Payton and Brees, стр. 52
These nuances can take years to master. Receivers, tight ends, and backs in the Saints system don’t necessarily need to be football geniuses, but they need to be students of the game and diligent in their study habits. It’s why smart, reliable role players like Moore, Snead, Carr, and Josh Hill have carved out productive careers in New Orleans after being bypassed in the NFL Draft. Players who regularly misalign, run the wrong route, or aren’t willing to put in the extra reps with Brees don’t last long in New Orleans.
“The receivers in this offense are asked to learn so much,” said Strief, now the play-by-play announcer for the Saints radio broadcast team. “Lance Moore used to always say it’s so different than anywhere else he played. The wide receivers here have to understand that, ‘Hey, in this route concept, I’m the spacing guy. I’m the guy that’s here to space, so that I understand now when he changes the route for the guy outside of me, so too does my spacing. I’m spacing a different thing.’ That’s the kind of minutia they have to know and deal with. They have this system that they work within, and yet the combinations within it are endless.”
This high standard prevents the Saints from pursuing certain receivers during the draft and free agency. Saints scouts place a heavy emphasis on intelligence, football IQ, and mental toughness at all positions, but especially at receiver. A Saints receiver has to have sure hands and the athletic ability to beat NFL defensive backs, but he also must be willing and able to handle the heavy mental workload the Saints system requires.
“Coach Payton has such a clear vision for what he’s looking for in players,” Joe Brady said. “He finds players that understand their roles and are accountable. If you look at the wide receivers, the tight ends, and the running backs in New Orleans, Drew wants accountable players that he knows, when I throw that ball he’s going to be where he needs to be.
“When you’re game-planning and you’re watching Coach Payton, Pete [Carmichael], and Joe [Lombardi] put together these plays, it’s fascinating how they find ways to put their players where they know this is what this guy does best, let’s get him on this spot in this play. It’s one of the biggest reasons why the system has been so successful for so many years. Coach Payton and the staff are going to put their players in positions to be successful.”
17. “Who Throws That Ball?”
Over the years, Payton has devised a personal system to attribute the success of offensive plays. He’ll ask his staff, “Was that play or player?” Sometimes a play succeeds solely because of a player’s individual effort, skill set, or talent. Payton attributes such plays to the player’s ability rather than the play’s design. Marshawn Lynch’s famous Beast Mode run, for example, had little to do with scheme and everything to do with Lynch’s strength, vision, and will. When Mike Thomas overpowers a defensive back for a competitive catch in tight coverage, technique, film study, and coverage concepts are rendered irrelevant. It’s why many successful NFL play-callers say they often “think players, not plays” when faced with a clutch down-and-distance situation.
The unique part of the Payton-Brees partnership is they manage to produce both—play and player. As one of the most creative play designers in NFL history, Payton will often produce plays journeyman quarterbacks could execute successfully. Those are the ones he jokingly says his son Connor could make. Then there are other times where Brees’ brilliance as a quarterback makes it happen—when player, not play, is the reason the Saints offense hums. It is this potent combination that has made the Payton-Brees combination the most prolific duo in NFL history.
As great as Brees is in the mental side of the sport, he wouldn’t be one of the game’s all-time great passers if he weren’t blessed with extraordinary ability. Analysts and journalists focus so much on his extraordinary intelligence and preparation habits that his natural, God-given talent often gets shortchanged. Simply put, Brees is one of the best pure passers to ever play the game.
While arm strength has never been a hallmark of Brees’ game, his is more than strong enough to deliver every throw necessary at the NFL level. And Brees has learned to compensate by anticipating defensive coverages and delivering his passes earlier, especially on deep routes.
“I tell young quarterbacks, ‘If you want to learn how to throw deep balls, study Drew Brees,’” said former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann, who has worked for more than two decades as an NFL analyst at ESPN and NFL Network. “He puts great trajectory on the ball, and he gives the guys a chance to be able to run to it. He doesn’t have a rocket arm but his anticipation, his timing, the way he delivers the ball with trajectory, the velocity, it’s just amazing. I think Drew should be every guy’s 6-foot-tall hero.”
Since joining forces with Payton, he has established a new standard in completion percentage for quarterbacks. His 67.6 percent career completion rate is the highest in NFL history, and he owns five of the six best single-season completion percentages in league annals.
Saints coaches attribute Brees’ historic accuracy to his unusually large hands and his flawless mechanics. His hand width of 10.25 inches ranked among the top 11 percent of quarterbacks at the NFL combine, while his 6’0” height ranked among the bottom 8 percent. His hand width spans nearly an inch wider than Tom Brady’s (9.3), who stands four inches taller. Because of his large grip, Brees can control the ball and deliver it with maximum rotation. It’s one of the reasons why he excelled in the windy, cold conditions of West Lafayette, Indiana, as a college star at Purdue University.
“He can spin that ball,” former Saints linebackers coach Mike Nolan said. “For a relatively little guy, he has really big hands. Those things are