Saints or Colts? Athlon’s Super Bowl week continues with game predictions from our editors.
Rob Doster: Colts by 5 -- Two words: Peyton Manning. His will to win should provide the difference between two evenly matched teams.
Braden Gall: Colts by 3 -- Drew Brees and the 'team-o-destiny' carry a lead late into the fourth quarter. Dwight Freeney's absence plays a huge roll but the Stephen Hawking of quarterbacks, Peyton Manning, leads his team down the field for the game-winning touchdown in the closing minutes.
Steven Lassan: Colts by 7 -- Expect an entertaining and high scoring Super Bowl, but the Colts will ride the right arm of Peyton Manning to their third title. The Saints have done a great job forcing turnovers and making plays on defense this year, but Manning and the Colts won't make the same mistakes the Vikings did in the NFC Championship.
Mitch Light: Saints by 1 -- The sound pick is probably the Colts, but I’ve got to go with my heart on this one. I’m not necessarily a Saints fan, but my entire extended family is from New Orleans, and I know how much this means to the city. My grandmother, who is 95, has been waiting for this since the Saints first kicked off in 1967. Go Saints!
Charlie Miller: Colts by 9 -- Much like Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning has that I-won’t-allow-my-team-to-lose mentality, and the ability to see that it happens. The Colts will prevail in the preparation, focus and execution aspects before and during the game.
Mike Nahrstedt: Colts by 7 -- A Saints win would complete the feel-good story they launched when they advanced to the NFC title game three years ago, helping to lift an entire region in the throes of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. But New Orleans’ opportunistic defense is set up to beat mere mortals, not the machine that is Peyton Manning and the Colts.
Nathan Rush: Saints by 2 -- The "Who Dat?" Super Bowl will be an early Mardi Gras celebration featuring The Who at halftime, Peyton feeling pressure Archie can relate to and New Orleans' first family of football on hand to reluctantly witness a coronation 43 years in the making.
Jake Veyhl: Saints by 2 -- It’s all about the intangibles in this one. Drew Brees puts the city of New Orleans on his back and Garrett Hartley delivers another game-winning field goal to kick off a wild celebration.
Doug Word: Colts by 6 -- I'm expecting to see one of the higher-scoring Super Bowls in recent memory with Peyton Manning and his success against New Orleans' pass defense ultimately deciding the game. Brees & Co. will make it interesting, however.




