This was easily the best-played Super Bowl of my lifetime. The game lasted a little over three hours, despite the extended halftime. There were only eight total penalties,none of which were major blunders. Both teams executed their gameplans effectively and, for the most part, every player showed up.

Hard to believe that Indy got outscored 31-7 after the first quarter. It never felt like a lopsided contest.

Have we ever seen two quarterbacks distribute the ball so effectively? Drew Brees had 288 yards passing, with six Saint players having at least three catches or 20 yards receiving. Peyton Manning threw for 333 yards, with five different Colts having at least five catches and 45 yards.

The key play was obviously the pick-six late in the fourth. Here’s how I label that play (in order of significance):

a.) great play by Tracy Porter

b.) iffy route by Reggie Wayne

c.) questionable decision by Peyton Manning

Joseph Addai looked like the Joseph Addai of two or three years ago. He was fantastic in the first half. The Saints wanted that, though. They intended to make Addai a factor in Quarters 1 and 2, and then compel the Colts to throw into different coverages in the second half. It reminds me of the Giants-Bills Super Bowl in 1990. Giants defensive coordinator Bill Belichick surprised his men by telling them that if Thurman Thomas rushed for 100 yards, the Giants would win. The idea was to make the pass-oriented Bills run. That’s what Gregg Williams did to the Colts.

If Indy had won, we’d be talking about Dwight Freeney turning in one of the gutsiest performances of all-time. Freeney was a major difference-maker in the first half. Yes, he disappeared in the second half, but a bigger story is how his counterpart, Robert Mathis, disappeared in both halves. Credit Saints Pro Bowl right tackle Jon Stinchcomb for shocking doubters like me by neutralizing Mathis.

Jim Nantz and Phil Simms called a great game. Neither man has an ego. Simms was dead-wrong when he said right before the Manning interception that the Saints shouldn’t blitz, but he had no problem pointing out his miss shortly after and offering astute analysis for what happened on the play. Also, it says a lot about Simms’s reputation within the NFL that the Saints would tell him they had two separate defensive gameplans, and trust that he’d keep that information to himself until the fourth quarter.

I normally dislike the Super Bowl ads (they tend to target Americans of the most modest intelligence). But this year was different. There was the Toy Hangover for Kia Sorento, the Man’s Last Stand for Dodge, the Don’t Touch My Mamma Kid for Doritos (which almost made up for the rest of Doritos’ cheesy nonsense) and the Casual Friday’s Underwear for Career Builder. By the way, what are the odds that the Casual Friday’s Underwear ad would be followed by a Dockers “I Wear No Pants” ad? Did Dockers know they’d be following that ad? I can’t imagine they were pleased with that, as it made their ad blend with Career Builder’s.

Garret Hartley is now a top-five kicker. The man was perfect on all three of his 40-plus-yard field goals and, as you know, he nailed the game-winner against Minnesota two weeks ago.

Finally, the question we have all offseason to debate: Where does Drew Brees rank among NFL quarterbacks now?