Payton and Brees, стр. 53

Brees was an accurate quarterback in high school, college, and early in his pro career with the Chargers. But he’s taken his accuracy rate to a different level since working with Tom House, his throwing coach and performance specialist. Thanks to years of work with House, Brees has become an expert on biomechanics and can go into great detail on the “kinetic chain” of a throwing delivery: the transfer of energy from his feet to his hips, shoulders, and ultimately the index finger in his throwing hand as he unloads the ball. House and his staff are so technical with their scientific research they can identify the mechanical flaw behind every poor throw. Their research shows that a single inch of a quarterback’s head movement at the time of delivery can mean the difference of a foot of ball placement on his passes.

“Drew was always accurate,” House said. “But now we can identify what goes into command for a pitcher or accuracy for a quarterback. We can tell you, when you miss right or left [on a pass], 99 percent of the time it’s your front side causing the issue. And when you miss high or low, 99 percent of the time it’s because of a posture change, a shoulder turn or head move. Every one inch of inappropriate head movement costs you two inches of release. Two inches at the release point can mean a foot [of ball placement] to the receiver. Each inch can mean the difference between a catch and run, a 50-50 ball or an interception. We’re giving Drew the ‘why’ to go with the ‘what.’”

In April 2009, the ESPN show Sport Science tried to gauge Brees’ accuracy. The show’s hosts had Brees throw footballs at an archery target 20 yards away and compared his accuracy to Olympic archers. Brees astounded the producers by hitting the 4-inch bullseye on 10 out of 10 throws. The secret to his accuracy was his consistent mechanics. Amazingly, Brees threw each of his passes with the same 6-degree launch angle, 600-revolutions-per-minute spin rate, and 52 mph launch speed.

It’s no surprise Brees was the only quarterback to rank in the top five of all three pass depths—short, intermediate, and deep—of Pro Football Focus’ advanced accuracy metrics in 2018, when its analysts introduced a new charting formula for quarterbacks. Brees ranked second on one- to nine-yard passes with an accurate ball placement of 73.8 percent. His 65.1 percent accuracy rate on intermediate throws of 10 to 19 yards led all quarterbacks. And he ranked fifth on deep throws of 20-plus yards with a 48.9 percent accuracy rate.

“Drew has an accuracy that is just uncanny,” former Saints backup quarterback Luke McCown said. “You could put every quarterback in the league on the same field and tell them to throw all of the same routes, and you’re just going to notice something different about the way Drew places the football, when and where. It’s just different. The hand of God reached down and touched Drew and said, ‘You’re going to be the most accurate guy to ever throw a football.’”

McCown tells the story of a practice throw Brees made during McCown’s first season in New Orleans in 2013. Brees had pressure in his face and made a throw on a seam route to Jimmy Graham while falling backward and bracing himself against the rush with his left arm.

“You couldn’t have paused time and stood everybody in the same spot and walked the football downfield 22 yards and placed it any better with your hand than he did where he threw it,” McCown said. “Joe Lombardi and Pete Carmichael and myself just looked at each other like, ‘Did you just see that? Holy cow, did that throw really just happen?’”

It’s not the first throw that became legendary around the Saints facility. In 2008, Brees made a throw that Saints coaches still talk about, and it illustrates another of his rare quarterbacking gifts: anticipation.

In a game against the San Diego Chargers at Wembley Stadium in London, England, Brees completed a 15-yard pass to tight end Billy Graham in the fourth quarter. The pass seemed routine enough at the time. It converted a late third-and-5 play and helped the Saints hold off a late rally by the Chargers, but there was nothing particularly spectacular about the pass—until the coaches watched the video from the end zone view and were able to see it from Brees’ perspective.

On the play, running back Pierre Thomas ran a shallow crossing route out of the backfield, cutting from left to right. A couple yards behind him, receiver Robert Meachem ran another crossing route from right to left, creating a scissors action for the Chargers defensive coverage. Miller, aligned to the left side of the formation, ran a 12-yard in cut to the right about 10 yards behind them. From behind, the field was a maze of crisscrossing chaos. As Brees completed his three-step drop and climbed the pocket to avoid the pass rush to his right, four Chargers defenders converged downfield in man-to-man coverage, stacked one by one between the hash marks, right where Miller’s route was taking him.

“It should have looked like a stop sign to the quarterback,” Lombardi said. “It’s just a cluster of defenders.”

But as Brees cocked his right arm and uncorked a spiral downfield, something magical happened: the Chargers defense parted like the Red Sea, each defender vacating the middle of the field to follow his man in coverage. Brees’ pass spiraled into the void, hitting a wide-open Miller in stride at the 30-yard line for a 15-yard gain and first down.

In the film room, the Saints coaches were stupefied. Not just that Brees completed the pass, but that he had the anticipation and audacity to attempt it in the first place.

“Who throws that ball?!” offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael asked incredulously. “There’s no way you throw that ball. What QB would throw that ball?!”

Lombardi and Carmichael had worked with some elite quarterbacks over the years, guys like