Ten cents seemed a few pennies too many after a weekend of just two games, but the offseason format of $.05 every week wound up being a little short. So this week I give you seven cents of weekend thoughts. Check back daily for my Senior Bowl experience live from sunny Mobile. $.01--Peyton Manning and the Colts pulled off the comeback win against the Jets after a rough start. It was truly a tale of two halves for the Colts offense, which struggled to protect Manning in the first half for the most part. The throws and patterns weren?t perfect, the running backs found little ground past the initial surge, and Manning himself appeared frustrated. That all changed in the second half, when Indy stormed past the Jets and absolutely controlled the game on both sides of the ball. The halftime adjustments made by both Colts lines worked great, and the Jets had no answers for those adjustments. For all the swagger and bravado emanating from Rex Ryan and New York, they got hammered on Xs and Os by a Colts team that drew upon the quiet calm and confidence of their own rookie coach, Jim Caldwell. Little has been made of Caldwell, but he so thoroughly outfoxed Ryan that it?s hard to fathom he too is a rookie coach. Yes, he has the benefit of having Peyton Manning and a team chock full of playoff experience, but Caldwell anticipated the strong initial Jets surge and kept his team composed. Much like another brash New Yorker, the Jets fought like Mike Tyson, throwing the kitchen sink in the first round and getting caught sucking on the drain when that failed to knock out the opponent. It worked for the Jets against lesser offenses, but it had little chance of working against the Colts. Like his predecessor Tony Dungy, Caldwell is thoughtful, intense, and controlled. Caldwell is more likely to unleash a double-safety run blitz or mix up his coverages, which makes the Colts less predictable defensively. That made a difference Sunday against the Jets, and I suspect it will come Super Sunday too. $.02--New Orleans heads to the first Super Bowl in franchise history with a victory manufactured by turnovers and an emerging rushing attack. The Saints defense continues to give up huge yardage numbers but also forces more turnovers than anyone else, often at the most critical of times. The way they handle giving up scores and big plays is remarkable. It reminds me of Nolan Ryan pitching in his later years--he was either going to strike you out, walk you, or give up a home run, but what the last batter did never mattered to him. The Saints are the same way; you can gash them for a quick, long TD drive and have them in a hole, but they keep the same aggressive approach. That paid off against Minnesota, which has a number of ways to beat a defense but also kept finding ways to beat themselves. No team takes advantage of that better than the Saints, and with a little help from a couple of questionable calls, it took them to the Super Bowl. I thought the overtime pass interference call was a bad one, and I?m not sure that Robert Meacham caught the ball on one of the many reviewed plays either. But the bottom line is that a tight unit kept on fighting and believing even when a legend like Brett Favre was driving the Vikings to a seemingly sure last-second victory. They are a true feel-good story, a perennially downtrodden franchise playing in a proud but decimated city. I sense that most people will be rooting for the Saints for that reason, and they just might deliver the first pro sports title in New Orleans history. $.03--What happens to the Sunday losers? I see two very different franchises with very divergent outlooks. The Jets are constructed to be a perennial Wild Card team. That?s not meant as a disparagement, but rather a function of being a team so reliant on an aggressive defense and power running game. Much like the Schottenheimer-era Browns, they?ll always be good enough to make the playoffs but seldom the favorite. They?ll be a tough out, but they will rarely have the dynamic playmakers on offense to overcome more talented opponents. Maybe Mark Sanchez develops into that player, but they also need a more reliable receiving corps and some reinforcements up front; the starting OL is fantastic but they?re in trouble if any of them get hurt, which didn?t happen this year. In their division they should be highly competitive and the defense is good enough to almost ensure a return to the playoffs next season if the injury bug doesn?t bite too hard. Minnesota is in a real precarious place. This team was built to win this Super Bowl, period. The $64,000 question is Brett Favre. Does he come back, and if so, can he squeeze another similar year out of a 41-year old body? I don?t see any way a selfish competitor like Favre leaves that egregious INT as his final NFL play, so I do expect him to come back. But I?m not sold that the magic of this season carries over for him. The vaunted run defense started to show chinks, and Pat Williams is nearing the end. The offensive line is slow and shallow, particularly inside. But most of all, the NFC is more variable and top-heavy than the AFC, and I think the Vikings might find 2010 much tougher sledding--with or (even more so) without Favre. $.04--The annual abomination that is the Pro Bowl is next on the NFL calendar, taking place next Sunday in Miami. That?s right, the game that purports to honor the very best the NFL has to offer won?t have any players from the two best teams. The move from the week after to the week before the Super Bowl should drive the final nail into the coffin of this pointless debacle. It used to be that