Crossposted from the forum – the author is Brian
Drew Brees was born in a small town in Austin, Texas where he led his high school to the state championship. He was the MVP for his classification. Yet none of the local big time schools came calling.
In fact, Drew was overlooked to the point he ended up in Indiana playing for the Purdue Boilermakers. His size, barely 6 feet tall, was seen as a liability. Clearly, he couldn’t play.
So Brees set to work proving his critics wrong.
All he did was set Big 10 conference marks for passes, completions, yards passing, touchdowns, total yards, and led his school to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1967, twelve years before he was born.
His wide-open offensive style caught the eye of many, but when it came time for NFL executives to make their selections in the draft, Brees name went uncalled for the entire first round.
In fact, it seems the Miami Dolphins were targeting Brees with the 26th overall selection in round one, but for reasons only player personnel head Rick Spielman can answer passed on him for CB Jamar Fletcher.
The Dolphins went on to draft QB Josh Heupel from Oklahoma in the sixth round.
He didn’t even make the roster.
Fletcher lasted only three seasons in Miami.
Brees’ name was eventually called early in round two by the San Diego Chargers.
He would play only one game in his rookie season for coach Mike Riley, finishing with an excellent quarterback rating of 94.9
That success would not carry over under head coach Marty Schottenheimer. Brees led his team to an early 4-0 record before Sann Diego would drop its last four contests to finish at 8-8. Drew had passed for over 3,000 yards and 17 touchdowns. The future seemed bright in season three.
That would not come to pass. In and out of the lineup due to his propensity to turn the ball over (11 touchdowns to 15 interceptions), Brees shared snaps with veteran quarterback Doug Flutie. San Diego won only 4 games that season and secured the first pick in the draft. Marty Schottenheimer had coached Philip Rivers in the Senior Bowl and the Chargers, lacking faith in Brees, decided to pull the trigger after Eli Manning refused to join the team.
What did Drew Brees do facing such difficult times? He was overlooked when it came time for a prominent college to offer him a scholarship commensurate with his skills and ability. His pro career that started strong had taken a turn for the worse and would be classified as middling at best. And now his team was ready to give up on him in favor of someone else.
All Drew did was going out and throw 27 touchdowns to 7 interceptions and led the Chargers to a 12-4 record and the division crown.
San Diego was in a bind. When asked what separated a 4-12 club from the 12-4 team it had become, teammate LaDainian Tomlinson said it began and ended with Drew Brees. His work ethic and maturation was the difference between winning and losing. That simple?
That simple.
A year later Drew Brees would be in the game under questionable circumstances when he would lose a fumble in his endzone, in an attempt to recover it he was hit by Denver Broncos defensive tackle Gerard Warren and tear the labrum in his throwing shoulder.
This allowed the Chargers the opportunity to insert Rivers into the lineup over Brees despite coach Marty Schottenheimer endorsing Drew for the job. General Manager AJ Smith offered then free agent Brees a contract, but hardly one in line with what he had accomplished to that point.
Once more Drew was doubted. You won’t come back from such an injury.
You won’t be the same.
You still won’t be good enough.
Enter the Miami Dolphins once again.
Coach Nick Saban intercepted Brees in Alabama before his first visit, scheduled with New Orleans, to express their interest in acquiring him. Everyone expected Drew to end up in South Beach given the disposition of the two teams in the running.
New Orleans had been disastrous on the field, finishing 3 and 13, and suffered perhaps the greatest natural disaster in our nation’s history off of it. Hurricane Katrina left the city still under water in some areas, and the weight of a flood of uncertainty upon the backs of every part of the Saints operation from players to coaches to management.
What happened next was the turning point in both the history of the franchise he would choose and the career of the player it so dearly coveted.
Brees landed in New Orleans basing his determination entirely on the faith they displayed in him.
Perhaps for the first time in his career, everyone involved wanted Drew Brees.
Saints coach Sean Payton, General Manager Mickey Loomis, and so on down the line.
No longer the consolation prize, he was the cornerstone to the rebuilding of a region and its team.
Shortly after signing Brees took out an ad in the Times-Picayune thanking Saints fans for their support and voicing his confidence in the team.
Drew Brees last season won league offensive player of the year honors and has led his club to the cusp of the playoffs twice and to the brink of the Super Bowl once.
However, as good as Brees was individually, rarely was his team playing up the standard of excellence he would establish each and every Sunday.
Mired in mediocrity, the team made changes to the defense in the offseason and to the running game on offense, while challenging themselves to finish. Finish the game. Finish the season. Finish their opponents.
Meanwhile in South Beach, unrest surrounded the team with the sudden departure of Saban back to college. Since passing on Brees in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft, Miami has spent 4 second round selections on quarterbacks — trades for AJ Feeley and Daunte Culpepper, and selections of John Beck, and Chad Henne.
Miami last season found its stride winning their division and making the playoffs under new coach Tony Sparano whom Sean Payton originally wanted to bring with him to New Orleans before Bill Parcells blocked the move.
The two teams finally met on Sunday afternoon, ready to settle the score.
