I am a longtime New Orleans Saints fan. I have been following them since the days of names like Steve Walsh, Bobby Hebert, Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, Fred McAfee, Sam Mills, Pat Swilling, Morten Andersen, and so on.
I have watched this team have some very rough seasons, and be the team that everyone just could not wait to play. Along the years of watching them sometimes I would think to myself that there was just nothing that could help this team! Even when they had decent seasons they could just not do anything in the playoffs. At some point you would think it had to stop and that something had to give right?
I was always told by my grandfather that one day the time will come for this team to win and hopefully I was around to see it. Well in 2006 the New Orleans Saints made a few changes.
A new coach named Sean Payton, drafting Marques Colston and Reggie Bush, signing an undrafted free agent in Lance Moore, and signing another free agent in Drew Brees. This would be a huge turnaround for the franchise.
For years to come the names mentioned would be very valuable for the New Orleans Saints, but out of all of them Drew Brees has been the most valuable. As a matter of fact he has been so valuable that he made the names mentioned more valuable then they really are.
Many teams are usually able to replace players and still move on without them. Many teams have a well ran system that any player can come in, follow and be successful with. However last season many people saw what happened to the Indianapolis Colts with Peyton Manning missing the whole season with an injury. In 2008 we saw the New England Patriots go 11-5 without Tom Brady. Even the Green Bay Packers defeated a playoff bound Detroit Lions team without Aaron Rodgers playing. While all these quarterbacks are mean the world to the teams they play for, Drew Brees is the New Orleans Saints.
He is the franchise and everything else with it. He makes everyone on the team feel like they are apart of it. Guys like Darren Sproles, Jimmy Graham, Marques Colston , Devery Henderson, I believe are good, I also believe that Brees makes them look better. He makes every player out on the field feel like they have a chance to catch the ball, even the running backs in the slot. When he goes back to throw the football it looks many times as if he does not have a locked on target and that he is looking for who has the better shot. Some quarterbacks would rather have a certain go to guy for each play rather then have to look around for an open target. In the case of Brees in the pocket, every receiver or running back has a chance to get that football thrown to them. Some people do not realize how much that means to players when they walk out on the field for each play of the game.
Since his arrival to the Saints, Brees has had 4 different players lead the team in receptions in his 6 years of play with the team. Sharing the ball with these players has made them all mean much more to the team. With the departure of Robert Meachem (still hurts me to see that he is gone) I must wonder how valuable Brees will make other up and coming receivers, Joseph Morgan, Andy Tanner, Nick Toon to name a few.
Let alone all the records has either tied or broken:
- Most passing yards, season: 5,476
- Most consecutive 300+ yards passing games: 7
- Most consecutive 350+ yards passing games: 4
- Most consecutive 400+ yards passing games: 2 (tied)
- Most games, 250+ yards passing, season: 16
- Most games, 350+ yards passing, season: 8
- Most games, 300+ yards passing, season: 13
- Most games, 30 or more pass attempts, season: 16 (tied)
- Most pass completions, season: 468
- Most consecutive games 20 completions: 36 (2009-present)
- Most games 20 completions, season: 16 (tied his own 2010 record)
- Most games 30 completions, career: 29 (2005-present)
- Most games 30 completions, season: 9
- Most games 30 completions and no interceptions, career: 14 (2006–present)
- Most games with 30 completions and no interceptions, season: 5 (tied)
- Highest completion percentage, season: 71.2 (468 for 657)
- Most games with more than 80% pass completion rate, career (minimum 20 passes per game): 12 (2004-present)
- Most games with more than 80% pass completion rate, season (minimum 20 passes per game): 3
- Most consecutive seasons 4000+ yards: 6 (2006-2011)
- Most career seasons 5000+ yards: 2
- Most games, 350+ yards passing, career: 29
- Most games 5+ TD Passes, Career 7, (2004-Present)
- Most games 1+ TD Passes, Season 16 (tied)
- Most seasons, 45+ Touchdown Passes, 1 (tied)
- Most consecutive playoff games, 2+ Touchdowns Passes7 (tied) (2006-2011)
- Most consecutive passes, None intercepted, post-season: 226 (January 21, 2007 – January 14, 2012)
- Most games with 400 yards passing and no interceptions, career 4 (tied)
- Most games with 5 touchdown passes and no interceptions, career 5 (2004-present)
- Most games with 30 completions and no interceptions, career 14 (2006-2011)
- Passing yards in a single month 1,687 (October 2011)
- Most completions in a Superbowl, 32 (tied) (Superbowl XLIV)
- 1st QB in NFL history with 400+ pass yards in 3 straight postseason games (2010-2011)
Also Brees is currently 2nd all-time with consecutive games with at least 1 TD pass – 43 (2009–present), only behind Johnny Unitas who threw a touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games (between 1956–1960), a record which has remained unsurpassed for 52 years
Does anyone really need to question his contract? If so just re-read this article all over again and possibly again until you think you have the correct answer.
-Mel Whitehead
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