Payton and Brees, стр. 47

“When he works out with his new receivers [in San Diego], and he’s in a teaching mode, his hertz of electrical activity in the teaching mode is the same as when he’s working with his family,” House said. “And his hertz of electrical activity when he’s working with his family is the same as when he’s playing on a Sunday afternoons. He shows up with X amount of motivation, X amount of effort and gives it to me every fucking time in whatever he’s doing. We call it compartmentalization. He’s a Renaissance man. He’s special, not just in football. He’s special in the big picture, in life, business, family, and fame.”

This remarkable endurance has allowed Brees to maintain the same schedule for his entire tenure in New Orleans, 14 years and counting. Even after all the wins and records and accomplishments, he has refused to shortchange the process. Over the years he has fine-tuned his routine to incorporate what works for him and eliminate what doesn’t. To create more time for his growing family, he’s been forced to alter or reduce his demanding schedule. For example, he only attended a handful of the weekly dinners with his offensive linemen on Thursday nights in 2019, events he attended regularly earlier in his career. But otherwise, it’s the same regimen he followed when he arrived in New Orleans in 2006.

“I have a definite routine and it takes a lot of time,” Brees said. “I know where I’m going to be at a specific time. I know what I’m going to be doing; I know what needs to be accomplished for me to feel confident and go out there and play at the highest level. I understand the amount of work and effort that it’s going to take to accomplish the things I want to accomplish. I’ve always had a goal that I want to continue to get better each and every year. That’s what drives me. That’s what I work so hard for.”

House has worked with countless elite athletes over the years. During his second career as a performance coach, his roster of quarterback clients includes Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Eli Manning, Cam Newton, Dak Prescott, Alex Smith, Carson Palmer, Jared Goff, Andrew Luck, Jimmy Garoppolo, Carson Wentz, and Tim Tebow. He’s also worked with professional golfers and former Major League Baseball pitchers like Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, and Rob Nen.

“A lot of people don’t understand how deep the work ethic is,” House said. “Drew doesn’t do stuff that is marginal in the contribution end of things. Everything he does is with a purpose. As you get more experienced, you know what you don’t have to do. The attention to detail, that’s what amazes me about Drew and [Nolan Ryan]. They’re special.”

Brees doesn’t know any other way. For him, it’s the only way he can properly prepare himself to play at an elite level on game days. He’s been doing it this way for so long it’s become second nature. He knows it’s not the easy way. He knows it comes with significant sacrifice to his family and friends. But for him, the reward is worth the investment.

“It’s a grind mentally,” Brees said. “That’s why when your season ends, you just want to escape for at least a month and just get away. But it’s also part of the fun. There’s a lot of satisfaction and a very rewarding feeling when you know the time and effort that you put into preparation—those long hours, long days, both physically and mentally—and you come out on game day and you watch these things happen that you visualized, that you played over and over in your mind. And you have that success and you watch young guys gain confidence and come out of their shells, become the players that you always hope they can be, too, there’s something invigorating about that, too. That’s what keeps you going.”

Dome-ination:

2011 Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants

Two years after dispatching the New York Giants and New England Patriots in memorable fashion, Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints offense produced two more spectacular displays.

In Week 7 of the 2011 season, the Saints destroyed the Indianapolis Colts 62–7 on Sunday Night Football, setting franchise records for points and scoring margin. With Payton sitting in the coaches’ box because of a broken leg suffered in a game the previous week in Tampa, Florida, Pete Carmichael called the plays and the Saints scored on their first nine series and recorded a then-franchise-record 36 first downs. Brees completed 31 of 35 passes for 325 yards and five touchdowns before yielding to Chase Daniel late in the third quarter. The point total tied for the most in any NFL game since the league merger in 1970. While impressive, the blowout came against a winless Colts team with Curtis Painter at quarterback in place of the injured Peyton Manning. Five weeks later, the Brees-led Saints delivered another jaw-dropping performance, this time against a 6–4 New York Giants team.

The Giants came to New Orleans on a mission. Their backs were to the wall. They’d lost two consecutive games and knew a home game with the Green Bay Packers awaited the following week. If ever a Week 12 game could be considered a “must-win,” this was it.

The Saints, meanwhile, were coming off a bye, a holiday, and the emotional Gleason Gras celebration Sunday. The potential for distraction was there, but the Saints never showed signs of a holiday hangover. They were efficient and enthusiastic from the start. They gained 354 yards in the first half and recorded touchdown drives of 80, 80, and 88 yards. They took a 21–3 lead into the break, and it could have been more had they converted a fake field goal attempt on their opening possession. The Saints’ first 11 drives ended this way: downs, touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, downs, and touchdown. This against a Giants defense that would