By Dean Michaels, NFL writer

Super Bowl XLIV - February 7, 2010, New Orleans Saints vs Indianapolis Colts
Super Bowl XLIV - Saints vs Colts

The New Orleans Saints make their first Super Bowl appearance when they face the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. on Sunday, February 7.

The Saints advanced to Super Bowl XLIV with a dramatic 31-28 overtime victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game.

The New Orleans Saints set one of many club records this NFL 2009 season when they won their first 13 games, capturing the NFC South title in the process and securing the NFC conference's number one playoff seed. In the Divisional Playoffs, the Saints easily defeated the defending NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals 45-14 to advance to the NFC Championship at home against the Minnesota Vikings.

The Saints and Colts have played each other 10 times in the past -- all regular season matchups. The series between the two is knotted at 5-wins apiece with the Colts winning the last two: 55-to-21 (9/28/2003 @ New Orleans) and 41-to-10 (9/6/2007 @ Indianapolis).

[ Super Bowl XLIV: Saints Currently 5 Point Underdogs ]

Takeaways: Saints More Taking than Giving this Season

The Saints feature tenacious defensive and special team units with an emphasis this NFL 2009 season on forcing takeaways.

After ranking 22nd in Takeaway / Giveaway Ratio at -4 in NFL 2008, the New Orleans Saints surged to third place at +11 in 2009.

The Saints ranked second in the league with 39 takeaways (26 interceptions and 13 fumble recoveries), nearly doubling the 22 posted by the 2008 squad. The Saints recorded at least one takeaway in the first 13 games of the season, all wins.

The Saints scored 141 points off of these take- aways to tie for the NFL lead with Green Bay.

New Orleans' opportunistic approach has also fueled them in the postseason, as they are ranked first among NFL teams at +6, recording three interceptions and recovering four fumbles, while coughing the ball up only once.

Saints Scoring Machine

The New Orleans Saints led the NFL 2009 season in scoring with a club-record 510 points. The 510 total points ranks ninth-highest NFL history

Since 2006, the Saints 27.6 points per game average (1,765 total points) in 64 regular season games ranks third overall in the NFL. The Saints led the NFL in scoring for the second consecutive season, averaging 31.9 points per game.

With 76 points in two post-season games, the Saints hed into Super Bowl XLIV as the highest-scoring team in the playoffs.

In their first two games this season, the Saints put forth 40 point outputs back to back for the first time in club history. These efforts made the Saints the fourth team in NFL history and the first in more than 40 years, to score at least 45 points in each of their first two games.

With a quartet of performances of 45 points or more, the Saints have had four of their ten highest-scoring games in club history occur in 2009. Five of the ten have occurred on Sean Payton's watch since he arrived.

The Saints added to that total of 40 plus outputs with a 45-point effort in the NFC Divisional Playoff vs. the Arizona Cardinals, giving them their fifth performance of at least 45 points in the 2009 NFL season.

Following a 30 point output vs. the Carolina Panthers (November 8), the Saints have scored 30 or more points in four consecutive games for the second time in club history. The other streak occurred in the final two games of last season and carried over to the first two games of this year.

In 64 career regular season games played under Payton, the Saints have scored 20 or more points in 51 games (79.7%) and 30 or more points in 29 contests (45.3%).

Saints Dominating Offense

Since 2006, the Saints are the NFL's top ranked offense in net yardage, averaging 391.8 yards per game. In the past three seasons, the Saints ranked first twice including the NFL 2009 season.

In 2009, the Saints averaged 403.8 yards per game (6,461 total yards), making them the only NFL club to average at least 400 yards per game. In a display of balance, the Saints were the only NFL team to be ranked in the top six in both passing and rushing.

The New Orleans offense found the end zone on 41 of their 71 opportunities (57.7 percent) inside the 20 yard line in the regular season in 2009 to rank fourth in the NFC and sixth in the NFL. The Colts were second at 66.0 percent scoring on 35 out of 53 possesions within the red zone.

In six trips inside the 20-yard line in the postseason, the Saints have been a perfect 100 percent, scoring touchdowns on each red zone possesion.

The Saints converted 88-of-197 (44.7 percent) of their attempts on third down to rank third in the NFC and sixth in the NFL. The Colts led the NFL in third-down conversion efficiency with a 49.2 percent mark (95-of-193). In 2009, the Saints offense averaged 6.25 yards on first down plays during the regular season ranking third in the NFL.

