Payton and Brees

by Jeff Duncan

  “Wizardry from Drew Brees!” said play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt on the Fox Sports broadcast, which panned to a shot of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, standing hands on hips, staring incredulously down at the field from the coaches’ box.

  Brees had just conducted a magic trick, something straight out of a Warner Brothers cartoon.

  Three stories below Fangio, McCown stood on the Saints sideline in awe.

  Did he just do that?! McCown remembers thinking. “You’ve got to be kidding me. It was like he was Luke Skywalker and just turned invisible on them.”

  It would be one thing if Brees’ Houdini act were an isolated incident, a one-off in his 19-year career. But he’s performed these magic acts so many times the Saints offensive coaches have a phrase for it: the Brees Jedi Mind Trick.

  There was the spin move he put on Robert Alford and Bryan Poole to leave the Falcons secondary tandem in his dust at the 5-yard line in Week 3 of the 2018 season. And the crafty juke he laid on Jimmy Smith four weeks later to cause the Ravens cornerback to whiff as an unblocked blitzer on a blind-side sack attempt, after which Brees found Dan Arnold for a 10-yard gain. The list goes on and on.

  “I could pull up half a dozen of those plays on film,” Lombardi said. “He does a shoulder twitch and guys fly by him like he’s not there. It’s become a joke in the quarterback room. I don’t know how he does it.”

  Analysts and scouts have used myriad adjectives to describe Brees’ brilliance over the years, among them: cerebral, accurate, poised, driven. But few have ever portrayed him as an athlete—a runs-fast, jumps-high, throws-hard type player. Most often, he is characterized as an overachieving, unathletic gym rat. But make no mistake, Brees is a great, great athlete.

  Ask anyone in the New Orleans locker room about Brees’ athletic skills, and you’ll hear a litany of testimonies. He’s not just the unquestioned leader of the Saints, he’s also one of the best athletes on the entire team. Brees might lack elite straight-line speed—he ran a pedestrian 4.85-second 40-yard dash at the 2001 NFL Scouting Combine—but the rest of his athletic skills are way above average, even by NFL standards. He recorded a vertical leap of 32 inches at the NFL Scouting Combine, better than Derrius Guice (31.5), Tarik Cohen (31.5), Cooper Kupp (31.0), and Calvin Ridley (31.0). His time of 7.09 seconds in the three-cone drill was also very good, better than Teddy Bridgewater’s 7.17.

  One of the most enduring memories of the 2009 Super Bowl season was Brees, in helmet and full pads, dunking the ball over the goal post while celebrating a touchdown he scored on a quarterback sneak in the Saints’ comeback win against the Miami Dolphins in Week 6.

  “What is mislabeled is his athleticism,” Payton says. “He’s a rare athlete. When you look at his foot agility, his release, his accuracy, and the fact he has hands as big as mitts, he’s got a skill set that is perfect for the position. He’s an amazing athlete.”

  Part of Brees’ problem, of course, is perception. At a touch over 6’0”, he’s short, at least by NFL quarterback standards. He plays a position that often values a strong arm and sound judgment more than raw athleticism. Quarterbacks made in Brees’ mold tend to get stereotyped as cagey overachievers who overcome a lack of athletic skills with intelligence and unrelenting work ethic.

  Brees has felt the slight since he began playing sports as a kid in Austin.

  “I guess I’d just say this: As a 6-foot quarterback in this league you had better have some athletic ability, because that’s really all you have going for you in a lot of ways, right?” Brees said.

  Former Saints tight end Billy Miller learned the hard way about Brees’ all-around athletic skills. During USO Tours overseas in 2008 and 2009, the pair would often train together. To mix things up, they would square off in basketball or racquetball. Miller, at 6’3”, 252 pounds, figured he had an advantage over Brees. Each time, Brees soundly defeated the tight end, who was a good enough athlete at Westlake Village (California) High School to play running back and start for three seasons in basketball.

  “Don’t let him fool ya,” Miller said. “He’s a very good athlete, and he’s not shy in telling you about it, either. He’s extremely competitive.”

