Don't confuse Niners with Saints

<p>This column is about the Super Bowl but it’s really about the 49ers. Call the 49ers the subtext, and I will get back to them later.</p><p>The Saints’ victory — so unexpected, at least by this deluded writer — was because of two things: better quarterbacking in this one game and better coaching.</p><p>Let’s start with the quarterbacks. Peyton Manning is a great quarterback. We take that for granted. People compare him to Joe Montana, although Montana never threw an interception in a Super Bowl and Manning threw the pick that cost the Colts the game.</p><p>One huge issue in this game was the battle between the quarterbacks, not that they ever play against each other. Drew Brees had seemed frightened against the Vikings in the NFC championship game and the Saints were lucky to win. Manning never seems awed or frightened. He is the definition of guts and competence.</p><p>When the Colts got the ball with 5:35 left in the fourth quarter, it was Peyton Time. You just knew what was going to happen. He would lead the Colts down the field, doing those crazy gyrations behind the line of scrimmage, and the Colts would score the tying touchdown because that’s what they do. And the game would go to overtime and the Colts would win.</p><p>The script was so obvious, it seemed trite. And Manning sure drove down the field, gobbling up yards on precise passes, his specialty. The Saints weren’t getting any pressure on him — the Colts never got any pressure on Brees, either — and Manning looked unbeatable.</p><p>And then he dropped back just outside the red zone and the Saints blitzed — not that blitzes bother this cool customer — and he threw a pick right to Tracy Porter, who ran it back for a touchdown. Manning had tried to get to Porter, but some Saint knocked him out of the way.</p><p>This was the Killer Pick, the game ender. And it was on Manning. Not only didn’t he win the game. He flat-out lost the game. And that will be on his head this week, next week and the rest of his life.</p><p>Cut to Brees, a pretty good quarterback but no one ever says he’s going to the Hall of Fame and everyone says Manning is bound for Canton. Brees did something you must think hard about. He took the Saints on his back and he won the game. The NFL is a quarterback league and the quarterback has to do the on-the-back routine to really count. Brees did, but Manning dropped the team to the turf and watched it shatter.</p><p>It’s not only that Brees’ statistics were terrific. It’s that he was so calm and brave. He was successful on that two-point conversion late in the game, which put all the pressure on Manning. And Manning didn’t stand up under the pressure.</p><p>So, one thing we saw in this game — one important lesson we learned — is the absolute importance of the quarterback in an all-or-nothing game. File that away and I’ll get back to it in a few paragraphs.</p><p>Now, we come to the coaching. Sean Payton showed what he can do that’s special — in case fans across the nation weren’t familiar with him. It’s not only his clever offense. It’s not only the way he turned the Saints into a top-echelon team. That’s all impressive, of course. But his in-game management was brilliant and strong-willed and not all good coaches can work at his level, believe me.</p><p>Midway through the second quarter the Saints, trailing 10-3, had the ball at the Colts’ one-yard line. They tried to run it in on third down but didn’t make it. I was yelling at the TV for Payton to go for the field goal. You take the points. You don’t give away the points. This is almost gospel, and when Payton went for the TD on fourth down, I thought he was incompetent. When his team failed I knew he was a dope.</p><p>Boy, was I wrong.</p><p>Even though that call didn’t work, even though it looked bad, it changed the game and led directly to the Saints’ victory. Payton showed he believed in his team. He showed he would do anything to win. He had the guts to try the unusual — he wasn’t playing it safe, wasn’t playing the percentages — and his team must have loved that. And when he started the second half with that onside kick and the Saints recovered and drove for a TD, well, it was a tribute to coaching pluck and nerve.</p><p>Payton, so full of imagination, took the game away from the Colts and their coach, Jim Caldwell, who stood on the sideline looking mesmerized, who surely did not know how to take possession of the game like Payton. Payton also gets credit for the blitz at the end that rattled Manning and resulted in the Killer Pick that ended the game. This victory was a perfect partnership of coach and quarterback.</p><p>And let’s add one more thing. The Colts had an undefeated season going and then lay down against the Jets. That was a poor show. It is not why they lost the Super Bowl, but it feels like justice was done, that someone in charge made the Colts pay for snubbing tradition.</p><p>Now to the 49ers. In a big-deal game, would they have the quarterbacking and coaching we saw from the Saints? This is an important question and here are the provisional answers.</p><p>Alex Smith is a good quarterback, better than people think. But he has shown no ability to win a game on his own, to grab a team, put the team on his back and do miracles. Is that a criticism of Smith? I suppose it is. NFL quarterbacks must be miracle workers at some point in their careers. Maybe miracles are right around the corner for Smith. </p><p>Next question: Has Mike Singletary shown the sheer nerve and imagination of Sean Payton? Has he demonstrated the ability to seize a game or out-coach the guy across the field?</p><p>I want to say yes but I would be lying. Like Smith, we give Singletary the benefit of the doubt right now — not forever. Singletary is a mere beginner, but he’s moving into his second full season and he needs to be a Payton, nothing less. The 49ers have had Bill Walsh and George Seifert and they deserve a coach at that level.</p><p>This is reality and this is what the Super Bowl taught us.</p><p>For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at blog.pressdemocrat.com/cohn. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.</p>