Since 2006, the Saints offense has been ranked first in the NFL in yards after the catch, led by a running back, tight end and wide receiver corps that obtain additional yardage after getting the ball. During this time, RB Reggie Bush is ranked fifth in the league with 1,817 yards after the catch, while teammate WR Marques Colston is 18th with 1,404.

Sean Payton, Saints Head Coach

Saints coach Sean Payton has posted a record of 38-26 in the regular season and 3-1 in the postseason. He is the lone head coach in Saints history to open a season with 13 straight wins and post a 13-game winning streak, and has the top all-time winning percent- age (.594) for a Saints head coach.

He also is the Saints franchise leader in postseason victories. His 19- 13 (.594) road mark is the top winning percentage in club history. Payton has recorded a 29-19 (.604) mark vs. NFC opponents.

In 2006, he took the Saints to the NFC Championship and was named the NFL Coach of the Year by most major media outlets. Payton is is only the second NFL coach to lead his team two two conference Championship games since 2006.

Payton was hired as New Orleans' 14th head coach on January 18, 2006, after serving on the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff from 2003-2005. He has successfully overtaken a rebuilding project by reshaping the majority of the team's roster.

Prior to joining the Cowboys, Payton served on the New York Giants staff from 1999-2002, including the final three seasons as offensive coordinator. His tenure was highlighted by a Super Bowl berth in his first full season in New York as offensive coordinator. Payton's prior NFL coaching experience came as quarterbacks coach for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1997-98.

NFL 2009 NFC Championship Game Summary: Saints 31 Vikings 28 (OT)

Before a crowd of 71,276, the largest ever to view a Saints game in the Superdome, the Vikings scored on their first offensive possession. New Orleans would respond though when QB Drew Brees found RB Pierre Thomas on a screen pass and he ran over several Vikings defenders 38 yards into the end zone. The Vikings took the ball back and immediately marched down the field with QB Brett Favre throwing a five-yard touchdown pass to take a 14-7 lead.

When the Saints took the ball for the first time in the second quarter. Brees marched the Saints down the field and tossed a nine-yard touchdown throw to WR Devery Henderson to tie the score at 14 all.

The score would remain tied to end the first half

Saints WR Courtney Roby returned the second half opening kickoff 61 yards. Four plays later, Pierre Thomas punched the ball in for a touchdown from nine yards in to give the Saints their first lead. When the Vikings got the ball back, Peterson punched it in from one yard out to tie the score.

The two clubs traded scores again in the fourth quarter. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, DE Will Smith forced Vikings WR Percy Harvin to fumble and the ball was picked up by DT Remi Ayodele at the Minnesota 12-yard line and advanced to the seven. Three plays later Drew Brees connected with RB Reggie Bush on a four-yard screen pass for a touchdown. In the middle of the final quarter, Peterson scored his third touchdown on a two yard run to knot the score again.

With the game tied at 28-28, the Vikings were at the 33 yard line with 25 seconds left. Minnesota was subsequently called for a penalty for having 12 men on the field and then on the next play CB Tracy Porter picked off Brett Favre to send the game into overtime

After winning the overtime coin flip, Pierre Thomas took the kickoff 40 yards, filling in for an injured Roby and the Saints eventually advanced the ball to the Minnesota 22 yard line, where K Garrett Hartley lined up on fourth down and booted a 40- yard field goal to advance New Orleans as the ninth different NFC Super Bowl participant in as many years.

With the victory, the Saints are 4-6 in NFL postseason play (4-3 at home)

QB Drew Brees tied his playoff career-high with three touchdown passes, as he completed 17-of-31 passes for 197 yards in the NFC Championship. Brees' career postseason passer rating of 100.6 is the third-highest all-time of passers with a minimum of 150 attempts. He will become the first Texas native to start at QB in a Super Bowl.

The game was the first postseason overtime game in Saints history, the third OT game in NFC Championship Game history and the 27th postseason OT game in NFL history.

Reggie Bush scored his fifth career postseason touch- down (two rushing, two receiving, one punt return) on a fourth-quarter reception from Brees. He has at least one TD in all four of his career postseason games.

Henderson's 9-yard TD reception in the second quarter was his second of the postseason. That matched his total for the entire 2009 regular season.

WR Courtney Roby's 61-yard kickoff return to open the second half is the longest in Saints postsea- son history. The previous long was 39 yards by current Saints director of player programs Fred McAfee in 1991 vs. Atlanta.

LB Jonathan Vilma's third-quarter interception was his first postseason pick. Vilma also recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter, the first of his postseason career.

DT Remi Ayodele's fourth-quarter fumble recovery and subsequent 5-yard return set up the go-ahead touchdown on a pass from Brees to Bush.

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