Sparano versus Payton.
Brees versus Miami.
Ricky Williams, well, let’s not even go there.
But more important than any individual storyline, this was a defining moment for New Orleans as a team.
The Saints had just dismantled once thought to be the finest in the NFC in the New York Giants, while the Dolphins rebounded from three early losses with two straight wins and a week off to scheme for the Saints.
They had yet to be truly tested on the road, never having trailed at any point during the season, and this Miami team had proven it can keep high powered offenses off the field controlling the ball for 45 minutes against the Colts. That’s unheard of.
The game started, and it seemed the wind had finally died down as the Saints sails barely swayed. Instead, it was the Dolphins rocking the New Orleans ship to the tune of a 24-3 lead in the first half.
Drew Brees would go on to throw three interceptions, be sacked five times, and lose a fumble.
That sort of stat line in the past would have had New Orleans on the losing side of a 45-10 laugher, something Saints fans had becomee familiar with over the previous three seasons.
If Drew Brees was not at his best, elevating the play of those around him, you could chalk up a loss for the team.
Miami had executed the blueprint to beating any great quarterback almost to perfection.
They harassed Drew all day long to the tune of five sacks when he had only previous surrendered four all year. Constant pressure and a raucous crowd led to numerous Saints penalties, as well as four turnovers by the Saints MVP candidate.
Three interceptions on the day, two of which led directly to touchdowns for Miami in the first half, and a fumble lost.
The Saints had become one-dimensional not out of necessity, but rather the feel of the game dictated it as such. They got no push up front from the offensive line in the first half, and every time a receiver seemed open the pass was either knocked down, batted away, or dropped.
How would the Saints respond?
A team that had never trailed at any point all season was being blown out of the water.
In previous years the miscues on offense would be compounded by missed opportunities on defense.
No longer.
Instead of discovering new means of futility, the Saints recover a fumble just prior to halftime and have an opportunity to kick the field goal for three points or go for the touchdown.
The Saints chose to rely on the very man that had put them in the deficit.
Sean Payton would once again gamble the fortunes of his team on the arm of Drew Brees, except this time not to throw it, but rather stretch it over the goal line.
With five seconds before intermission, Drew Brees launched himself over the goal line, determined to chip away at the deficit. Eager to prove that while the Saints had been 1-12 when he throws 2 or more interceptions that today would be different.
This year would be different.
Drew Brees sought to show that this team is different.
In fact, different in that this incarnation of the Saints has a chance to be special, he said earlier in the week.
And special they would be.
Payton again showed his faith in Brees, and his quarterback responded.
Not even two minutes into the second half, the defense rises to the challenge once more, as Darren Sharper grabs a ball tipped three times by Tracy Porter and brings it back for the score, his third pick six of the season.
Suddenly the Saints were only down by a score.
The Dolphins refused to lay down, however, sandwiching a Colston touchdown strike from Brees between a field goal of their own and a four yard Ricky Williams scoring run.
Trailing by ten points, Drew Brees dials up Jeremy Shockey for a 66-yard gain inside Dolphins territory.
Moments later, Drew hands off on a double reverse and throws the critical block to spring Bush for an aerial display for the ages as Reggie flew over defenders with the ball breaking the plane of the goal line for the score.
Suddenly the Saints are no longer down 10.
The deficit is three.
In a season when everything seemed to go the Saints way, this was a struggle from the start.
Adversity is the opportunity for the expression of character.
And Drew Brees showed his all day long.
Minutes later with his team looking to take the lead for the first time on the goal line, the battered and beaten Brees, who twice before had been told by the Dolphins organization he was wanted, but just not enough, showed he is willing to put it all on the line.
A quarterback sneak into the heart of the defense that had been so merciless all day long proved all the points the Saints would need, despite adding to their total.
Caught in the emotion of the moment, Brees ran to the goal post, leapt into the air and dunked the football. A rare glimpse of emotional expression from the so often cool and collected quarterback beyond the fist pump.
That run was the very dagger in the back of a defense that had given Drew Brees all he could handle.
Then watched him get back up, time after time, and deliver a blow of his own.
Sent reeling to the mat, the Dolphins would not recover.
And that really is the difference here. Drew Brees came to New Orleans to start his career over again, centered by the belief in himself and his abilities, and in the recovery of a city and a region with which he would quickly fall in love.
Drew Brees has made even the most ardent critic a believer in his abilities, from a very early age he has been told he’s not wanted. He simply was not good enough.
Today, the young man from Austin, Texas slammed a football over the crossbar in the exaltation of proving to everyone that he is very much capable of winning any type of game despite the circumstance.
He is good enough.
This win is vindication for Drew, but his conquest is hardly complete. His goals are not yet met.
As he rounded the stands slapping hands with the Saints fans remaining as time had expired, today showed that Drew Brees has found his redemption. He bested San Diego last season. He came from behind against the Dolphins.
And yet those achievements you can tell pale in comparison to what he really wants.
That being a return trip to Miami on February 7, 2010 and to leave with another victory.
A championship won.