Saints' Brees reaches elite status with Super Bowl victory
MIAMI -- As he sat in full uniform late Sunday night, barely a mark on it by the way, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees talked about what winning the Super Bowl means to his teammates, his city, the region and anyone else he could mention.
"We played for so much more than just ourselves," Brees said. "We played for the entire Gulf Coast region. We played for the entire 'Who Dat' Nation."
He forgot to mention one very important person.
Himself.
Quarterbacks are defined by winning Super Bowls, and by the style in which they do it. Brees did it in grand style at Sun Life Stadium, outplaying Peyton Manning in the process. Brees threw for 288 yards, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 114.5 as the Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV to give the franchise the first Super Bowl victory in its history.
The win might earn Brees a key to the city but it also gives him the key into an elite club that previously included two -- Manning and Tom Brady.
The two-man club now includes three.
Brees is in that class. They can't deny him now.
I asked him last summer if he belonged with those two. His answer then: "I wouldn't say no."
But he wouldn't say yes, either. I bet he does now.
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Gregg Doyel
"He was outstanding, consistent and he's just a winner everywhere he's been," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "He's won it. He's won it for us."
Brees is everything that Manning and Brady are not. They are big, tall and prototypical. He is the shortest starting quarterback in the NFL at barely 6-feet tall. But it didn't matter against the Colts as he slowly and meticulously carved up that Colts defense.
Brees' completion percentage of 82.1 is the highest completion percentage in Super Bowl history for anybody with 30 or more completions. His 32 completions tied a Super Bowl record held by Brady.
"It's such a tremendous honor," Brees said of the MVP. "To be a Super Bowl champion is enough for me."
Brees is the patron saint now for all the quarterbacks out there who have been told they are too small, that they didn't have an arm that was good enough. When he came out of Purdue, those were major questions with him.
Little man, though, has a big drive.
His arm has gotten stronger, scouts say, which is surprising since he had shoulder surgery in 2006, only months before he signed with the Saints.
It was a risk for the Saints that has now paid off in a big way.
The man has averaged 4,500 yards and 30 touchdowns in his four seasons with the Saints, yet he went into this game as the "other" quarterback. This was Manning's chance to grab something with a victory, which was a claim as one of the best ever.
Instead, it was Brees who won the battle and the right to stake a claim as one of the elite of the elites.
After a slow first quarter, in which Brees completed 3 of 7 passes for 27 yards, he got warmer than Louisiana hot sauce. At one point, he hit on 21 of 24 passes over the second and third quarters.
The Saints trailed 10-0 when Brees came alive. Coming back from that deficit tied the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, matching the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII.
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| Brees might be the NFL's shortest starting QB, but he's standing tall after winning the Lombardi Trophy. (AP) |
Brees said the formula coming into the game for the offense was to take care of the ball and be patient. New Orleans worked that to perfection.
The most impressive thing about his play was he hit eight different receivers and the longest catch by any of them was a 27-yard completion to Marques Colston. The big-chunk plays never came, which tested the offense.
"We knew we had to take advantage of the opportunities we were given, but really be patient and just try and take what they give us," Brees said.
Brees threw touchdown passes to Pierre Thomas on a well-designed screen pass and to Jeremy Shockey for the go-ahead points in the fourth quarter.
"We've had plenty of games this year where we've gone down at some point in the game -- early, fourth quarter, whatever it might be," Brees said. "We just continued to believe in ourselves."
The Saints players swear Brees is the most competitive person on the roster. And when he plays against great quarterbacks it shows. In four games this year against Super Bowl MVPs, Brees has 14 touchdowns passes and no interceptions.
Talk about rising to the challenge.
In beating Manning, the Saints became the first team to beat three consecutive Super Bowl MVPs. They beat Kurt Warner in the first round, Brett Favre in the NFC Championship Game and Manning Sunday night.
"He's the MVP tonight for a reason," Payton said.
Don't let the nice-guy demeanor fool you. Brees is a killer quarterback. The guy loves being told he can't do it -- and especially showing everybody they were wrong.
You got the feeling as he sat at the podium late Sunday night, relishing the moment, spreading the credit around, his insides had to be churning knowing he had arrived at the greatest destination for a quarterback.
Move over, Peyton and Tom. You have company. The short, bushy-haired kid with the can't-be-denied demeanor made it the big three Sunday night.
Even he might say it now.
