AMERICAN FOOTBALL:A GARRETT Hartley overtime field goal edged the New Orleans Saints past the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 and into their first Super Bowl as the top-seeded Saints claimed the NFC Championship in sudden death after a see-saw affair in front of a raucous New Orleans crowd at the Superdome.
They will now meet the AFC-champion Indianapolis Colts at Super Bowl XLIV in Miami on February 7th, the Colts having beaten the New York Jets 30-17 earlier in the evening at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Vikings led in the opening quarter with Adrian Peterson completing a 19-yard touchdown run, Ryan Longwell kicking the extra point. Saints running back Pierre Thomas got the home team on the scoreboard when he collected a 38-yard pass from quarterback Drew Brees before the Vikings’ Brett Favre threw a touchdown pass of his own to Sidney Rice to leave Minnesota with a 14-7 lead heading to the second quarter.
New Orleans were level again at 14-14 by half-time thanks to a nine-yard Brees pass to Devery Henderson and early in the second half the Saints’ Pierre Thomas put the Saints in front for the first time.
Not for long. Seven minutes later Peterson grabbed his second touchdown of the night, Longwell’s extra point tying the contest at 21-21. Reggie Bush drew first blood for the Saints in the fourth quarter after collecting a five-yard pass from Brees.
Favre received treatment following a big hit by Bobby McCray but Peterson’s third touchdown and Longwell’s kick tying it up at 28-28 with 5:03 remaining.
Favre’s late pass was intercepted by Tracy Porter and it was Hartley who eventually sealed the win from the 40-yard line.
The Indianapolis Colts booked their ticket in style. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning brought the unfancied Jets’ play-off to an end, passing for 377 yards and making three touchdown passes to outshine rookie opposite number Mark Sanchez.
The Colts led through a first-quarter 25-yard field goal from Matt Stover. But Sanchez threw long for wide receiver Braylon Edwards to complete an 80-yard touchdown run, kicker Jay Feely adding the extra point.
Stover kept the Colts in touch with a 19-yard field goal but Sanchez’s short pass set up Dustin Keller for a touchdowns. Feely added a field goal from 48 yards to his kicked extra point as the Jets took a surprise 17-6 lead.
Then Colts quarterback Manning threw a 16-yard touchdown pass for Austin Collie and Indianapolis went in at half-time trailing 17-13. Manning’s four-yard touchdown pass set up Pierre Garcon with Stover adding the point to put the Colts 20-17 ahead going into the last quarter before Manning’s third touchdown pass to Dallas Clark sealed victory.
