Payton and Brees, стр. 74
So it wasn’t a shock to Payton when Brees told him he needed time to think about his future. While Payton was bullish on Taysom Hill’s potential and truly believed in his ability to be a bona fide starting quarterback, he knew that Brees, even at 41, still gave his team the best shot to win a championship in 2020. Brees wasn’t limping to the finish line the way Favre and Peyton Manning did. In 2019, he led the NFL in completion percentage (74.3) for a third consecutive season and ranked second with a passer efficiency rating of 116.3. Like many of his teammates, he didn’t play his best in the season-ending loss to the Vikings, but he finished the regular season on a roll, posting sterling performances against the 49ers, Colts, and Titans.
There was no question Brees could still play. The question was: Did he still want to play?
For the first time in his Saints tenure, Payton had to seriously think about life without Brees in his huddle. When Brees announced his plans to return, Payton was ecstatic.
“I’m excited because I know exactly how he played last year,” Payton said. “He’s playing at an elite level still. He’s done a fantastic job taking care of [himself] both mentally and physically, and it is really a credit to him.”
When Payton and the Saints offensive staff graded Brees’ performance in 2019, they didn’t see any decline in his physical skill or ability to execute. There weren’t any throws he couldn’t make. No plays were eliminated from the offense to compensate for Brees’ age.
“There hasn’t been that moment where we’ve looked at the film and thought, ‘Man, back in the day we used to complete those passes,” Payton said. “We haven’t seen that [decline].”
Every offseason, Brees evaluates his routine, starting with two questions: Why do I do what I do? And how can I get better?
He evaluates his performance from the previous season, then considers ways he can improve his offseason routine. That might be trying something new in regard to his preparation. It might be a different recovery technique. No stone is left unturned in his quest for improvement.
“I feel like I’m pretty aware of what you lose with the aging process, so everything I do from a training perspective, from a recovery perspective, is to combat that,” Brees said. “You just try to stay ahead of that curve. And so far, I feel like I’m beating it.”
In recent years, Brees shifted his offseason workout regimen toward extending his playing career. He placed an emphasis on listening to what his body told him. He likened his routine to that of Major League Baseball starting pitchers, who follow a regimented plan to peak their physical condition every fifth day of the week.
Brees refers to this process as prolonging the prime. He and Tom House have focused his offseason workouts on certain areas of his body in an attempt to ward off the aging process and extend his shelf life as an effective NFL quarterback.
“In the beginning of your career, you have these unbelievable physical skills, and we’re able to recover so quickly,” Brees said. “But your mental understanding of the game is lacking. Well, the more experience you gain, the more wisdom you gain. And your mental, emotional, psychological ability grows. But the unfortunate thing is the aging process, right? The physical skills begin to diminish. When your physical and mental ability both reach the same level, that’s your prime, but at some point the physical starts to drop off. Mentally, emotionally, you’ve got it. You see it. But your body won’t allow you to do it anymore, right?”
Brees and House have tried to fight off Father Time by practicing the latest techniques in recovery, diet, and sleep. Brees met House in the early 2000s through former Chargers offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and began working regularly with him in 2004. He’s continued to work with him and his assistant Adam Dedeaux at 3DQB, their training facility in Huntington Beach, California. Brees regularly flies House in for training sessions and evaluation work during training camp and the season.
House, 72, a former college and major-league pitching coach, started as a pitching tutor before turning his attention to football. House and his staff teach players the biomechanics of throwing a football. They work on balance, posture, and stride momentum. They focus on mechanics, footwork, and weight shift to build arm strength and increase throwing accuracy.
These days, House works as much on Brees’ mental approach as he does his physical work. House connected Brees with Major League Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who pitched into his mid-forties and was one of Brees’ favorite players while growing up in Austin, Texas, to serve as a resource.
“Our research says there’s no reason you can’t do at 45 what you did at 25—if you can pay the price,” House said. “Nobody knows how hard Drew actually works. He’s the hardest-working quarterback I’ve been around. He’s special. There are all kinds of guys who can throw a football. They know what to do, but they don’t know why. Drew is a what and a why guy, and his goal literally is to identify problems and come up with solutions.”
House is convinced Brees can continue to play at an elite level into his mid-forties because of his work ethic, discipline, and open-mindedness.
“What happens with a lot of elite athletes, they get to a certain level of expertise and they stop learning,” House said. “Drew and Nolan, the two superstars in my eyes, are trying to learn something new every day and you can throw that in front of people, not all of them input like they should. Drew does. He might be the best quarterback ever, and he’s still getting better. He’s better this year than he’s ever been for me. For