On January 15, 1979, Drew Brees was conceived in Dallas, Texas. S.), a quarterback for American football on the gridiron who set numerous single-season and career passing records, including the benchmarks for pass completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. Among NFL passers, he was one of the most effective. He led the New Orleans Saints to their first Super Bowl triumph in 2010.
Young Age
In Austin, Texas, Brees played outstanding high school football. In 1996, Texas 5A (which includes the state’s largest high schools) named him Offensive Player of the Year after he assisted his team in winning the state championship. Because he was too short (1.83 meters tall, or 6 feet), and too weak-armed, the major colleges in his home state rejected him. Consequently, he chose to enroll at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Brees was a three-year starter at Purdue, where he set records for both the school and the Big Ten Conference in addition to nearly every significant career passing statistic, such as passing yards and touchdowns. In his senior year, he led the Purdue Boilermakers to their first Rose Bowl appearance in 34 years and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting.
San Diego Chargers selected Brees with the first pick in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft. However, he was unable to significantly change the dire circumstances of the Chargers, and in his third season, he lost playing time to Doug Flutie, who was 41 years old at the time. When the Chargers signed talented rookie quarterback Philip Rivers in 2004, it seemed as though Brees’ time in San Diego was coming to an end. The Chargers were unable to sign Brees to a long-term contract after he suffered a shoulder injury in the season finale, so Brees signed a free agent contract with the Saints. Brees, however, remained the Chargers’ starting quarterback throughout the 2004 season and led the team to an unexpected 12-4 record en route to winning the NFL’s Comeback dot. He then had a solid but unremarkable season in 2005.
Brees turned around a team that had gone 3-13 the year before in his first year in New Orleans, leading the Saints to a 10-6 record in 2006 and a spot in the National Football Conference (NFC) championship game. He played in the innovative offense of head coach Sean Payton that season and led the league in passing yards, earning him a spot on the first team of the Pro Bowl. Even though Brees only threw for 5,069 yards in 2008—15 fewer than Dan Marino’s single-season record—he was still chosen for the Pro Bowl.
In 2009, Brees was selected for the Pro Bowl once more and set a new NFL record for completion percentage by completing 70.6% of his passes. More significantly, he led the Saints to a victory over the Indianapolis Colts, a Super Bowl berth, and a 13-0 start—all records for the team. Brees was named the game’s most valuable player after completing 32 passes in the Super Bowl (tying Tom Brady’s previous high mark), going for 288 yards, and scoring two touchdowns.
Under Brees’ leadership, the Saints returned to the playoffs the following year, but were upset by a Seattle Seahawks team that had seven victories in the opening round of the postseason. Brees broke Marino’s previous record for a single season by finishing the 2011 campaign with 5,476 passing yards. (Peyton Manning beat Brees’ record in 2013 by a mere one yard. In addition, he broke his own league completion percentage record (71.2%) and threw a career-high 46 touchdown passes. He also set an NFL record by passing for more than 300 yards in 13 games. He surpassed Johnny Unitas’ mark for the most consecutive games with a touchdown pass in 2012 when he threw for a score in his 48th straight game.
After 54 games, his record was still intact. He had a season high 43 touchdown passes and 5,177 passing yards. Brees threw for 5,162 yards in 2013, giving him a career-high fourth 5,000-yard season (at the time, no other player in NFL history had more than one). He and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger shared the league passing yardage lead in 2014 with 4,952 yards each, but the Saints had a disappointing season, going 7-9 in the weak NFC South and missing the playoffs. Brees was the best quarterback in the NFL in the two seasons that followed, compiling 4,870 and 5,208 passing yards, but the Saints remained mired in mediocrity, compiling back-to-back 7-9 records.
Brees’ passing statistics declined in 2017, even though the Saints won 11 games and the division thanks to a resurgent rushing attack (4,334 yards were the fewest in Brees’ career in New Orleans that year despite leading the NFL in pass completions [72 percent]). The Saints were abruptly eliminated from the playoffs when the Minnesota Vikings scored an incredible 61-yard game-winning touchdown with seconds remaining in the teams’ divisional round matchup. Brees began his 2018 season by breaking Brett Favre’s previous mark of 6,300 pass completions in September. The following month, he surpassed Peyton Manning’s record of 71,940 passing yards for a career. With 3,992 passing yards and 32 touchdowns as he finished the 2018 season, Brees established a new NFL record by completing 74.4% of his pass attempts. The Saints had a heartbreaking postseason for the second straight year, but their 13-3 record gave them the top seed in the NFC playoffs.
Related Posts
Donald Trump – Best Guide in 2023