
The Jets took away Reggie Wayne on Sunday, much as the Broncos did earlier this season, and Manning simply directed the ball to other places. Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie finished with 151 and 123 yards receiving, respectively. And Manning targeted Garcon, Collie and tight end Dallas Clark on 31 of his 39 attempts.
Jeff Legwold, The Denver Post
