Payton and Brees, стр. 59
“That stuff just eats him up,” Martin said. “It’s a little thing that may or may not matter, but he’s never satisfied with shrugging things off. It’s that little edge that drives him.”
Michael Jordan was so ruthlessly competitive he reportedly belittled teammates and even made then-teenager Kwame Brown cry during practice. He rarely showed mercy when vanquishing fellow competitors. Brees always manages to keep the competitions light-hearted. He never takes it too far.
Of course, that doesn’t mean he takes losing well. At the home run derby competition before the 2013 Ben Grubbs celebrity softball game at Zephyr Field, a group of reporters approached Brees for interviews. Brees said he planned to talk after the home run contest. When McCown upset Brees in the derby after three tiebreaker rounds, everything changed. One of the most accessible and media-friendly superstars in sports was nowhere to be found by reporters afterward.
“He was definitely upset about it, no question,” McCown said.
A year later, to no one’s surprise, Brees reclaimed the home run derby title. The trophies for each derby were displayed on top of the quarterbacks’ lockers at the Saints facility. Brees’ trophy was notably—and not accidentally—one inch taller than McCown’s.
“He wants to be the best at whatever he does,” McCown said. “That’s what makes him great. That’s what makes him Drew.”
McCown was confident he finally had Brees where he wanted him during Saints training camp in 2014, when the quarterback group visited the skeet shooting range at The Greenbrier resort in Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. An avid outdoorsman who grew up duck and deer hunting in east Texas, McCown owned a set of shotguns, and he showed off his deadeye, hitting 33 of 50 sporting clays, well ahead of fellow Saints quarterbacks Logan Kilgore and Ryan Griffin. But it still wasn’t enough to beat Brees, who hit 41 of 50 targets.
“There’s nothing that Drew Brees could do that would surprise me,” said LSU offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, who served in the same capacity with the San Diego Chargers for four of Brees’ five seasons.
Cameron recalled a meeting he had with Brees after the Chargers’ grim 2003 season in which the quarterback and coach discussed plans for the approaching offseason. The Chargers had just finished 4–12—tied for the worst in the league—and Brees had lost his starting job to 41-year-old Doug Flutie. Brees told Cameron that he and Brittany were making plans to celebrate their first wedding anniversary in the second week of February.
“I said, ‘How did you pick that [wedding] day?” Cameron said. “And he said, ‘Well, the Super Bowl is this date and the Pro Bowl is this date, and I knew I couldn’t do it those dates.”
Cameron chuckled privately at Brees’ ambition. The Chargers hadn’t had a Pro Bowl quarterback in 18 years. They’d made the playoffs only seven times since the league merger in 1970.
The next year, the Chargers went 12–4, won the AFC West Division title, and advanced to the playoffs for the first time in eight years. And a few weeks later, on February 8, 2005, Brees played in his first Pro Bowl.
“That kind of tells you about Drew Brees,” Cameron said.
20. The Fire and Fury of Sunday Sean
If there’s a single trait that Sean Payton and Drew Brees share more than others, it is their maniacal competitiveness. Above everything else, their shared drive to win creates a foundation for their relationship, a commonality that harbors deep mutual respect. This competitive drive fuels their long work weeks during the season and burns throughout the offseason as they prepare for another season.
Yet they display this competitiveness in vastly different ways, especially during games. Brees is focused but calm on game days. As the on-field leader of the team, he consciously maintains a poker face and positive body language during games. By Brees’ demeanor and expression, it’s difficult to tell whether the Saints are leading or trailing by three touchdowns against an opponent. The idea is to not give the opponent any mental edge and instill confidence in the Saints sideline.
“The greatest players in all sports make everyone around them better players,” Strief said. “What you notice about Drew when you’re in the huddle with him in the biggest moment of the game, he is the exact same in that moment as he is in the walk-through in the afternoon before a game in the indoor practice facility. That breeds confidence in the situation. His consistency puts everybody at ease in the biggest moments in games.”
Brees compares playing quarterback to captaining a ship. The captain must communicate the plan and instill confidence in his staff. To do that, he must check his emotions and remain poised and calm.
“I find that I’m best when I can be calm, composed, and then I can think very clearly,” he said. “There’s a difference between being on the sideline versus being in the huddle. In the huddle, you’re driving a ship. You’ve got to be able to communicate with everybody. You’ve got to get everybody on the same page. You’ve got to get everybody up to the ball. You’ve got to get it all orchestrated. And then make that quick split-second decision. So I find that there’s probably a little bit more calm and poise that has to take place there than on the sideline.”
Payton, on the other hand, is often a cauldron of emotions during games. He prowls the sideline with a noticeable intensity. And if things aren’t going well, his wrath spares no one. Players. Coaches. Opponents. Officials. Over the years, TV cameras have caught Payton giving an earful to various Saints players and assistant coaches, most notably running back Mark Ingram and former defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. Even innocent bystanders simply trying to do their jobs aren’t immune. Members of the chain gang have felt Payton’s icy stare if they infringe on his sideline coaching turf. Saints media relations executives have manned the sidelines for years to