players enjoyed the free family vacation to Hawaii as a nice reward for a good season. Now the game is at the Super Bowl site, which merely serves to remind these players that they aren?t there for the Big Game. It?s a move spurred by poor attendance by both players and fans, but with even more top players now automatically unavailable there will be even less fan demand. The players themselves have spoken too, as a record number of players have pulled out with ?injuries?. The AFC will have named seven Pro Bowl quarterbacks by the time the whole shebang is done. That demeans the honor to those who truly deserved it, and it further dilutes any compelling reason to play an exhibition where the players are simply trying to avoid injury. It?s time for the Pro Bowl to go the way of the 3rd place game in the NCAA basketball tourney (remember that?), another purposeless game that the players openly loathed. $.05--Another exhibition game that you should absolutely pay attention to takes place next Saturday. The Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama is a showcase of most of the top seniors entering the upcoming draft. The real action takes place during the week?s practice sessions, where every GM, scout, and almost every coach from every team will be there studying these players. For many coaches and front office people, this is their first extended look at these collegians, and the crop of talent this year is real strong. As many as half of the players that will be chosen in the first two rounds in April will be in Mobile, auditioning for draft slots and team fits. It?s also the unofficial start of the offseason player movement carousel. While free agency doesn?t start for a few weeks, the seeds are often planted and fertilized here. So are potential trades; last year while enjoying a chicken Caesar salad at a local bar, I overheard the groundwork for a trade that commenced on draft day as two GMs enjoyed some beers and stream-of-thought player talk. I?ll be in Mobile doing my own player evaluations and gathering as much skinny dirt as I can. Check out my daily reports here on RealGM.com! $.06--The Robert Barone to the Senior Bowl?s Everybody Loves Raymond is the East-West Shrine game, which follows the same format and actually predates the Senior Bowl. That game took place Saturday in Orlando in front of hundreds of people, at least half of whom were relatives of the players of hardcore draftniks. The talent pool for the Shrine game is lower but not insignificant, as many of the players showing off in Orlando will come off the draft boards in the middle and late rounds of the draft. While I was unable to attend the practice sessions, I polled three different NFL team scouts who were there for their winners and losers of the week. Winners Rodger Saffold, T, Indiana--?he pulled up his draft grade at least 2 rounds with us? and ?surprised me with his strong footwork?. Kam Chancellor, S, Virginia Tech--?has a lot of Louis Delmas to him? and ?he can start for us next year if he plays a little smarter in coverage? Brandon Carter, G, Texas Tech--?he needs some work in pass protect but he?s smart enough to do it. Love his focused aggression, consistently turns his man with great hands and pad level? Losers Alterraun Verner, CB, UCLA--?an undersized corner had better be able to blanket, but he was the weakest cover man out here. Undraftable.? Todd Reesing, QB, Kansas--sorry Todd, but this is the exact quote from one scout, ?I?ve been to at least twenty of these things (All-Star games) and he?s easily the worst quarterback I?ve ever seen at any of them. I don?t know how he started in the Big 12. He?s smaller than our slot guy and our punter has a better arm.? Andre Dixon, RB UConn--?skinny legs? and ?runs timid? $.07--5 random quickies: 1. Both #1 seeds advanced to the Super Bowl, and both are dome home teams. The Super Bowl, of course, is played outdoors in Miami, the only city the Colts have ever played in their four Super Bowls. 2. With the Saints advancing, that leaves the Lions, Browns, Texans and Jaguars as the only teams to never make a Super Bowl. As a Lions fan that grew up in greater Cleveland in a Browns-loving family, that factoid brings me great pain. 3. The Colts are the second consecutive team to finish dead last in rushing offense to make the Super Bowl. The Cardinals did it a year ago. When paired with Indy?s 24th ranked run defense and the Saints own bottom-feeding rating in that category, hopefully this destroys the antiquated notion that in order to win you have to both run the ball and be able to stop the run. Somewhere Beano Cook shudders...and nobody notices. 4. Braylon Edwards? father came out over the weekend, slamming the media and Browns fans in general for their treatment of his son, blaming (among other things) the fact Braylon went to Michigan but played in an Ohio State hotbed. I?m going to speak for a lot of Browns fans here: Braylon got booed because he couldn?t catch the damn ball, certainly not when it mattered most in games. And I think Mr. Edwards would be surprised at how many Michigan fans and Ohio State haters there are in Northeast Ohio. Trust me, I speak from personal experience. 5. You?re going to hear repeated cries from those who want the NFL to alter the overtime rules, after the Saints scored on the only possession in the extra period. I hate the college system but I would borrow one building block from it--the team that is on defense first gets one drive to try and tie the game on offense if the other team scores on the opening possession. Beyond that it reverts to sudden death. Jeff.Risdon@RealGM.com