Jump to content

Super Bowl XLIV

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Buckeyebrain (talk | contribs) at 10:34, 7 February 2010 (Revised ASL Translation for National Anthem and America The Beautiful). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

DateFebruary 7, 2010
StadiumSun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
MVPTBD
FavoriteColts by 4[1]
RefereeScott Green
Ceremonies
National anthemQueen Latifah ("America the Beautiful") and Carrie Underwood[2]
Coin tossPro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010
(led by Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith)
Halftime showThe Who
TV in the United States
NetworkCBS
AnnouncersJim Nantz and Phil Simms
Cost of 30-second commercial$2.8 million (Estimated)

Super Bowl XLIV will be an American football game pitting the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts against the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New Orleans Saints to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2009 season. The venue is the Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, and the game's kickoff is scheduled for 6:28 p.m. EST (23:28 UTC) on February 7, 2010, the latest calendar date for a Super Bowl yet. The game features the Saints' first Super Bowl appearance since their founding in 1967, while it is the fourth time a Colts franchise team has appeared, since their founding in 1953 as the Baltimore Colts. In their three previous Super Bowl appearances, all also in Miami, the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts have lost once in 1969 and won twice in 1971 and 2007. With Jim Caldwell as the Colts' head coach, this is the Colts' second consecutive Super Bowl appearance with an African American head coach, their first was with Tony Dungy in 2007 with a victory against the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

The Saints enter the game with a 13-3 record for the 2009 regular season, compared to the Colts 14-2 record. In the playoff games, both teams had a 1st round bye. The Colts entered the Super Bowl off of 20–3 and 30–17 victories, while the Saints advanced with scores of 45–14 and 31–28 (in overtime), defeating last year's runners up the Arizona Cardinals in their first game. The Pittsburgh Steelers, as defending champions, failed to make the playoffs based on tiebreakers. It is the first time since Super Bowl XXVIII (16 years previously) that both number one seeds have reached the Super Bowl. The Saints' head coach is Sean Payton, having joined from the Dallas Cowboys in 2006, while his opposing head coach Jim Caldwell was appointed the Colts head coach in 2009 having joined them in 2002 as assistant head coach.

It is the tenth time the Super Bowl has been held in Miami at the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins, the fifth time being held in the Sun Life Stadium, and five more before those in the Dolphins' now demolished former home, the Miami Orange Bowl. Per convention as an even numbered Super Bowl, the Colts as the AFC representatives have the home team designation, wearing blue jerseys with white pants, while the Saints (who wore their white jerseys in several home games this year) will wear white jerseys with gold pants.[3] The game is to be broadcast live on CBS, and the half-time show is due to feature the English rock band The Who.

Background

Host selection process

Sun Life Stadium, the venue of Super Bowl XLIV.

The league initially voted on March 23, 2005, that New York City host the game, contingent on the completion of the proposed West Side Stadium being built for the New York Jets by 2008. After New York state government officials declined to approve $300 million for the stadium, the NFL decided to reopen the bidding for the game's site.[4] The league reconsidered the other, unsuccessful candidates for Super Bowl XLIII: Atlanta, Houston, and Miami. On October 6, 2008, the league selected Miami as the host city.

With Tampa as the host of Super Bowl XLIII, Super Bowl XLIV will mark the third time that consecutive Super Bowls have been played in the same state. Super Bowls II and III were both played at the Orange Bowl. Super Bowls XXI and XXII were both played in California: XXI at Pasadena's Rose Bowl Stadium and XXII at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium.

Miami will become the first city to host two Super Bowls designated as a National Special Security Event (NSSE). In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, every Super Bowl since Super Bowl XXXVI has been designated as an NSSE. Super Bowl XLI was Miami Gardens' first Super Bowl designated as an NSSE.

Pro Bowl changes

The 2010 Pro Bowl was played on January 31, during the off-week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, breaking with the precedent of scheduling the game for the Sunday after the Super Bowl. The game also changed venues from Aloha Stadium in ʻAiea, Hawaiʻi, where it had been held since 1979, to Sun Life Stadium in Miami (the same city and stadium hosting the Super Bowl itself). A total of 14 players from the Super Bowl participants - seven each from the Colts and the Saints - did not play in the Pro Bowl. The new schedule took advantage of the bye week given to the conference champions to rest and prepare for the Super Bowl. The NFL has indicated this may not be a permanent transition, and has discussed a possible rotating location for the Pro Bowl in the future. The game will return to Hawaiʻi in 2011 and 2012, however.

