NEW ORLEANS — How did this last 15 years? How did Drew Brees, the undersized and injured quarterback, who arrived in 2006 manage to still be the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints in 2020 leading them to a fourth straight division title?
The reason I know the last 15 years of Saints football with Drew Brees was the most incredible gift Saints fans ever received is because – if you asked me if I could relive it all but couldn't change a thing – I'd say yes and not even think twice.
I'll let other writers talk about Drew Brees the man, father, and what he did for the city of New Orleans.
I'm just going to talk about what he gave Saints fans.
Now that Drew Brees is retiring and will no longer be the Saints quarterback I was thinking of all the vivid memories flashing before me. The one that will stick with me forever isn't Brees holding his son and the Lombardi trophy in 2010, it isn't the 7 touchdown game against the New York Giants in 2015, or even him being despondent after the 'No Call' debacle in 2018.
The memory of Drew Brees that will stick with me forever is the touchdown he threw to Reggie Bush in the NFC Championship Game in 2006. It still sticks in my memory because I can still remember screaming in my apartment in California at the time, “The Saints are going to Super Bowl!” They didn't of course, as they lost to the Bears, but it was at that very moment for the first time in my life I truly believed the New Orleans Saints could go to the Super Bowl. My heart suddenly knew the hapless, mostly dysfunctional, comedy-ridden, fans started wearing bags on their heads, only have 1 playoff win Saints could go to the biggest sporting event on earth and hoist a Lombardi trophy. It was actually possible. Not some distant fantasy like winning the Power Ball or avoiding eating ALL THE KING CAKE during Mardi Gras.
Super Bowls were a very real, attainable thing for the Saints. Drew Brees gave us that for 15 years.
The Saints climbed the mountain and got there in 2009 and if they'd have been a little luckier and officiating had been a little more competent they'd have made a few more.
The thing is Drew Brees injected us with the unshakable belief that all our football dreams were possible. Through the ups, downs, horrible defense, and bad breaks – the Saints had Drew and Drew could make our dreams come true.
Drew gave us that.
My favorite thing about having Drew was the fact he could pull out the most incredible Saints comebacks and when he did my mom would call me after the Saints did it and wonder how this was all happening.
The Saints 2010 season, the year after they won the Super Bowl was such a joy, because the Saints went 6-1 in games decided by one score, and Drew seemed to be pulling a rabbit out of his hat repeatedly. “The Saints are doing to other teams what other teams did to us!” my mom would bellow over the phone what felt like every Sunday.
Drew gave us that.
The Thanksgiving Day Game in 2010 where the Saints needed a Malcolm Jenkins miracle forced fumble and late-game Drew Brees magic might have been pinnacle of the Drew Brees Era. It was the defending Super Bowl Champion Saints stealing a game on national television they had no business winning while America watched. The old lovable loser Saints were dead and gone and in their place were a Lombardi-winning team and quarterback that won games by breaking opponents fans hearts.
Drew Brees gave us that.
Drew Brees saved the Saints in New Orleans and gave us 15 of the most incredible Saints watching years of our lives. I can't prove Drew Brees kept the Saints in New Orleans, I can only tell you if the Saints didn't have Drew and hadn't won and been exciting from the jump post-Katrina, the Saints leaving New Orleans would have been a very real possibility. Drew Brees led all the winning and built the Saints into a must-see sold-out event it never really was before he arrived.
These 15 years were improbable and defied all logic. More remarkable is the same general manager and head coach who sat next to Brees on March 14, 2006 when he arrived in New Orleans, were still with the Saints when Drew's 4 kids announced his retirement on Instagram 15 years to the day of his arrival.
The fact the Saints have had the same quarterback, head coach, and general manager for 15 years is even more remarkable when you consider during the first 15 years of the Saints existence, the Saints had 7 head coaches. Drew Brees did the unimaginable – he helped turn the Saints into one of the most stable and consistently successful teams in the NFL.
I can remember being 13 years old and watching the San Francisco 49ers dismantle the Denver Broncos 55-10 in the Super Bowl in New Orleans following the 1989 season and my mom saying to me, “I wonder what it feels like to have your team win a Super Bowl? Having a quarterback like Joe Montana who is so great you know you are going to win all the time. I bet it's amazing.”
The night the Saints won the Super Bowl, I remembered her saying that to me and reminded her of it and she said, “It's even better than we imagined isn't it?”
Drew Brees gave us that.
There will never be another quarterback like Drew. The NFL is unlikely to ever see a barely 6-foot tall guy break every passing record throwing from the pocket on his tippy-toes. It'll be all 6'' foot 5' inch guys with rocket arms or scrambling quarterbacks, dazzling us with throws on the run. The tiny guy, being a Super Bowl Champion and most accurate quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 80,358 yards, 571 touchdowns, and 5,000 yards 4 times was a special one-time-only showing. Drew was ours.
Drew delivered all our Saints dreams we never really believed were conceivable until he showed us
they could happen. Drew Brees gave us everything he had to give and made every Saints dream we ever had come true. 15 years of football joy every Sunday.
Drew gave us that.
