MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Tracy Porter has a curious, if not interesting trademark he’s developing in his young career – every few weeks, get something shaved into his head.
Early in the playoffs, it was a spider web.
Against Minnesota, he had Pac-Man figures cut into hair.
But in the game’s final week, he had SB44 shaped onto his head.
He should have had the word clutch done, instead.
Porter made one of the biggest plays in Super Bowl XLIV, intercepting Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and racing 74 yards into the end zone, sealing the Saints’ 31-17 win in the Big Game.
“I felt like a deer in headlights,” Porter said about his thoughts when he intercepted the ball. “You have that wide open field, no one in front of you, no one’s going to catch you. … I just had to make one cut and the end zone was right where I was.”
Porter, in just his second season out of Indiana , has become a mainstay in the Saints’ defensive backfield.
And to think, he almost wasn’t on the field Sunday for the biggest game in franchise history.
Against St. Louis in November, Porter injured his knee. It was originally reported to be a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear. It turned out to be only a mild knee sprain.
“He thought that, too,” Saints safety Darren Sharper said. “But the man upstairs worked some miracles and didn’t allow his knee to be torn up. He just had to sit out for a couple of weeks. It really just allowed him to sit back and watch football a lot more and study the game a lot more.”
Porter’s interception was his second of the postseason and gave him six for the entire season. His two pick-six’s were both in the same stadium.
But the second one will be the one he always remembers. History warrants that.
“He just made Super Bowl history,” fellow cornerback Jabari Greer said. “That’s something that can never be taken away. I’m so proud of him. I’m so proud of him. He worked so hard to get to this point and he deserves it.”
Pierre’s TD football
Leading into Sunday’s Super Bowl, running back Pierre Thomas pledged to give the football he scored his first touchdown with to former Saints running back Deuce McAllister.
After the game, Thomas let it be known that that’s exactly what he did.
Drew Brees hit Thomas for a 16-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter of the Saints’ 31-17 win over the Colts. He immediately found McAllister on the sideline and handed the Saints legend the ball.
“I’m a man of my word” Thomas said. “He gave me a big hug and told me he was proud of me. Just hearing those words from him, that meant everything to me. I know I don’t have the ball, but I’ll never forget that moment.”
McAllister was just happy to be a part of the team, having been brought back a day prior to New Orleans’ 45-14 win over Arizona in the divisional round of the playoffs.
“That’s the most special thing, just for Mickey Loomis and Coach Payton and Mr. Benson to think that much of me to bring me along for this journey and to actually complete it,” McAllister said.
“You can actually walk away on top. I won my last game. We are Super Bowl champs. I would trade in anything I got to play in that one game on top. Still, you would want to as a competitor. But I’ll take this.”
And about that football from Thomas?
“I may give it back to him,” McAllister said. “We’re going to have to figure something out for him.”
Playing the respect card
An hour or so after the game, linebacker Scott Shanle was still dressed in his pads, jersey tucked into his game pants.
He was still as fiery as he was during the game. Celebrating could wait. He wanted to get his message out.
“All week long, we listened to how we were lucky to be here,” Shanle said. “Minnesota gave us the championship. And Super Bowl week, it’s not a matter of Indy is going to win, but by how much. We deserved to be here. We played well all year long. We showed tonight exactly why we deserved to be here.”
Shanle, though, wasn’t alone. All of the Saints, whether they said it or not, showed that they knew what most of the nation was thinking about the Super Bowl prior to kickoff.
Most national pundits favored the Colts. Few gave New Orleans a chance.
“We felt as if we got no respect all week,” defensive end Will Smith said. “We didn’t even look at the New Orleans paper. I hope we were favorites in that paper. But ESPN and all those so-called gurus picked us to lose.
“We kind of thought it was a slap in the face. We thought that no one really appreciated what we did all year. We busted our butts and played some great teams and beat some great teams and we never got any credit for it.”
Yet, for some, that played right into what New Orleans wanted. The Saints play well as the underdog.
“We knew coming into this game just hearing about it, nobody was going to give us the upper hand,” running back Pierre Thomas said. “Nobody was going to give us the time of day. Every favorite was with the Colts. We were the underdog. But that’s what we wanted. We (were) in a perfect position to be the underdogs. All we had to do was go out and show that we were the team.”
