Drew Brees has helped engineer some of the best Saints seasons in franchise history. So what was the secret?
It all started in training camp, he said this week on WWL, and not for the reason you might expect.
“The best teams that I was a part of here were teams that just, honestly, the offseasons, the training camps, you just battled,” Brees told Bobby Hebert and Steve Geller on SportsTalk. “Iron sharpens iron. You woke up every day trying to kick the other side’s ass. You woke up and it was like, I couldn’t even look at Jonathan Vilma in the locker room because I was like, ‘I’ve got to kick that guy’s ass today.’ “
Listen to the full interview with Drew Brees in the player above. Can’t see the embed? Click here.
It’s no surprise he mentioned key members of the Super Bowl roster in Roman Harper and Malcolm Jenkins as he recalled that story, and for good reason.
“For a month, you were just at each others’ throats,” he continued. “And then once you got to the season, you were so tired of beating up on each other that you couldn’t wait for the season to start. And then you looked at everybody else and you said, ‘there’s no way that who we’re about to play this Sunday is better than what we’ve been going up against every day in practice for the last month.’ And it just made the season that much easier. So that’s what we need to focus on.”
It was all part of a discussion of the Saints schedule as Brees touted the inaugural NOLA Pickleball Fest he’s bringing to New Orleans later this year.
The Cajun Cannon has touted this year’s schedule as possibly the “easiest in Saints history,” but the future Hall of Fame QB made sure to caution that line of thinking. On paper, should the Saints win the NFC South and have a successful season? Of course they should. Will that happen? There are just too many variables that happen throughout the course of a season to take anything for granted.
“At the end of the day, you really don’t know. You really don’t know what you’re going to encounter from week to week with these teams,” Brees said. “On paper right now, some of them may look really, really good. Some of them may look really bad. You really don’t know until you get to that point.”
━━━━MORE FROM DREW BREES
ON TAYSOM HILL
“I have never seen a player like Taysom Hill, ever. Maybe there was a throwback guy … that we’re not thinking about. Otto Graham, I don’t know. But I don’t think we’ve ever witnessed anything like this before. A guy who could, if someone decided to build an offense around him, he could play quarterback in the NFL, OK? That job is hard enough. But now couple that with, he’s returned punts, he’s returned kickoffs. He’s blocked punts. He’s blocked extra points. He can block the point of attack in the run game. He can pass protect. He catches touchdowns. He can run the football as well as just about any running back you have.
“So it’s not just one or the other, it’s the combination of all these things. If all of a sudden you were down an offensive lineman and you just said, ‘ Taysom, would you just play guard for like three plays and just hold up against this stud inside.’ I bet you he could do it. He’d certainly stick his nose in there and try. So, I mean, I’ve never seen anything like the guy. And he’s as good a teammate as I’ve ever had, too, which makes it even better.”
━━━━ON JAKE HAENER
“Obviously that’s humbling and it’s a great pickup for the Saints. I think he brings a lot, and look, you hope that Derek Carr can stay healthy and everything goes great, but as you know, in the NFL you need a very, very capable backup and a stable of guys that can step in and get the job done if they need to. Certainly Taysom Hill is always ready, willing and able to step in whatever capacity the team needs him, but yea, that’s what’s always exciting to get guys like that, to hear stories like that, and feel like you’ve made that type of impact on a young player, a young QB.”
━━━━ON FORCING TURNOVERS
“There’s a lot of things that go into that, but you talk about ways to help the offense and play complementary ball, that goes a long way. On the flipside, the better the offense is, the more points you’re scoring, the more pressure you put on the opposing offense to have to be more aggressive. Well, what happens when they get more aggressive? That’s when the defense can be opportunistic. So all these things play hand in hand, right? And it’s not that one equals the other. It’s a combination of all these things, and the better the offense plays, I guarantee you the more turnovers the defense will get. And the more turnovers the defense gets, the more points the offense will get because of the more opportunities and the more momentum shifts. These things work hand in hand. Both sides have their responsibility in that.”
ON PICKLEBALL FEST
“We’ll have tons of festivities. We’ll have mardi gras floats. I mean, it’s going to be off the charts, and for everybody coming into town who’s not from New Orleans, which obviously is what we love to do is be great hosts and show that hospitality … they have a chance to just see and feel what it is to be a part of a New Orleans festival centered around pickleball.”
