Tracy Porter, Saints' Defense Make Play of the Year

MIAMI -- You want to know about Tracy Porter's haircut, which is understandable, and we'll get to that. You can't write the story about the guy whose interception of Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl without addressing how and why he showed up with images of the Louisiana Superdome and the Lombardi Trophy shaved into his head. Or how he missed the team bus to the game because that haircut took so long. We'll get to that soon enough, but we're going to start with the interception, because Porter credits one of the most exciting plays in Super Bowl history to one of the most boring and mundane things a football player does.

"It was just great film study," Porter said. "All week, we watched it on film, and on third down, that was a big route for them. They went to it a lot. And when that route came, it was just like I was watching it on film. And when I caught the pick, my mindset was to score. That's our mindset every time we get our hands on the ball on defense."

All week long, the Saints repeated their defensive mantra: We make plays. We get turnovers. Sure, they give up yards, and they give up points, but when it matters, the Saints get the ball. And in Super Bowl XLIV, with Manning marching toward what looked sure to be a game-tying touchdown, Porter did just that. And he ran it in for the touchdown that locked up the game.

"When it's the fourth quarter, we always say we're going to finish," linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. "If they're going to hit us for a score, so be it. But we're going to play our defense. And that means be aggressive, be physical, and above all else, it means get the ball."

That it was Porter, the same cornerback who got the crucial interception of Brett Favre in the NFC Championship Game two weeks earlier, was nearly immaterial. The Saints' defense is part amoeba, part cobra. They change constantly, they attack swiftly. And to understand how the Saints' defense won them this Super Bowl, you have to go back to a few key moments over the past two weeks.

You have to go back to Monday, Jan. 25, the day after the Saints beat the Vikings to claim the NFC title. In a meeting with his coaches, Saints head coach Sean Payton was discussing the idea that they would do well to encourage the Colts to run.

"You guys can't be upset," Payton said to defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, "if they have 100 yards rushing."

Williams, who agreed with the sentiment, went a little harder.

"We can't be upset if they have 200 yards rushing," Williams said.

So a couple of days later, Payton addressed the defense in a team meeting and hedged.

"You guys can't be upset if they get 150 yards rushing," he said.

So a multi-faceted game plan developed, and one of its key facets was a shift to a 3-4 alignment for the first quarter so the Saints could cover the Colts' receivers deep and invite them to run the ball up the middle.

"We tried to invite them to run as much as they would do it," Williams said late Sunday night, when it was all over.

The Colts did. They racked up 66 rushing yards in the first quarter and raced out to a 10-0 lead that might have had Saints fans panicked but was pretty much along the lines of what Williams had been expecting. As long as the score didn't get out of hand, he knew he could stick with the amoeba game plan, which called for a switch back to a 4-3 alignment for the second quarter and then a ton of shifting looks in the second half.

"You can't beat Peyton Manning if you don't keep changing what he's looking at," Williams said.

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The key piece to that may have been Vilma, who as the middle linebacker and defensive captain was responsible for calling audibles and trying to keep up with Manning's frantic scrimmage-line checks and decoys. Vilma estimated that he changed defenses before the snap on between 15-20 plays, including a 3rd-and-11 play with 10:51 left in the game. On that play, he saw Colts receiver Austin Collie check to a different route, so Vilma checked his defense into a Cover-2. That meant that he, Vilma, would have to get back and cover Collie, and he did, racing 30 yards down the field to bat the ball away from Collie, force an ultimately unsuccessful field goal attempt and keep the Colts ahead by one point, 17-16.

"The mark of a really good football player is to play well and elevate everybody around him," Williams said. "That's the game Jonathan Vilma had tonight."

The Saints took over after that on their own 41-yard line and went down the field for the go-ahead touchdown. But they gave the ball back to Manning with 5:42 to go, and they knew something had to be done. Somebody had to make a play, or else Manning was going to tie the game and maybe throw it into overtime. Manning and the Colts moved 39 yards in five plays, all passes, before the game-turning play was made by a guy who missed the bus because he was getting his hair cut.

"I was the last one to go, and I knew it was going to take a long time," Porter said. "So I was worried I would miss the bus to the game."

Reggie is the name of the fellow who cuts the Saints' hair, and he flew in special for this day. He had a plan for Porter that went back months. If the Saints made it to the Super Bowl, the left side of Porter's head would read "SB44." In the back would be the Superdome, with a road leading around to the right side of his head and to an image of the Lombardi Trophy. It was impressive work, especially for a guy who only charges $40 for a haircut.

"The amount of time he spends on my hair, I usually give him a big tip," Porter said.

Porter missed the 3 p.m. bus he was hoping to make, but he finished in time to catch the late bus at 3:30. Which gave him plenty of time to be in place for the play of his life. But he was there, and he watched it all unfold as if he'd seen it before.

It was third down and five, Saints up by seven, and Manning had the ball on the New Orleans 31-yard line. Porter watched as Collie lined up in the No. 1 receiver spot, but he knew it didn't look right. He knew from his film study that the Colts didn't put Collie in the No. 1 spot on third downs. So when he saw the motion that took Collie out of that spot and made Reggie Wayne the No. 1, he knew what was coming.

"Once they motioned down, we knew the No. 1 was going to wide-depart and run to the sticks," Porter said. "And when I saw him do that, I jumped the route."

And there was the ball, in his hands. And he looked up, and there were Will Smith and Anthony Hargrove, ready to throw the key blocks, and he knew he was going to score.

"I just had to make one cut, and I knew that's where I was going," Porter said. "What a feeling. I can't even describe it."

There was 3:12 left on the clock, and Manning was still playing quarterback for the Colts, but the Saints had a two-touchdown lead and a feeling none of them could describe. They weren't about to celebrate yet, but they knew what Porter's play had done.

"We're Super Bowl champs," running back Pierre Thomas said. "That's all I could think: 'We're Super Bowl champs.'"

In large part, because the defense got the ball. Just like they said they would all week.