The move also meant that the Pro Bowl, which was won by the AFC by a score of 41-34, would avoid competing against the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, the second full day of competition in the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the 52nd running of the Daytona 500, as would have been the case had the game been played on February 14 per its traditional post-Super Bowl scheduling.

Teams

New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints finished the season with an NFC best 13-3 record and went on to advance to the first Super Bowl in their 43 years as an NFL team. It had been a long journey for New Orleans. After joining the NFL in 1967, it took them 21 years to record their first winning season and another 13 years after that to win their first playoff game. Five years later, the New Orleans area suffered another setback when the Louisiana Superdome was devastated with the rest of the city by Hurricane Katrina, forcing them to play all of their home games in 2005 elsewhere as they finished with a 3-13 record. But in the offseason, the team's fortunes began to turn. First, they signed pro bowl quarterback Drew Brees, who would go on to throw for more passing yards than any other quarterback over the next four seasons. They also drafted multi-talented Heisman Trophy winning running back Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston, two players who would become major contributors on the Saints offense. The following season, New Orleans improved to 10-6 and advanced to the NFC title game for the first time, which they lost to the Chicago Bears. Although they failed to make the playoffs over the next two seasons, they continued to sign new talent, and by 2009 they were ready to make another run at the Super Bowl.

The Saints offense led the NFL in scoring, averaging just under 32 points per game. Brees finished the season as the NFL's top rated quarterback (109.6), completing an NFL-record 70.6% of his passes for 4,338 yards and 34 touchdowns, with just 11 interceptions. His top target was Colston, who caught 70 passes for 1,074 yards and 9 touchdowns, but he had plenty of other weapons, such as receivers Devery Henderson (51 receptions), Robert Meachem (45), along with tight ends Jeremy Shockey (48) and Dave Thomas (35). The ground attack was led by running backs Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell. Thomas rushed for 793 yards and caught 39 passes for 302, while Bell added 654 yards on the ground. Bush was also a major contributor, rushing for 390 yards (with a 5.6 yards per carry average), catching 47 passes for 335 yards, and adding another 130 yards returning punts. New Orleans also had a strong offensive line with three pro bowl selections: guard Jahri Evans, center Jonathan Goodwin, and tackle Jon Stinchcomb

Pro Bowl defensive lineman Will Smith led the team in sacks with 13. Another big weapon on defense was linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who led the team with 87 tackles and intercepted three passes. The Saints secondary was led by 12-year veteran safety Darren Sharper, who recorded 9 interceptions and set an NFL record by returning them for 376 yards and three touchdowns. Cornerback Tracy Porter was also effective, recording 49 tackles and 4 picks.

Like the Colts, the Saints also started out the season strong, winning their first 13 games. But then they became the first 13-0 team ever to lose their last three games of the year. After losing their next game to the Dallas Cowboys 24-17, they suffered a narrow loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in overtime after Garrett Hartley missed a potential game winning field goal, and then closed out the season with a 23-10 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Still, they clinched the #1 NFC playoff seed and scored 76 points in their two playoff wins en route to their first ever Super Bowl.

Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis stormed to an NFL best 14-2 record on their way to earning their second Super Bowl appearance in the last four years. Once again, the Colts boasted a powerful offense led by 10-time Pro Bowl quarterback Peyton Manning, who threw for 4,500 yards and 33 touchdowns during the season, with only 16 interceptions, earning him a 99.9 passer rating and a league record fourth National Football League Most Valuable Player Award. Under the protections of pro bowl center Jeff Saturday and the rest of the line, Manning had been sacked just 13 times during the regular season, the fewest in the NFL. His top targets were veteran receiver Reggie Wayne and tight end Dallas Clark, who both recorded 100 receptions and 10 touchdowns. Wayne led the team with 1,260 yards, while Clark was second with 1,106. Manning also had other reliable targets, such as recently acquired receivers Austin Collie (60 receptions for 676 yards and 7 touchdowns) and Pierre Garçon (47 receptions for 756 yards). Running back Joseph Addai led the Colts ground game with 821 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, while also catching 51 passes for another 336 yards and 3 scores.

Indianapolis's defensive line was led by pro bowl defensive ends Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney. Freeney led the team with 13.5 sacks, while Mathis added 9.5 sacks and forced 5 fumbles. Behind them, the Colts had a solid corps of linebackers featuring Clint Session and Gary Brackett, who each recorded 80 tackles. Pro bowl safety Antoine Bethea led the secondary with 70 tackles and four interceptions.

