February 8, 2010


Pass Wasn’t the First Thing Porter Cut Off
By JOE LAPOINTE

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Without a helmet, Tracy Porter’s artwork could be seen by all. On the left side of his almost-shaved head his remaining hair said “SB 44” in honor of Super Bowl XLIV.



On the right side of his head was the outline of the Lombardi Trophy, which Porter’s New Orleans Saints won Sunday night with a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. And on the back of his skull, his remaining hair was shaped into the outline of the Superdome, the home stadium of the Saints and the refuge for suffering residents ousted from their homes in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.



Porter said he got the artwork done on his head hours before the game, which was decided when he returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.



He said that he paid his barber $40 and an undisclosed tip at the team hotel in the afternoon and that it took so long to do it, Porter briefly worried that he would be late for the team bus.



But he was on time all day, including for the play with 3 minutes 24 seconds to play and the Saints leading by 7.



On third-and-5 with the Colts on the Saints’ 31-yard line, Porter figured out what Manning was going to do.



“I’ve seen it over and over on film on third down,” Porter said. “That was a big route.”



He knew Manning was going to go to Reggie Wayne. He said he expected the Colts to stack and run an outside release for a slant pattern. And that is just what they did.



“When it came, it was just like I was watching it on film,” Porter said. “I jumped the route and the ball came to me. And here come the end zone.”



In the previous game, the National Football Conference championship game victory over Minnesota, Porter saved the game with a late fourth-quarter interception of Brett Favre that helped force overtime and kill what could have been a winning Vikings drive.



Porter missed several weeks during the season with a knee injury that worried him in the second year of his career.



“I was thinking maybe I was jinxed and I was going to be labeled as that player who wasn’t durable,” Porter said.



Porter has ties to both team’s locales. He was born in Louisiana and went to college at Indiana. But he dedicated his part in the victory not to a place but to a person.



“This is for you, Grandma,” he said. “I love you!”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/sports/football/08porter.html