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Renewed optimism among Saints as New Orleans renews itself

By Jim Corbett, USA TODAY
Updated 5/26/2006 12:46 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees steps into another crisp throw on a nearly deserted practice field on a sunny spring morning.
The Saints quarterback spins a tight, chest-high spiral to wide receiver Nate Poole, following through in that classic, over-the-top delivery that is Brees' signature.

Brees, 27, is eager to show off his ahead-of-schedule recovery from the surgery he had on his throwing shoulder Jan. 4. Accompanied by Poole and assistant trainer Kevin Mangum, Brees drifts back in steady increments of 5 yards. He starts tossing to Mangum from 10 yards away and progresses to zipping darts from 25 yards to Poole.

Brees is supposed to be throwing 40 passes a day. But he's already doubled that to 80 a day four months after arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum — a ring of cartilage that stabilizes the joint — and on his rotator cuff. Brees suffered the injury in San Diego's regular-season finale and plans to throw on a limited basis during the June 2-4 minicamp.

The Saints quarterback oozes confidence as he shoots the breeze while throwing strong and, most importantly, pain-free.

"I feel good," Brees says. "Coming off this injury, it's proving not only to a lot of people but to myself this can be done."

Cast off by the Chargers, Brees is the face of this new beginning for the New Orleans Saints, a team that also features new coach Sean Payton and draft-day windfall Reggie Bush, who fell to the Saints after the Houston Texans used the overall first pick on defensive end Mario Williams.

Brees and the Saints appear to have all the motivational fuel needed to make a dramatic turnaround from last season's displaced and dispiriting 3-13 finish after Hurricane Katrina.

"It's a fresh start for a lot of us," Brees says. "It's Sean Payton having never been a head coach before. This is his opportunity. It's me having to prove everybody wrong by coming back from an injury like this. It's Reggie not being the No. 1 draft pick. That's always going to fuel him. It's Deuce McAllister coming off a knee injury.

"I like all those things. That's what drives you every day. You find ways to motivate yourself always and make yourself better. There's always those people who are going to doubt you."

Brees is the determined face of a rebuilt team trying to help inspire a still-ravaged region's own comeback from Katrina's deadly wake. After all, Brees was the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year in 2004.

Brees is 20-11 as a starter the last two years and out to prove the Chargers made a mistake in choosing to cast their lot with unproven third-year pro Philip Rivers.

Brees realizes the team has an obligation to the community after the destruction and despair it faced last year.

"We have to play for the people here," Brees says. "I think a lot of guys are looking at it that we've got to win for this community and all those people affected by the storm who believe in us and know that a lot of their hope and spirit is riding on us with what we can accomplish as a team."

After the Saints had only one playoff appearance in six years with Brees' predecessor, Aaron Brooks, the team looks to Brees to fulfill the role of team leader.

It was Brees who called Bush and Payton the night before last month's draft when he learned the Texans would take Williams. Brees was fired up to learn that Bush, whom the Saints had ranked first atop their draft board, would be joining him in the turnaround bid.

"I told Reggie, 'I know you're frustrated, but it's all about landing in the right situation, coming to a team like ours that needs you, where we can build something special,' " Brees says.

With Bush falling into their lap, maybe the next best thing to happen for the Saints was that after orthopedic surgeon James Andrews repaired Brees' throwing arm, he didn't remove the chip on his shoulder.

"I loved listening to all the so-called experts who said, 'Oh, the New Orleans Saints should have drafted a quarterback,' " says Phil Simms, the CBS analyst and a former quarterback who also overcame rotator cuff damage. "Yeah, let's put a lot of guesswork into a rookie quarterback, or let's go get an established player who is a Sean Payton-type of player. Drew Brees is meticulous, mad at the world, and that's a great trait.

"He's just one of those guys with a chip on his shoulder who will have to prove it always. That chip he carries will serve him well.

"People say, 'Well, there's risk because he's coming off of shoulder surgery.' Name me the guy where that injury ended his career. Nowadays you can come back from everything. I came back from it. Carson Palmer's career is not over after he suffered a knee injury (in the playoffs). Believe me, Drew Brees will be fine."

This is encouraging news for the team's fans, who have rallied around the Saints' return to New Orleans by setting a franchise record for season-ticket sales.

Maybe it's a serendipitous sign.

One of the game's sharp young offensive minds, Payton, 42, was born in San Mateo, Calif. The Northern California town is home to one of the patron saints of NFL turnarounds — quarterback Tom Brady, the former sixth-round draft pick who led the New England Patriots to three Super Bowl titles in four years.

There's more. Payton played quarterback at Eastern Illinois, the same school where Denver Broncos coach and two-time Super Bowl winner Mike Shanahan played the same position.