Under their new coach Jim Caldwell, the Colts started off the season with 14 consecutive wins before suffering their first loss to the New York Jets, 29-15, a game in which Caldwell made the controversial decision to rest his starters after the team took a slim lead rather than keep them in to play for a chance at a 16-0 season. Indianapolis finished the season at 14-2 following another loss in which they rested their starters and went on to advance to the Super Bowl, making them perfect in all their games in which their starters played all four quarters.

Caldwell leads the Colts to the Super Bowl the season after Tony Dungy exited, just like in Tampa Bay when Jon Gruden led the Bucs to Super Bowl XXXVII after Dungy was fired.

Playoffs

Indianapolis's first opponent was the Baltimore Ravens, a 9-7 squad that had advanced to the divisional round by blowing out the New England Patriots 33-14, forcing four turnovers from their all-pro quarterback Tom Brady. Against the Colts however, all they could manage was a field goal on their opening drive. Indianapolis built up a 17-3 first half lead with a Matt Stover field goal and Manning's touchdown passes to Wayne and Collie. In the second half, the Colts survived two interceptions from Baltimore safety Ed Reed on one drive, one of which Reed fumbled, and the other which was called back by a penalty. Stover, who spent 18 years with the Modell franchise, finished the drive with his second field goal to make final score 20-3, as their defense put the game away by forcing two consecutive turnovers.

Their next opponent was the Jets, who had made the playoffs in part due to Caldwell's decision to bench his starters in their Week 16 meeting. This time, the Colts would have to mount a comeback, as New York built up a 17-6 first half lead. Yet Indianapolis would step up to the challenge, scoring 24 unanswered points. First, Manning completed three passes to Collie for 80 yards, the last one a 16-yard touchdown completion to cut the score to 17-13 at the end of the half. Manning added two more touchdown passes in the second half, one to Garcon and one to Clark, and Stover added a 21-yard field goal to close out the scoring. Manning finished the game with 377 passing yards and three touchdowns, while Garcon and Collie had over 100 receiving yards each.

Meanwhile, New Orleans started off their playoff run with a 45-14 win over the defending NFC champion Arizona Cardinals. Arizona was coming off a 51-45 overtime win over the Green Bay Packers in which they racked up 531 yards against a defense ranked second in the league in total yards allowed. However, although Arizona scored on their first play of the game, New Orleans dominated the Cardinals with 35 points in the first half. First, Lynell Hamilton scored on a 1-yard run. Then, Sharper recovered a fumble from Arizona, setting up Brees' touchdown pass to Shockey. Following a punt, Bush scored on a franchise playoff record 46-yard run. In the second quarter, Brees added two more touchdown passes, one to Henderson on a flea flicker and the other to Colston that was set up by a Will Smith interception, giving them a 35-14 first half lead before added 10 more points in the second half on a Hartley field goal and Bush's 83-yard punt return. Bush racked up 217 all-purpose yards, while Brees threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns.

Their opponent in the NFC championship game was the Minnesota Vikings, led by 11-time pro bowl quarterback Brett Favre, who had thrown four touchdown passes in their divisional round win over the Dallas Cowboys. Even though the Saints offense could only muster 257 total yards, their defense made up for it by forcing five turnovers. The key play of the game occurred late in the fourth quarter with the score tied 28-28 and the Vikings were driving for a potential game-winning field goal. With less than a minute left, they reached the Saints 33-yard line. But after a two runs for no gain and a penalty that pushed them back to the 38, Porter picked off a pass from Favre to send the game into overtime. After New Orleans won the coin toss, Pierre Thomas' 40-yard kickoff return set up 10-play, 39-yard drive that ended with a game winning 40-yard field goal by Hartley, sending the Saints to their first ever Super Bowl.

This is the first Super Bowl matchup in which both teams had a first-round bye since Super Bowl XXXIX. All four of the Super Bowls in between had one team that played all three rounds (two of which were wild-card teams), with three of those teams (including the Colts in Super Bowl XLI) winning it all.

Officials

  • Referee - Scott Green (#19)
  • Umpire - Undrey Wash (#96)
  • Head Linesman - John McGrath (#5)
  • Line Judge - Jeff Seeman (#45)
  • Field Judge - Rob Vernatchi (#75)
  • Side Judge - Greg Meyer (#78)
  • Back Judge - Greg Steed (#12)
  • Alt. referee - Gene Steratore (#114)

Broadcasting

Television

United States

The game will be televised live in the United States on CBS, capping the network's 50th season of NFL coverage (1956–93; 1998–present). This will be the 17th Super Bowl telecast for CBS, the largest total among the "big four" US television networks. CBS also broadcast the most recent Super Bowl held in South Florida (XLI). Play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and color commentator Phil Simms will be in the broadcast booth, with Solomon Wilcots and Steve Tasker serving as sideline reporters. The game will be preceded by The Super Bowl Today, a four-hour pregame show hosted by James Brown and starting at 2 PM US EST. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 6:28 PM US EST.

