Payton and Brees, стр. 55

18. Two Minutes to Paradise

If there’s an area of the game where all of Drew Brees and Sean Payton’s talents, abilities, and football IQ are distilled and displayed, it is the two-minute offense. It is during these hectic, high-pressure situations when the game is on the line that Brees and Payton excel, when the countless hours of practice and preparation are unbound and a virtual Big Bang of football knowledge and intuition unleashed. It is during the two-minute drill that two of the game’s most beautiful minds go to work.

The two-minute drill Brees ran to beat Houston in the Saints’ 2019 season opener was the 35th comeback victory of his career, the third most in NFL history behind Peyton Manning (43) and Tom Brady (36).

Later in the 2019 season, Brees successfully orchestrated a two-minute drill to set up a game-winning field goal and help the Saints escape with a 34–31 win against the Carolina Panthers at the Superdome. He drove the Saints 65 yards in 11 plays with one timeout to put the Saints in position for Wil Lutz’s 33-yard game-winner against the Panthers.

Brees completed six of seven passes for 56 yards in the drive, including a 24-yarder to Mike Thomas on third-and-6 to move the Saints into Carolina territory.

The back-breaking connection was a vintage Brees play and textbook execution by Thomas. The Saints set up Panthers cornerback James Bradberry by running a double move, a slant-and-go pattern called a Sluggo route, designed to take advantage of his aggressiveness in coverage. The Saints had run several slant patterns to Thomas throughout the game and waited to spring the Sluggo route at just the right time. Bradberry bit on the slant fake, and Thomas was wide open for the easy pitch and catch to the Panthers 40.

“You’re referencing everything [that transpires] throughout the course of the game,” Brees said of the strategy involved on the play. “That formation, that alignment, that release pattern, what did they see, how did they react to it, what can you kind of keep in your back pocket for later on. That’s the game within the game.”

One play later, Brees hit Alvin Kamara on a perfectly timed and blocked 16-yard screen pass to the 24, then was able to get the Saints even closer by running Kamara off left guard for nine more yards before stopping the clock with a spike at 0:03. Brees did all of this with just one timeout at his disposal and after having been sacked for a six-yard loss on the drive’s opening play.

“That two-minute drill by Drew was outstanding, the execution of it was outstanding,” Payton said after watching the game film on Monday.

Brees isn’t exactly sure when he started calling the two-minute drill on his own. He said he’s done it throughout his Saints tenure. The Saints offensive coaches essentially become bystanders during the two-minute drill. They’re watching Brees orchestrate the offense, just like the fans. Other than a suggestion or two from Payton, the two-minute offense is all Brees.

“We don’t even know what’s going on,” Lombardi said of the coaching staff. “Sean will talk to him and tell him to think about a play here or there but for the most part, he’s got it. That’s very unique. The Bradys and Mannings can do it by themselves, but that’s very unique. He can see it and have a plan. He’s coming up with [route] combinations that aren’t even in the playbook and signaling them to the receivers. It’s amazing.”

The Saints turn the offense over to Brees in these situations for a couple reasons. One, it saves time. Since the Saints usually don’t substitute or huddle in the two-minute, Brees can call the play at the line of scrimmage using hand signals and code words and save valuable seconds. Two, they do it because they can. Brees knows the offense. He has earned the trust of the Saints coaches over the years and leans on his diligent pregame preparation to identify opposing defenses and their coverage tendencies.

“You can take those chances with Drew,” Lombardi said. “You know he’s not going to mess it up. There’s so much trust in Drew. He’s not going to make us look dumb here. He’s really good at operating in those stressful situations.”

Brees couldn’t have operated the two-minute offense so efficiently and effectively early in his Saints tenure, because he wasn’t as familiar with the offense. But after a couple of seasons, he became fluent in the system and the Saints turned the two-minute over to him. It’s unclear how many other quarterbacks in the league have this autonomy. Brees said established veterans like Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Ben Roethlisberger also run their own two-minute drills, but the situation is rare.

“It is exciting and butterflies, but it is also confidence and unity,” Brees said. “We feel like everybody knows we have a challenge ahead. Everybody knows what we need to do in order to accomplish whatever we need to accomplish to go win the game. Everybody kind of just locks in and goes. It’s where a lot of the things that happen and transpire over the course of the game kind of give you that information, that confidence, that assurance on how you’re going to handle that drive and how you’re going to accomplish the task.”

Coaches and teammates marvel at his intensity during the moment. His poise relaxes them and reduces their stress. His decisiveness in calling and executing the plays breeds confidence.

“There’s this look in his eye and the way that he goes about calling his plays that, I don’t care if you are a coach or player, you think, ‘Man, I don’t want to be the guy that messes this up,’” Campbell said. “What makes Brees such a great leader is his intensity. You can tell by the look on his face that this is something serious to him, and players know they’ve got to do their job.”

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