They stopped one, possibly two, future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in the playoffs. But for the New Orleans Saints’ defense, the one sure thing standing in the way of history and immortality is Peyton Manning.

“He’s a tremendous player. We’ve got a lot of respect for his accomplishments, just like we did with Kurt Warner, Hall of Fame player a couple weeks ago, and Brett Favre, another Hall of Fame player last week,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton. “He’s done it over time. His staying power, and his consistency, and his approach is unique. That’s why it is talked about so much.”

The NFL pedigree-passer has thrown for more than 4,000 yards in all but one season since 1998. No other quarterback has thrown for as many yards in as many seasons, and done so consecutively.

“He’s tough because he’s so intelligent,” said Saints strong-side linebacker Scott Fujita. “He recognizes coverages and where blitzes are coming from so early that it’s tough to get to him.

"You really have to pick your spots. If you’re going to send the house, you better be smart about it. He’s one of those guys that can single-handedly beat the pressure sometimes.”

The Saints’ defense may not have faced Manning since a painful 41-10 loss in 2007, but it helps that they’ve got an exceptional playcaller of their own to go up against every day in practice.

“I would say, the only difference is Peyton Manning kind of has the entire playbook at his disposal as

far as what he puts his offense in,” said weakside linebacker Scott Shanle. “The audibles. That’s probably the toughest part about playing him – the adjustments to all his adjustments.”

No one has ever changed more plays at the line of scrimmage. ESPN even made a parody of it, saying Manning created his own language for play-calling.

“I think sometimes you can get caught up in it a little too much, trying to look at what signals he’s using and trying to get a read on that," Shanle said. “Some players it works for. Other players it can slow down and confuse.”

For the Saints, they plan to use what’s worked for them all season long and throughout the playoffs, regardless of who’s under center.

“I just think we need to play the way we played throughout the playoffs – fast, don’t really react, make them react to us,” Shanle said.

They limited Kurt Warner and the Cardinals’ offense to just 1-for-8 on third downs. They delivered hits so hard on Favre and the Vikings that the NFC Championship turned into a fumble-fest.

“We work every day on taking the ball away,” Shanle said. “We do fumble drills, interception drills, and you can definitely see it. That’s the sole reason we are where we are – when you look at the Minnesota game and look at the turnovers we got to help us win that game.”

For Shanle, Fujita, and the rest of the Saints, they’ll call upon those instincts once more this season, in the biggest game of their franchise’s history – the one final hill en route to the record books.

“You know, one of the things that you talk to your players about, an accomplishment like that almost binds you forever as a team, a coaching staff,” Payton said. “More important than any of the celebration or any of the other things that go along with winning a championship, I think that in itself is pretty significant.”

-- JENNA LAINE
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