Commercials

Notable returnees and absences

Perennial Super Bowl advertisers Anheuser-Busch InBev and CareerBuilder have already stated their commitment to advertise in Super Bowl XLIV. A 30-second spot costs US $2.8 million with multiple advertisers getting discounts, down from last year's US $3 million for the first time in several years. All advertising slots were sold out on February 1, 2010, six days before the game.[5] Pepsi-Cola had previously stated their commitment to advertise, but has since said they will not be buying any commercial time, marking the first time in 23 years that Pepsi will not be running an ad during the Super Bowl itself. FedEx has also stated that they won't buy ad time.[6] Both Pepsi and FedEx are official NFL sponsors. Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper Snapple are capitalizing on Pepsi's absence by buying ads in the game. Also for the second straight year, two of the Big Three American automobile makers - General Motors and Ford - will not have a commercial in the game. Chrysler's Dodge brand will advertise this year.

What will air

As of September 10, 2009, Frito-Lay's Doritos brand, in turn owned by PepsiCo, will have three viewer-created advertisements scheduled. If all three top the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter rankings, the commercial's creators will win a total of US $5 million ($1 million for first, $600,000 for second and $400,000 for third, plus a $1 million bonus for each of the three finalists). The previous year, Joe and David Herbert's "Free Doritos" ad topped the survey and won $1 million.[7] The US Census Bureau will spend $2.5 million on a 30-second spot for the 2010 United States Census, which will urge Americans to answer its questionnaires that will be sent out in the next few weeks.[8] Mars Chocolate returns three years after its' controversial Snickers ad that was protested by gay and lesbian groups with two men kissing one another that was pulled one day following the game. This ad will feature veteran actors Betty White and Abe Vigoda.[9]

Internet domain registrar GoDaddy, which created a racy ad the year after the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, will buy time in the Super Bowl for the sixth consecutive year.[10] Advertising Age reports that Paramount Pictures has bought a Super Bowl spot for the upcoming films Iron Man 2 and The Last Airbender.[11]

Other advertisers for 2010 include Homeaway Inc.,[12] and Diamond Foods, who will return to promote Pop Secret popcorn, which they bought from General Mills two years ago.[13] Boost Mobile will be airing a special ad, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of The Super Bowl Shuffle, featuring many of the 1985 Chicago Bears to advertise their new $50 per month service. [14]

Controversies

Three advertisers in particular raised eyebrows with their choice of being in the Superbowl. One new advertiser, Focus on the Family,[15] will have a commercial featuring 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mother that has drawn criticism from women's groups who have asked CBS to cancel the ad because they believe it will be divisive. So far, CBS is going ahead with airing the advertisement, which has not been pre-released to the public.[16]

One proposed sponsor, ManCrunch, a gay dating site that bills itself as a place "where many many many men come out to play," had expressed interest in purchasing a 30-second advertisement, which would have shown a male Packers fan and a male Vikings fan reach into the same bowl of potato chips at the same time, and after a brief pause, begin passionately kissing. ManCrunch's ad, which has been released to the public, was initially put on a waiting list before the network outright rejected it due to it violating CBS's broadcast standards. ManCrunch immediately accused CBS of discrimination, and in doing so led observers to suspect that their advertisement was an attempt at ambush marketing and free publicity.[17] Another ad that was rejected by CBS for failure to meet standards was for the texting service KGB, which focuses on two men with CGI-enhanced images bent over with their heads apparently in their posteriors, while an actor portraying as an agent stated that "They had their head up their [backsides]". The ad is being shown on YouTube. [18]

Among other rejected or modified ads were one for Electronic Arts Dante's Inferno, which had to be edited for content (the closing phrase, originally intended to read "go to Hell," was replaced with "Hell awaits"), and GoDaddy's originally planned advertisement. [19]

International telecasts

Viewers worldwide will be able to watch on the following channels:

  • North America:
  • Oceania
  • Europe:
  • Asia:

Radio

On radio, Westwood One has the national English-language broadcast rights to the game in the United States and Canada. Marv Albert (play-by-play) and Boomer Esiason (color commentator) will call the game for the network. The teams' flagship stations will also carry the game with their respective local announcers: WLHK-FM/WFNI-AM in Indianapolis (with Bob Lamey and Will Wolford announcing) and WWL-FM/AM in New Orleans (with Jim Henderson and Hokie Gajan announcing). Univision Radio will also carry a Spanish-language feed for Hispanophone American listeners (Clemson Smith-Muñiz and David Crommett will call the game).

