The resurrection of Drew Brees!

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Ok now that we are over the initial shock of the Indianapolis Colts losing Super Bowl 44 in Miami we can dissect a few interesting puzzle pieces that made up the most watched television event in history.

Today I thought I would give Saints gunslinger Drew Brees the old once-over. If you listened to the Fast Lane during the two week build up to the Super Bowl it wasn’t hard to figure out that I didn’t think very highly of Drew Brees. I never have. I hated him in when he was in college at Purdue. That thing on his face drove me batty! I thought he was way too short for the NFL and he was nothing more than a Joe Tiller spread system quarterback. Back then the spread offense was in its infancy period and I saw it as a useful gimmick implemented by middling college football teams to ensure consistent minor bowl game appearances. Install the spread offense and recruit a pop gun armed overachiever at quarterback, win 8 or 9 games per year and milk a mid level salary for the next ten years. Great work if you can get it. Sprinkle in one or two miracle 10 win seasons and they’ll make you a hero. Who knows, maybe they’ll erect a statue in your honor or name the field after you. Drew Brees was everything that was wrong about college football in my eyes. He was a volume passer who had outrageous stats because he was allowed to throw on almost every down. I felt in big games Brees and that bastardized offense would be exposed as frauds. In the 01 Rose Bowl vs. my beloved Washington Huskies proved my hunch to be correct. Dawgs 34, B-makers 24! Brees wasn’t horrible that day but he wasn’t spectacular either, 275 yards and two TD passes in a losing effort. Huskies OB Marques Tuiasosopo was named MVP.

    I believed San Diego wasted a second round pick drafting Brees in 2001. I said that he would be selling insurance by 2003. Well in the first and second seasons of the Brees era it looked like I was the Great Kreskin. The Chargers were 8-8 in 02 with Brees as the full time starter. In 2003 he went backwards in a hurry. He started only 11 games and had a 2-9 record. Had a Mike Vick like completion percentage of less the 58% and threw more interceptions than touchdowns (15 to 11). He sucked and was benched midseason! Doug Flutie who was pushing 1000 years old (39 actually but you get the point) had to oil up and get out on the field to try to rescue the sinking ship. He couldn’t work his magic either and the Chargers were stuck in suckville. They were one of the worst teams in professional sports at the time and had earned the dubious honor of having the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NFL draft. The Chargers acquired NC State product Philip Rivers in the great Eli Manning swap believing Drew Brees was a certified bust and the team needed to go in a different direction. Rivers was the future...or so they thought.

Then all of a sudden Brees just got it! He became a different player in 04. He was poised and accurate seemingly overnight. Maybe the reality of inevitability was the tonic that turned Brees into a Pro Bowler in 2004. Who knows? A 12-4 record and a playoff berth and with Brees throwing 27 touchdowns to only 7 picks San Diego had big issues deciding what to do with a 40 million dollar baby on the bench in Rivers and a suddenly red hot shrimp of a starting quarterback whose contract was up. Well in the NFL as the old saying goes when in doubt, Franchise! Brees remained the starter in 05 and continued his hot streak. He had won me over by this time. I liked Brees now! I became a fan. I thought San Diego made the wrong choice in letting Brees walk after the 2005 season. I thought the San Diego Chargers were on the threshold of greatness with Brees at quarterback before the team took advantage of the opportunity to dump Brees after he injured his throwing shoulder vs. the Denver Broncos. Rivers hasn’t been bad for San Diego as the starter. In fact he’s been stellar since taking over. But Brees appeared to be on his way to becoming one of the league’s best up until the injury. Maybe San Diego dealt the wrong QB? Maybe San Diego waited too long to deal Brees. Either way New Orleans is a Super Bowl Championship city now because of Drew Brees. Who knew all it took was a little doubt!