  Brees owes his precocious athletic skills to superior genetics. His mother was an all-state track, volleyball, and basketball player in high school. His father played freshman basketball at Texas A&M. His uncle was an All-American wishbone quarterback at Texas in the early 1970s. His grandfather, Ray Atkins, was one of the winningest high school football coaches in Texas history.

  With a heritage like that, athletics were a part of Brees’ life from the outset. He played every sport introduced to him and dreamed of becoming an Olympic athlete.

  “I loved the decathlon,” Brees said. “I wasn’t that fast, but I could do a little bit of everything.”

  There was hardly a sport Brees couldn’t master. As a youth and into his early teens, Brees starred in football, basketball, soccer, baseball, and tennis. At the age of 12, he was the top-ranked tennis player in Texas and defeated a younger Andy Roddick three times as a junior. That same year, Brees set an Austin city record with 14 home runs in Little League and was chosen to play on a youth soccer select team. A few years later, he starred at Westlake High School in football, basketball, and baseball, where he was a power-hitting infielder and a right-handed pitcher with an 88-mph fastball.

  “Baseball was really the sport I thought I had the best opportunity of playing at the next level,” said Brees, who wears No. 9 to honor his boyhood idol, Ted Williams. “I wanted to be a three-sport athlete in college: baseball, basketball, and football.”

  Football eventually became his meal ticket. But to this day, Brees continues to awe his friends and peers with flashes of his all-around athletic brilliance.

  Before he became a father, when he had more time to golf, he was a scratch golfer, a sport he didn’t start playing regularly until his junior year of college. At one time, he carried a 3 handicap. He has shot a couple of 71s, including one at New Orleans Country Club. In 2009, he hit his first hole-in-one while playing with General Manager Mickey Loomis and Greg Bensel, the team’s vice president of communications. Brian Schottenheimer, the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator, who coached Brees in San Diego, said Brees owned an “uncanny, unbelievable” short game made possible by his delicate touch around the greens.

  Over the years, Brees has wowed fans at the Saints’ annual charity softball game by hammering home runs over the fences at Tulane’s Turchin Stadium and Zephyr Field. Back in the Super Bowl years, Brees and former Saints backup quarterback Mark Brunell pounded several home runs off then Zephyrs manager-turned-batting-practice-pitcher Ken Oberkfell before a Triple-A baseball game at Zephyr Field. One of Brees’ home run balls landed in the swimming pool over the fence in right field.

  When the Saints used to play pickup basketball games on their off days, Brees was a force on the court. When the Saints went bowling on a team function, he was the team’s best bowler. When they played paintball at a team function, Brees was the best paintball player.

  “Everybody thinks he’s just smart,” former Saints center Jonathan Goodwin said. “I definitely think he’s underrated as an athlete. He just doesn’t get credit for it.”

  The Saints coaches understand this better than anyone. They incorporate Brees’ athletic skills into their offense and take advantage of his mobility as often as possible. They’ve designed their protection schemes around his footwork and innate ability to feel the pass rush and “climb” the pocket. Bootlegs and rollouts, which take advantage of his mobility and uncanny accuracy as a passer on the run, are a staple of the system.

  New Orleans offensive linemen said they routinely marvel at Brees’ athletic skills during weekly video study. His extraordinary footwork and pocket presence are big reasons why the Saints annually rank among the least-sacked teams in the league. He said he employs skill s
ets from each sport while directing the Saints—the footwork of soccer, the hand-eye coordination of hitting a baseball, and the motion of a tennis serve in his passing mechanics.

  “He really is a tremendous athlete,” Lombardi says. “He’s not fast, per se. He’s just so coordinated and balanced. And when it’s time to go, he’s better. There’s a lot of things to playing quarterback that are not necessarily about being fast or strong. He has a mental skill of awareness and it comes from studying and his mental energy, but there are a lot of guys that could still do everything he does in preparation and still not have that. He has a sixth sense.”

