MIAMI (Reuters) – The Dallas Cowboys have long been known as ‘America’s team’ but the New Orleans Saints, who triumphed as underdogs in Sunday’s Super Bowl, can now make a good claim to that title.

From President Barack Obama, to the estimated 100 million fans at home in front of televisions, to the crowd in Dolphins stadium, most Americans seemed to be celebrating the Saints’ 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

“The Saints had the emotion and the sentiment and the heartstrings of most of America on their side,” wrote Miami Herald columnist Greg Cote.

From a sporting point of view New Orleans was the club without a trophy from its previous 42 seasons — you could not get much more of an underdog than that.

MIAMI (Reuters) – New Orleans Saints’ Super Bowl winning coach Sean Payton felt the weight of history on Monday as he woke up beside the Vince Lombardi Trophy and then received a congratulatory phone call from his mentor Bill Parcells.

The Saints won their first Super Bowl title with a 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday helped by some positive, risk-taking calls from their inspired 46 year-old coach.

Payton got his hands on his first Super Bowl trophy, the silverware named after former Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, a five times NFL championship winner and regarded as the greatest coach of all.

The celebrations included the curious sight of Saints’ quarterback coach Joe Lombardi posing alongside the trophy named after his grandfather.

MIAMI (Reuters) – Peyton Manning’s dream of a second Super Bowl triumph in Miami ended cruelly with an intercepted pass as his Indianapolis Colts lost 31-17 to his hometown team, the New Orleans Saints.

Manning threw 31 completed passes for 333 yards and one touchdown, and at times on Sunday showed why he is rated the league’s top quarterback.

But the pass that flew into the arms of Saints cornerback Tracy Porter late in the fourth quarter is likely to be the play most recalled.

“He made a great play, that’s all I can say about it. Porter made a heck of a play,” said a dejected Manning, who won the Super Bowl at Dolpins stadium against the Chicago Bears in 2007.

MIAMI (Reuters) – In a game of athleticism, speed and violence, it was a gently poked 12-yard kick along the ground which turned the Super Bowl toward the New Orleans Saints in Sunday’s 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

The Saints trailed 10-6 at halftime but, kicking off to start the third quarter, punter Thomas Morstead was sent out with instructions to deliver a short onside kick which was recovered by linebacker Jonathan Casillas.

The risky tactic, designed to keep possession, is normally used as a desperate measure late in the game but Saints coach Sean Payton used it as a positive move to give his team a chance to put the Colts on the back foot.

It was a well-rehearsed but totally surprising move and it worked a treat — from the possession Pierre Thomas scored a touchdown and the Saints got in front.

MIAMI (Reuters) – New Orleans’ Super Bowl victory over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday was destiny, Saints quarterback Drew Brees said.

Brees, who joined the Saints as a free agent four years ago with the city still reeling from Hurricane Katrina, was named the game’s Most Valuable Player after throwing two touchdowns and completing 32 of 39 passes for 288 yards in the 31-17 win.

“It was all meant to be, it’s all destiny,” said a visibly emotional Brees as confetti rained down over Dolphin stadium following the Saints first Super Bowl triumph.

“We just believed in ourselves. We knew that we had an entire city and maybe an entire country behind us. I’ve tried to imagine what this moment would be like for a long time, and it’s even better than expected.

MIAMI (Reuters) – With his self-evident enthusiasm and incisive intelligence, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton has transformed a franchise known for failure into Super Bowl contenders.

On Sunday, Payton, in his fourth season as head coach, will be pacing the sidelines as his Saints take on the Indianapolis Colts for the biggest prize in the NFL.

Defensive end Will Smith has no doubt that his coach has been the key factor in turning around the Saints.

Smith told reporters: “He’s meant a lot. When Sean came in he cleaned house a little bit. He kept the guys that he thought really wanted to be there and wanted to play. He’s brought on a lot of terrific guys, not only great players but great people.

MIAMI (Reuters) – The romantics are backing the New Orleans Saints but experience and quality points to the Indianapolis Colts as favorites in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Peyton Manning, the undisputed number one quarterback in the game, is looking for his second Super Bowl ring after he, along with 24 other members of the current team, won in Miami against the Chicago Bears at the end of the 2006 season.

The Saints, in contrast, are in their first Super Bowl and with their run coming less then five years after New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, they have won the hearts of most neutrals.

Once mocked as ‘The Aints’, the story of the New Orleans club, 43 years old this year, has been one of miserable failure followed by mediocrity.

MIAMI (Reuters) – The romantics are backing the New Orleans Saints but experience and quality points to the Indianapolis Colts as favorites in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Peyton Manning, the undisputed number one quarterback in the game, is looking for his second Super Bowl ring after he, along with 24 other members of the current team, won in Miami against the Chicago Bears at the end of the 2006 season.

The Saints, in contrast, are in their first Super Bowl and with their run coming less then five years after New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, they have won the hearts of most neutrals.

Once mocked as ‘The Aints’, the story of the New Orleans club, 43 years old this year, has been one of miserable failure followed by mediocrity.

MIAMI (Reuters) – Anthony Hargrove will line up as defensive tackle for the New Orleans Saints in Sunday’s Super Bowl but watched last year’s big game from a drug and alcohol rehab center.

Banned by the NFL for a year for repeated infractions of their policies, Hargrove was not even thinking about his football career — just on getting his life back on track, somehow.

“At that stage football wasn’t even part of the equation, it was something taken away for at least one year,” Hargrove told Reuters on Thursday.

“To even get reinstated (to the league) there seemed to be so much that was against me. The plan wasn’t about football. The plan was: ‘how are you going to live now?’”

MIAMI (Reuters) – New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma plans to visit his parents’ homeland of Haiti after the Super Bowl is over and make a hands-on contribution to relief efforts in the earthquake struck country.

Vilma will line up against the Indianapolis Colts, who feature wide-receiver Pierre Garcon also of Haitian descent, in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Miami, Vilma’s hometown, has a large Haitian community and he has been involved in raising cash, via a special tee-shirt, to help rebuild a country where members of his family still live.

But when his football duties are over he plans to head to Haiti and make a physical contribution to the relief effort.