Sirius XM Satellite Radio will carry 14 game feeds in ten languages to Sirius subscribers, as well as to XM subscribers with the "Best of Sirius" package.[20] In addition to the four US feeds mentioned above, Sirius will carry the following international feeds:

FieldPass, the subscription Internet radio service provided by the league at NFL.com, will also carry most of these feeds. Due to contractual restrictions, only Sirius XM and FieldPass will be permitted to carry the local team broadcasts along with WLHK and WWL, with the teams' other network radio affiliates instead carrying the Westwood One feed.

Entertainment and other ceremonies

Pregame

Carrie Underwood will sing the National Anthem and Queen Latifah will sing "America the Beautiful." Underwood's selection marks the third straight year that an alumnus of American Idol has been chosen to perform the Star Spangled Banner, joining Jordin Sparks at Super Bowl XLII and Jennifer Hudson a year later. Translation of both songs into American Sign Language will be provided by Kinesha Battles, a student at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind.[21]

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010, led by Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith, will participate in the pre-game coin toss. The rest of the class - Rickey Jackson, Dick LeBeau, Floyd Little, Russ Grimm and John Randle - were named the day before.

Halftime

The NFL announced on the November 26, 2009, CBS Sports broadcast of the Oakland Raiders-Dallas Cowboys game that The Who will perform at the Super Bowl XLIV halftime show. Pete Townshend has said that the band will play a medley of their hits, including "Pinball Wizard", "Who Are You", "Baba O'Riley", and "Won't Get Fooled Again".[22] The songs will be made into a playable downloadable medley for the Rock Band series on the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Game time and weather conditions

  • Kickoff is scheduled for 6:28 p.m. EST (23:28 UTC).
  • The weather forecast for the Miami area on Sunday, February 7 is for a high temperature of approximately 68 °F (20 °C) with mostly sunny skies.[23]

References

  1. ^ Colts open as 4-point faves over Saints in Super Bowl
  2. ^ "Underwood, Latifah sing at Super Bowl". ESPN.com. Associated Press. January 28, 2010.
  3. ^ Colts elect to wear blue jerseys in Super Bowl XLIV; Saints to wear white
  4. ^ "NFL owners work on testy NFLPA contract extension". Retrieved 2009-02-08.
  5. ^ Game On! CBS Sells Out Last Super Bowl Ads, AP via Comcast.net, 1 February 2010
  6. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4751415
  7. ^ Doritos Ad Contest Raises The Stakes, Bruce Horowitz, USA TODAY, 09-10-09
  8. ^ http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/26/news/companies/super_bowl_census/ Census Bureau counts on Super Bowl ad CNN.com, 26 January 2010
  9. ^ Snickers Will Try, Try Again With a Super Bowl Ad, Bruce Horowitz, USA TODAY, January 28, 2010
  10. ^ http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/godaddy-goes-back-to-the-super-bowl/
  11. ^ Steinberg, Brian (December 21, 2009). "Who's Buying What in the Super Bowl 2010". Advertising Age. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  12. ^ http://www.homeaway.com/info/media-center/press-releases/super-bowl-ad
  13. ^ http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sbd.preview&articleID=135765
  14. ^ http://www.boostmobile.com/shuffle
  15. ^ http://superbowl-ads.com/article_archive/?p=6462
  16. ^ CBS Urged to Scrap Super Bowl Ad With Tebow, Mom, Associated Press via comcast.net, 25 January 2010
  17. ^ CBS Rejects Gay Themed Super Bowl Ad, Tracy Phillips, Fancast.com, January 29, 2010
  18. ^ CBS Rejects Another Super Bowl AD, Ann Murray-Lavar, Fancast.com, 2 February 2010
  19. ^ Stephan, Doug (2010-02-01). CBS Rejects Another Ad. Doug Stephan's Good Day. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
  20. ^ "Super Bowl XLIV on Sirius". Sirius.com.
  21. ^ "FSDB student to sign at Super Bowl". 6 February 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  22. ^ "The Who to play medley of hits at Super Bowl". 25 January 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
  23. ^ http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Miami&state=FL&site=MFL&textField1=25.77&textField2=-80.2&e=1