  Brees is not Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes. He’s not even Taysom Hill, who recorded a time of 4.44 in the 40-yard dash and a vertical jump of 38.5 inches at his Pro Day workout at BYU. But at what he does for a living, maneuvering in the chaotic phone booth of an NFL passing pocket, few are more adept.

  “He is a tremendous foot athlete,” former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer said. “He extends plays, but he extends them in the pocket. He’s not a spin out of tackles, scramble, run around type guy. He has subtle little movements, bounce around, make guys miss in the pocket, went a little bit to his left and threw an accurate ball.”

  Brees’ movement skills in the pocket are a big reason he’s taken fewer than 1.5 sacks per game during his NFL career, well below the league average.

  “He’s more athletic than people think,” Carmichael said. “What you see with him moving in the pocket is athletic. Plus, he’s very aware. He knows when he’s short in protection and what he has to do, whether it’s get the ball out quickly or climb the pocket. He has great awareness.”

  Brees uses his athleticism in many ways, but primarily to avoid sacks and buy time in the pocket to extend plays. Staying “on schedule” during an offensive possession is one of his great strengths as a quarterback. He prides himself on avoiding negative plays and has focused on that aspect of quarterback play in recent years. It goes back to Parcells’ Commandments of Quarterback play. VII: Throwing the ball away is a good play. Sacks, interceptions, and fumbles are bad plays. Protect against those. And like so many things Brees does, it doesn’t show up in box score.

  “I’ve always had a goal that I want to continue to get better each and every year,” Brees said. “Sometimes you can’t always measure that. But the thing that’s tough about our position is there’s—if a guy breaks free, and I scramble and throw the ball away and avoid a sack, well, how does that show up on the stat sheet? It shows up 0-for-1 as an incomplete pass, so that could be deemed as a bad thing. But, in fact, that was a good thing. You avoided a negative play. You threw the ball away. You gave your friends a chance to be in a better situation, so there are certain things that stats don’t always show in terms of your true production.”

  Because he stands only 6´0˝ tall, Brees often can’t see over his taller teammates on the offensive line. He has learned to adapt. He scans the field through windows between players and has learned to anticipate and gauge the speed and location of his receivers the same way you would see a car driving along the street through the windows at your office.

  “I stood there behind the Saints on the field for three days at training camp asking myself, ‘How does this guy do this?’” Jon Gruden said of his time visiting Saints training camp as an NFL analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football. “I stand back there. I can’t see two feet beyond the line of scrimmage. He can throw sidearm. He can throw off his back foot. He can reset [his feet] and throw—and when the ball comes out of his hand it is quick. He is a way better athlete than people realize. He is a phenomenal, gifted, talented athlete.”

  16. Trust and Confidence

  If you asked Drew Brees how he has the fearlessness to throw blindly to players he can’t see, his answer would be simple: trust and confidence. Brees repeats the phrase often. The trust and confidence Brees has nurtured in the system have been two of the biggest keys to the New Orleans Saints’ offensive success in the Payton-Brees era.

  Because the scheme relies so much on timing and Brees’ historic accuracy, every detail of the passing attack—alignment, motion, formation, and personnel grouping—is evaluated, tested, and considered before being included in the game plan. This places the onus on the Saints receivers to be precise in their alignments and routes so Brees can pull the trigger with confidence when the bullets are flying. Payton calls it “painting the picture for the quarterback,” and the Saints are uncompromising in the standards they set for their receivers and other skill players.

  “When I drop back to pass, I have this vision according to the coverage on where everybody’s supposed to be,” Brees said. “In many cases, as a quarterback, you have to throw the ball with trust and anticipation to spots based upon coverage and what it looks like and anticipate the guys are going to be there.”

  To that end, a poster hangs in the team’s wide receivers meeting room that reads: You must be a detailed player at a detailed position. At perhaps no other position other than quarterback in the Saints offense is attention to detail as important as it is at wide receiver.

