Sports

Risky onside kick pays off for Saints’ coach Payton

MIAMI, Fla. – Halftime is a long time on Super Bowl Sunday. Much longer than any other game during the season. No doubt, though, it didn’t take a long time for Saints coach Sean Payton to decide he was going to start the second half of Super Bowl XLIV with a huge gamble.

It was the sort of play that gets a head coach labeled a gusty genius or a reckless fool. Trailing 10-6 coming out of halftime, Payton knew he was kicking off to start the third quarter, putting the ball back into the hands of Peyton Manning. Not the way Payton wanted to start the second half.

And so he rolled the dice. He instructed his punter/kickoff specialist, Thomas Morstead, to go with an onside kick. Here’s where players can make their coach look smart. Morstead kicked the ball on a bounce to the left side, but it skipped directly to Hank Baskett, a backup receiver who presumably is supposed to have decent hands. Baskett barely laid a glove on the ball as it deflected off his helmet and to the grass as a mad scramble ensued in front of the Saints bench. When the bodies were finally un-piled Chris Reis, a Saints backup safety, was hugging the football on the New Orleans 42-yard line.

Payton has a history of such trickery but it hasn’t always worked. Last season, the Saints were leading the Vikings in New Orleans – a game that included two Reggie Bush punt returns for touchdowns – when Payton rolled the dice with an onside kick. The Vikings recovered it, stole away the momentum and the game.

A spark was lit. Drew Brees went 5-for-5 on a 58-yard drive that culminated in a 16-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Thomas and the Saints had their first lead, 13-10. Thanks to the risk-taking of their head coach. Such guts carried the Saints to a 31-17 upset victory over the Colts.

“We talked about it at halftime, it’s a credit to every one of these players here,” Payton said.

How strange was it that early in the game Payton avoided a risk. No one would ever accuse Payton of taking a conservative approach or reigning in his offense. In the second quarter Saints moved into the shadow of the Colts end zone when Brees hit Marques Colston over the middle for 27 yards to the Indy 3-yard line. That should have set the stage for the first New Orleans touchdown of the game. Instead, it set the stage for some second-guessing heaped on Payton.

A pass to Lance Moore got nothing and a damaging five-yard false start penalty against backup tackle Zach Streif pushed the Saints back to the eight-yard line. On second down Payton smartly crossed up the Colts – who were thinking pass – and Pierre Thomas rushed seven yards to the 1-yard line. Trailing 10-3, it had the feel of two-down territory. Brees had a hot hand on the chilly night and was having no trouble locating his array of talented receivers.

So what does Payton do? Runs the ball twice and gets nothing.

On third down Payton made his intentions known. He took out all his receivers and replaced them will fullback Kyle Eckel and three tight ends, a classic run formation. The Colts knew what was coming and stopped it when Mike Bell on only his second carry of the night ran off right tackle and slipped on the grass, allowing cornerback Kelvin Hayden to make the tackle for no gain.

Actually, Bell lost a half-yard on the play and with 1:55 left in the first half Payton called for time to think it over. He opted to eschew the chip-shot field goal and on fourth down put his receivers back in the game, replacing Bell with Thomas. Brees simply handed off to Thomas, who like Bell on the previous play tried to go right, running behind Pro Bowl guard Jahri Evans. Before Thomas had a chance to square his shoulder he was hit by linebacker Gary Brackett, who slowed Thomas up so that cornerback Tim Jennings and linebacker Clint Session could close in for the kill. No gain. No points.

But in the end, a huge gamble and a huge win.