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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Sam Cunningham saved me from excruciating pain and certain ridicule in front of hundreds of people.

Behind an end zone of the New England Patriots practice fields, we were reminiscing about his playing days when some people screamed "Heads up!"

My instinct was to look at the far field, where the Patriots and New Orleans Saints were running 11-on-11 drills. Saints kicker Garrett Hartley had been working out on the closest field but would need to go wiiiiiiiiiide left to send a ball our way.

Hartley did, and thankfully Cunningham still has those soft hands or else I'd have reprised Hans Moleman in "Man Getting Hit by Football."

With the ball flying right toward a most delicate region and me looking into the sun, Cunningham reached over and snared it like it was a Steve Grogan backfield toss.

"I hadn't caught a football in I don't know how long," Cunningham laughed.

At that moment, I enshrined Cunningham into the Tim Graham Hall of Fame, which I'm sure falls just short of measuring up to the honor the Patriots will bestow on him Thursday afternoon.

The hard-charging fullback known as "Bam" will be inducted into the Hall at Patriot Place.

"We came, we put in our work as hard as we could and much as we could and for the fans and the people to appreciate it," Cunningham said. "At the end of the day, that's all you want. You make your money, you spend your money and you do whatever you do. The appreciation factor is something that never goes away."

He is said to have helped integrate college football in the South with a dominant performance for USC against Alabama in 1970 and spent all 10 of his NFL seasons with the Patriots. He's still the franchise leader with 1,385 rushing attempts and 5,453 yards. His 43 rushing touchdowns rank second.

Cunningham had one of the greatest seasons at any position in Patriots history in 1977, when the Patriots set an NFL record with 3,165 rushing yards. The record hasn't been legitimately approached despite the addition of two more regular-season games.

That year, Cunningham ran for a team-high 1,015 yards and four touchdowns and caught 42 passes for 370 yards and a touchdown. He went to the Pro Bowl the next season, running for 768 yards and eight touchdowns.

"He played at a time where a lot of people don't really probably right now appreciate what fullbacks were in the '70s and early '80s," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. They were "guys that not only blocked, but ran the ball, caught it and really never came off the field ... not just on first down or third down or those kind of specialty players.

"He was a big ball carrier, a hard guy to tackle, a very good runner, a good blocker, caught the ball well, very good in short-yardage and goal line."

But Cunningham's teams reached the postseason only three times, the last coming in 1982, when he played in only six games.

"We were off the radar a little bit, but I guarantee you the teams we played didn't really want to play us," Cunningham said. "People looked at us as an also-ran team, but we had players from programs that had won and didn't like to lose and a coach that didn't like to lose and held us accountable.

"History looks back differently than those teams were at that time. The teams we played understood the talent we had and what we could do if they took us lightly."

MIAMI -- Reggie Wayne couldn't bring himself to admit he admired Sean Payton's intrepid call for an onside kick to open the second half of Super Bowl XLIV.

"I'm the one that's over here with my lip puffed out," Wayne said Sunday night in a tent outside Sun Life Stadium. "So apparently it was a good call."

Wayne and the rest of the Indianapolis Colts' offense were left standing on the sideline when the New Orleans Saints pulled off the big gamble.

Experience was supposed to be the difference-maker for the Colts. They'd been on this grand stage before. The Saints had not.

Yet, the Colts were caught unprepared.

The Saints recovered the kick and, six plays later, established themselves as an underdog on paper only. The Saints went on to win 31-17, and leave the Colts wondering about all the plays that got away.

"I didn't see it coming," Colts right tackle Ryan Diem said. "At that point in the game, I didn't expect them to do anything like that. The element of surprise got us."

Indianapolis was eager to get the ball first after halftime.

Peyton Manning directed the Colts' offense with his usual meticulousness in the first quarter. First possession: 11 plays, 53 yards, field goal. Second possession: 11 plays, 96 yards, touchdown.

