Payton and Brees, стр. 36
Six weeks later, Brees and Payton produced an even greater display of offensive brilliance.
The 2009 New England Patriots were not a vintage Bill Belichick–coached team, but they still entered the game ranked second in the NFL in pass defense and scoring defense, allowing just 16 points a game. They had outscored their first 10 opponents by an average of 12.6 points a game, the second-highest margin in the league. And the game was viewed as a showdown between two of the league’s best teams, the 7–3 Patriots against the 10–0 Saints. But the Patriots did not know what was in store for them against an unbeaten Saints team primed to prove its bona fides on the Monday Night Football stage.
From the opening kickoff, the Saints relentlessly attacked the Patriots defense in every manner and from every angle. They scored on long, methodical drives and a 75-yard strike. They scored on long sluggo seam routes, screen passes, and a dump to their third tight end, Darnell Dinkins.
Brees threw touchdown passes to five different receivers and led the Saints to scores on seven of their first nine series. He finished with 371 yards on 18-of-23 passing.
The Saints averaged a franchise-record 9.6 yards per play, and it would have been higher had they not called off the dogs on their final series. The beating was so bad Belichick removed Tom Brady from the game with 5:00 left in regulation.
“[The Saints] were better than we were in every phase of the game,” Belichick said. “I don’t know how to put it any other way. They were better coached, and they played better on offense and defense.”
The Saints used a heavy dose of two-tight-end sets to give Brees extra protection, and Payton and Brees targeted overmatched Patriots cornerbacks Leigh Bodden and Jonathan Wilhite throughout the game with their trio of receivers: Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, and Robert Meachem. Brees was pressured just twice in 23 passing attempts and the receiver combined to catch 12 of 16 targeted passes for 306 yards and three touchdowns.
The offensive onslaught was so devastating, ESPN NFL analyst Ron Jaworski said during the broadcast, “I’m running out of words and phrases to praise this offense. I’m speechless, there are so many wonderful things they are doing.”
The Saints had gains of 75, 68, 38, and 33 yards against a defense that had allowed one pass play of 40 or more yards to its first 10 opponents combined. Their average of 9.6 yards per play remains the second-highest yards-per-play average ever recorded against a Belichick-coached team. It’s also the only time one of his teams has allowed five touchdown passes in a game. The Saints’ 480 total yards remain the third most yielded by the Patriots under Belichick and the highest total since 2001.
“We were able to accomplish something offensively that was pretty special,” Brees said.
Statistically, it was the finest passing performance of Brees’ career and one of the best in league history. He compiled a club-record 158.3 passer efficiency rating, the highest the system allows and one of only 21 “perfect” passer ratings ever recorded at the time. His 16.1 yards per pass attempt was a team record and is still considered one of the great statistical achievements in NFL history. It had only been done a handful of times in modern NFL history and never against a defense with the reputation of the Patriots.
“Quarterbacks simply do not average 16 yards per attempt in today’s NFL,” said Kerry J. Byrne of analytics site ColdHardFootballFacts.com. “It hadn’t happened in 34 years. It doesn’t happen on the big stage of Monday Night Football. It doesn’t happen against [Bill] Belichick. It doesn’t happen against the mighty New England victory machine. It doesn’t happen for an 11–0 team that has never won a Super Bowl. But it all came together for Drew Brees Monday night in the single greatest regular-season passing performance in modern NFL history.”
Chase Daniel still vividly remembers the locked-in look in Brees’ eyes during the commute to the game that night from the team hotel.
“You could just tell from his mindset that it was going to be a really good game for him,” Daniel said. “Brunell knew it, too. He said before the game, ‘Hey, watch this. Watch what’s going to happen.’ And then early on, we were getting chunk plays and every read, every throw from Drew was just so accurate. I remember watching from the sideline that night and thinking, that’s one of the coolest passing displays I’ve ever seen.”
12. Calling the Shots
When the Saints entered the final days of game-planning for their 2020 divisional playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings, one issue stuck in Sean Payton’s craw: Do we have enough explosive plays in the plan?
So late on the Thursday night before the game, the offensive staff designed a pass to produce a potential chunk play against the Vikings defense.
This was a common practice for Payton and his offensive staff. Over the years, they’ve installed countless special plays in the final days of game-planning. What made this one uncommon was who it targeted: Deonte Harris, a seldom-used rookie receiver from Assumption College.
Few people outside of New Orleans had heard of Harris, but the Saints coaches were enamored with the dimuntive speedster’s big-play potential. His role had gradually expanded in the offense as the season progressed. And now, in the biggest game of the year, they wanted to call his number in a matchup against Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes. On the surface, this would appear to be a mismatch. Rhodes was a three-time Pro Bowler; Harris an undrafted free agent who made his living as a return specialist. But the Saints