Colts Lead Saints 10-6 at Halftime of Super Bowl XLIV

Drew Brees

The Indianapolis Colts took until 8:30 left in the second quarter before punting the ball. Before that, they scored on their first two possessions to take a 10-0 lead over the New Orleans Saints.

However, the first time Super Bowl team from Louisiana settled down a bit in the second quarter and got on the board with a 46-yard Garett Hartley field goal.

The Saints could have found themselves tied, if not in the lead, at halftime if the Colts defense didn’t twice deny them a trip to the endzone on third and fourth down from the one yard line.

A quick three and out from the Colts after forcing the turnover on downs led to a 44-yard Hartley field goal to get three more points on the board for New Orleans and take the game to the locker room with a 10-6 score in favor of Indy.

The time of possession was truly a tale of two quarters. While the Colts held the ball for 10:29 in the first quarter, the Saints offense took over and owned the ball for 12:26 in the second quarter.

Still, they were only able to put six points on the board despite hogging the clock.

The much hyped ankle injury of Dwight Freeney seemed to be a non-factor for the big Colts defensive lineman. He registered the team’s first sack and was a main stay in the backfield when he wasn’t double teamed.

Peyton Manning continued to do his thing, completing 10-of-16 passing attempts for 97 yards and a touchdown. He didn’t throw an interception against the pick off happy Saints defense although he cooled off significantly in the second quarter… along with the rest of the Colts.

It was actually the running game of the Colts that led their offense for a good part of the first half. Joseph Addai ran the ball seven times for 60 yards, including a 26 yard burst.

Across the field, Drew Brees was 16-of-22 passing for the Saints, racking up 164 yards and no interceptions.

His favorite target was Marques Coltson who caught five passes for 66 yards.

Despite offensively dominating the Colts in the second quarter, the Saints must get into the endzone if they hope to pull out a victory in the second half.

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