Having Brees instead of Romo has Saints feeling blessed

METAIRIE, La. -- A freshly hired Sean Payton contemplated going after a budding Tony Romo as his quarterback when he scored the New Orleans Saints' coaching job nearly four years ago.

Don't let Payton fool you.

Payton, like any other topic these days ranging from whether or not to go for 16-0 to whether or not his name really is "Sean Payton," tried to downplay and squash the talk of his 2006 pursuit of Romo earlier this week.

"Much was made of that," Payton said. "That was at a time when there really wasn't a lot to that. Dallas had a guy that they were going to develop and work with. I think that at the time when we got here, there was just a need for a quarterback and more than anything people were just kind of putting the dots together. There probably wasn't a whole lot to that."

There probably wasn't a whole lot to the Romo discussions because then-Cowboys coach Bill Parcells wanted no part of unloading the Cowboys quarterback whom Payton had convinced Parcells to bring to Dallas back to the former offensive coordinator that just left him to go to New Orleans.

In fact, Parcells swiftly put to bed any possible Romo trade talks with Payton by telling his former assistant at the time to "lay down on the couch and have some warm milk."

As Payton continued to search for his franchise quarterback, one veteran passer sustained a near career-ending crash to the turf at Qualcomm Stadium on Dec. 31, 2005, against the Broncos in what turned out to be his final game with the San Diego Chargers.

A couple of days later, after completely tearing the labrum and partially tearing the rotator cuff in his right shoulder, Drew Brees searched for a reason behind his fate.

"I'm of the mind-set, 'OK, this looks bad. But why is this happening? What has God got in store for me? Of all the times for this to happen -- with the contract and the last game of the year -- why now?'" Brees told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Well, it's because He knows I'm going to come back and I'm going to be a better football player next season."

As Brees' agent tried to warm up potential suitors to the idea that the surgically mended quarterback could return as powerful as ever, and Parcells warmed a glass of milk for his former assistant, Payton took a leap of faith and a head-coaching career risk in signing Brees.

Four years later, Payton goes to bed every night, lays his head on his goose-feathered pillow and thanks some sort of religious being for a certain quarterback now affectionately known around the New Orleans area as "Breesus."

And we're not talking about Romo.

"Everything happens for a reason," Brees said this week. "Everything has worked out. I'm sure if you look over at the course of history, you can see a lot of those came-close-on-this-trade moments, or a draft pick or whatever it might have been. I'm glad [the Romo trade] didn't happen."

A reporter chimed in, "I'm sure [Payton] is, too."

"Yeah," Brees said.

Would the Saints be in position to move closer to regular-season perfection Saturday night against the Cowboys without Brees?

Hell no.

Uh, I mean heck no. (Sorry, Breesus.)

His on- and off-the-field contributions for the Saints and the city seemingly have no end. Opposing coaches bring Brees into the conversation without even being asked about him.

Cowboys coach Wade Phillips was asked about the diversity of weapons on the Saints offense. He didn't mention Marques Colston or Jeremy Shockey. He left out Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem. Phillips totally ignored running backs Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush and Mike Bell.

It's Brees he's praising.

"They have a lot of outstanding players, but the quarterback's the key to all of it," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. "He gets it to them. Drew Brees is one of my favorites, not to play against, but just to watch him play, see how he plays and see how he gets the ball to whoever's open. He's just a fantastic player and a good guy. I'm glad for him. I'm not glad to play him at this time, but I'm sure glad for him, because he deserves every bit of it."

Then when asked about Romo's play the past two weeks as the Cowboys' December swoon continues its downward spiral, Phillips' endorsement of Romo rang about as hollow as Jerry Jones' endorsement of Phillips' job future.

After all Drew Brees has done since arriving in New Orleans in 2006, some Saints fans can't help but worship him. (AP)

Romo said he never really pondered what would have happened if Parcells had shipped him off to New Orleans in 2006 and said he's lucky to be in a great situation where he feels very comfortable.

Not sure if anyone else would agree with Romo being in a "great situation" currently in Dallas. There is one thing for sure, though.

RoMoses doesn't quite roll off the tongue like Breesus, and signs of Brees' "deity" are everywhere.

There are the Photoshopped pictures of Brees walking on the Mississippi River in front of St. Louis Cathedral floating around the Internet. And then there are the local businesses and vendors selling a variety of Breesus-based T-shirts that read "Breesus is My Homeboy," "Sweet Breesus" and "WWBD: What Would Breesus Do?"

Even though it's typically illegal for vendors to sell T-shirts with Brees' likeness without his permission, he's letting it slide for all his disciples.

"I get free T-shirts out of it, because I get them thrown in my car, as I drive by [fans at the airport] after the games," Brees said. "I had my window rolled down I got some pralines thrown in there the other day, T-shirts, CDs. It's like Christmas. It is Christmas. ... I think it's great how excited people are. Everybody wants to be a part of this and everybody deserves to be a part of this, because so many fans have been waiting for this for a long time."

There's always a connection with religion considering the team name. Some fans deemed it divine intervention, when Bush "miraculously" fell to the Saints with the No. 2 pick in the 2006 draft. Bush was immediately coined "The Savior" and "Saint Reggie" before ever playing a down.

Brees is the latest of the Saints' "religious" figures.

"[It's] a little sacrilegious," Brees said. "I guess that might be a little far, going a little far. Just the fact that it's a sign of affection and that people respect you and maybe what you stand for. So in that case, it's an honor for people to think that way about you."

Saints tackle Jon Stinchcomb takes his faith pretty seriously, but was able to still be light-hearted about the Breesus moniker.

"I think Drew is one of the best players in the game today, but he's no Jesus," Stinchcomb said with a chuckle. "I understand the respect people have, but that may be a step too far for my taste. To be on the same bar as Jesus? I'm going to have to say no. ... I don't think he's going to offer salvation to anybody."

Brees might not offer spiritual salvation to his followers, but what he does potentially offer Saints fans is a saving grace from the horrors of the franchise's past.

"It's such a unique situation," Brees said. "The connection that we have with our fans is unlike any other in the league, just because of what's happened here the last five years and what we've all been through together. I don't know how many guys, but there's quite a few guys that were here during the Katrina year that got displaced to San Antonio and were playing home games all over the place.

"I signed here six months later post-Katrina as a free agent as did a majority of the guys in the locker room and we all kind of were part of that rebuilding not only of this organization, but for a lot of us our careers, because a lot of us, you might call us castoffs or castaways a little bit because we were either traded here or got here, because we didn't have too many other options.

"We were able to that do that together as an organization, as a team, all of us individually, as a city, all kind of rebuilding together, all kind of leaning on each other. ... I think if you look at each and every year, yes we've taken our lumps a little bit as a team by not making the playoffs the last two years, but I'm a firm believer everything happens for a reason.

"Sometimes you have to go through that adversity and have it happen to you, some of that heartbreak in order for you to gain that edge and that mental toughness in order to allow you that opportunity of what we're doing this year.

"In other words, we don't make the playoffs the last two years, but I think that's what's allowed us to be 13-0 right now, staring at the opportunity to win them all."