Then came the second quarter. The Colts short-circuited, experiencing their first lamentable play. On third-and-4 from their 28-yard line, Manning zipped a short pass to Pierre Garcon. The play should have gone for a big gain, but Garcon dropped the ball.

"I seen it late, but I should've made the catch," Garcon said. "It was a great throw by Peyton. It should've been caught.

"It could've made the difference in the game."

Instead, the Colts were forced to punt for the first time. In the second quarter, they ran only six plays -- the second three-and-out series simply running out the clock. They gained 15 yards. They maintained possession for 2:34.

Still, the Colts seemed to be in control. They snuffed Saints running back Pierre Thomas on a fourth-and-goal run play that looked like it would doom Payton to a lifetime of second-guessing in New Orleans.

The double-team tackle by Colts linebackers Gary Brackett and Clint Session was the type of stop that championship teams make.

"The goal-line stand was big," Colts defensive end Raheem Brock said, "but you've got to play the rest of the game."

They led the Saints by four points at the extended Super Bowl intermission, and as Pete Townshend churned windmills on his guitar, the Colts strategized to bust the game open.

"In the locker room, we just talked about getting the ball back and going down and scoring some points and putting them in a hole," Wayne said.

The Saints concocted a plan to chop the Colts off at the knees. Thomas Morstead, who handles their kickoffs, was given the onside green light.

"Thomas came up and told me that we were running 'Ambush,' " field-goal kicker Garrett Hartley said. "To start off the second half of the Super Bowl, nothing like it. It's a gut shot, and it worked out in our favor."

Six plays later, Saints quarterback Drew Brees connected with Thomas on a 16-yard pass to give them a 13-10 lead.

"Every possession felt precious out there," Manning said.

The Colts did recover, mounting a typical 10-play, 76-yard drive to retake the lead on their next series.

But the tone had been set. The Saints were willing to trade shots all night, to get aggressive.

The Colts buckled.

"The Saints got some momentum there at the end of the first half and beginning of the third quarter and kind of kept the momentum from there," Manning said. "I thought we just didn't play well enough at certain times."

Indianapolis was outfoxed and outplayed by a team that hadn't been there, done that.

NEW ORLEANS -- Some big names appear on the New Orleans Saints' inactive list for Monday night's game against the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome.

Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports running back Reggie Bush, receiver Lance Moore and both starting cornerbacks, Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter, are out.

Bush had been listed as questionable with a knee injury. There was a belief that Greer, who plays the critical left side, would be able to play through a groin injury. Old friend Randall Gay will replace Greer.

Also scratched:

• Fullback Kyle Eckel
• Defensive tackle DeMario Pressley
• Linebacker Jonathan Casillas
• Kicker Garrett Hartley

I will have the Patriots' inactive list as soon as it's official.

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Graham

In honor of John Wooden's 99th birthday, ESPN Stats & Information came up with some trivia to put his age in perspective.

Seau

For instance, he has seen 18 presidents elected and U.S. involvement in seven international wars. He was 54 years old when Marin Luther King received the Nobel Peace Prize, 69 when Wayne Gretzky scored his first NHL goal and 75 when the New York Jets retired Joe Namath's number.

In the spirit of chronological context, let me also point out that Wooden had won less than half of his 10 NCAA basketball championships when Junior Seau was born on Jan. 19, 1969.

Now that's old.

A month and a half into the regular season, the New England Patriots on Wednesday officially announced they've brought back Seau, the 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker.

Seau becomes the oldest non-kicker in the NFL and the fourth-oldest player overall -- for now. New Orleans Saints kicker John Carney is 45 years old, but he was signed to replace Garrett Hartley, whose four-game suspension ended Monday.

Here are the five NFL players who are quadragenarians:

• John Carney, Saints kicker, 45
• Jeff Feagles, Giants punter, 43
• Matt Turk, Texans punter, 41
• Junior Seau, Patriots linebacker, 40
• Brett Favre, Vikings quarterback, 40