  Emmanuel Butler learned the importance of attention to detail early in his Saints tenure. During a team drill at a minicamp practice in June 2019, the rookie wide receiver broke the huddle and aligned in his split to the right of the formation, inside the numbers. Except he wasn’t three yards inside the numbers, as he was supposed to be. He was two and a half yards inside the numbers.

  Payton immediately stopped practice, strutted to Butler’s spot, pulled his visor from his head, and tossed it on to the ground.

  “This is where I want you,” Payton barked, pointing at his visor. “This is where you’re supposed to be.”

  The dressing-down was an eye-opener for Butler. Details were important at Northern Arizona University, where Butler played his college ball. But players could get away with an inexact alignment or pass route here or there. He quickly learned that wouldn’t fly with the Saints.

  “In the NFL, it’s not happening,” Butler said. “If you’re too short, it’s a pick or it’s an incomplete pass. If you’re not where you’re supposed to be, then something’s getting thrown off, something’s going bad. The details of the game are so important. Drew, Sean, and my receivers coaches have taught me that.”

  A meager half yard can change the outcome of the entire play, especially in the Saints offense, where spacing and timing are so critical to the success of the passing attack.

  “It’s a game of inches,” Butler said. “If I have a deep crossing route, and I’m supposed to get across the field and settle, if I’m supposed to be at a three-yard split, and I’m at a five-yard split, it’s going to take way longer for me to get over there. Now the quarterback’s drop is thrown off. Now the timing of the play is thrown off.”

  In addition to his visor, Payton has also been known to use chalk or shaving cream to denote landmarks of a receiver’s splits and/or breaks. The visual aids are one of his favorite teaching techniques. He’ll also use goal posts or pylons for aiming points to help guide receivers on their routes.

  “Coach [Payton] and Drew make a big to-do about that,” Taysom Hill said. “When we break the huddle, if the receivers are not lined up perfectly, he will get them lined up perfectly. Every play has a specific plan and a purpose. In order for that play to have the best chance of succeeding that person has to be in the right spot. Drew realizes it. Coach realizes it. They’re both that way.”

  Over the years, the Saints receiving corps has featured similar prototypes. Slot specialists Lance Moore, Willie Snead, and Austin Carr were smart, quick, and precise route-runners. Flankers Robert Meachem, Devery Henderson, and Ted Ginn Jr. were speed merchants who stretched field on post and corner routes. Split ends Marques Colston and Michael Thomas were do-it-all types, equally capable of working outside on hitch routes or inside on crossing routes. Tight end Jimmy Graham was a master of the seam ro
ute because of his 6’6” frame.

  “Sean is very specific: What kind of receiver do we need?” Carmichael said. “Those inside routes that Lance Moore, Marques Colston, and Michael Thomas run—those inside routes aren’t for everybody. The guy has to a feel for or a knack for finding the void or running a route off a certain defender.”

  The Saints run new receivers through a gauntlet of route workouts after they arrive to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and identify which ones might work best for them in the system. Brees throws to each of them to get a feel for their speed and body language. His input goes a long way in determining which receivers play in certain route packages.

  “One of the top five things he does as a quarterback is he throws to the receivers, gets a feel for them, and learns very quickly who he likes throwing to on what routes,” Lombardi said. “Everyone runs certain routes a little bit differently. Receivers talk to the quarterback with body language, and they have a feel. It’s just Drew learning the capabilities, smarts, and the feel for every receiver on the roster.”

  When new players are signed in the offseason, Brees often invites them to California to train with him and start the feeling-out process. During these sessions, Brees constantly tweaks the receiver splits and adjusts alignments to fine-tune the connection. Smart players quickly learn the importance of spending time with Brees when asked.

  “There’s a lot of time on task that takes place during the week just to absorb all of (the offensive game plan), but I’d say the concepts and the splits and the depths and a lot of the stuff that we’re doing is stuff that we rep, we rep, we rep,” Brees said. “From offseason until through the preseason until the regular season, there’s a lot of time on task that’s taken place and a lot of muscle memory and so there’s a lot of trust and confidence that comes with that.”