Payton has absorbed the how-to dynamics of a turnaround under Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells. He served as Parcells' assistant head coach/quarterbacks the last three years. Before that, Payton was an offensive assistant with the New York Giants (1999-2002) and the Philadelphia Eagles ( 1997-98 ).

Payton projects a no-nonsense winner's presence. You can see Parcells' influence in Payton's disciplined, attention-to-detail style. Payton's message is Parcells' mantra: Minimizing mistakes is the razor's edge between winning and losing in the NFL.

Payton flashed sharp wit and perspective at his news conference during the rookie minicamp the day Bush strained a hamstring, the first such injury of his career.

"He's been sitting in a limousine too long," Payton said. "Having been in the market in New York and Dallas and (having) seen where Reggie's coming from, I think he'll handle the transition well. Now, is there pressure on these guys that are selected early in the first round? I think so. Not just on him, but Mario Williams in Houston and the rest of these guys.

"What is unique here is the chance he has and we have, the pressure maybe all of us have to help this area more than just football-wise, just the responsibility of helping this community and this region specifically."

General manager Mickey Loomis continues to grow in admiration for Payton's authoritative, disciplined ways.

"The first time I viewed his interview at the coaches' symposium, and the first time I sat down with him for an interview, Sean Payton just jumped out at me," Loomis says. "I liked his philosophies and his specifics. Every day since the day we hired him, I feel better and better about the hire. He's absolutely the right guy for this job at this time."

In his one season as a running backs coach, Payton had Marshall Faulk at San Diego State. Bush's versatile skill set often has been compared with the St. Louis Rams back, whom Bush, a San Diego native, used to watch at San Diego State.

"They have some similar characteristics in regards to the route running and their explosiveness," Payton says.

Payton also coached Tiki Barber and Ron Dayne when he was an assistant with the Giants, which gives him familiarity with the "Thunder and Lightning" setup Payton hopes to reprise with McAllister and Bush. McAllister is coming off a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered five games into last season and says he welcomes Bush's arrival as a way to reduce some of his workload.

"I'm looking forward to playing in the NFL, and the coaches are excited to give me opportunities to make plays from different positions," Bush says. "We're all excited about the things I'll be able to do here and how much more dangerous I can make this offense."

Veteran receiver Joe Horn notes that a too-predictable attack hasn't scared defenses in years.

"It will be very hard for teams to prepare now for the New Orleans Saints," Horn says. "I really feel in my heart that it was easy for defensive coordinators to prepare for us. Now we're coming at them on a whole new different level.

"Defensive coordinators will be scratching their heads trying to understand what we're doing, how we're doing it and who's doing what. They'll wonder where Joe Horn's going to be, where Reggie Bush is going to be and where Donte Stallworth is going to be. For four or five years, they've known basically what we were going to do or what percentage we were going to do it.

"Now Coach Payton is bringing in a system where I may go to one side of the field and by the snap of the ball be on the other side, running a post."

Payton will run a motion-heavy, multiple-set version of the West Coast offense.

"Maybe we'll call it 'The Gulf Coast offense,'" Payton says. "You want to have flexibility and not predictability. A little is going to fall on the players to pick up the formations and the shifts.

"Our biggest challenge, the thing that needs to change, is you can't lead the league in turnovers and you can't have minus 24 in the turnover column and you can't be in the bottom five in penalties.

"There's two or three things that prevent you from winning, and this team was in the top two or three in all those categories. They need to understand what's been beating them."

Brees and Bush have already connected through that phone call Brees made to lift Bush's spirits the night before the draft. It was during a week in which allegations surfaced about the rental of a $757,237 home by Bush's mother and stepfather from a man trying to steer Bush to a marketing company that sought to represent him.

"Drew's call meant a lot to me because there was a lot going on with the family and just a little bit of disappointment of not being the No. 1 draft pick," Bush says. "Just for him to call me and tell me how excited he was and me being a fan of his, it made me feel good. It gave me some confidence and made me feel, 'Hey, this guy is just as ready to turn this program around as I am.' ... He's excited to play with me, and I'm excited to play with him."

Turnarounds in the NFL are common enough. The Brady-led 2001 Patriots rose up from 5-11 the year before to Super Bowl champions. The Panthers went from 1-15 in 2001 to 11-5 and came within a last-minute Brady drive of having a chance to win Super Bowl XXXVIII. One common denominator to those turnarounds is unselfish team-first players with everything to prove.

"I've seen many teams with all the talent in the world not do a darn thing because the guys couldn't bring it together and play as a team," Brees says. "Maybe they didn't have the type of leadership qualities that they needed. I feel like we have all the pieces."

Brees is arguably the biggest piece, especially if he can regain his form as a 27-touchdown, seven-interception passer like he was in 2004.

Payton acknowledges the importance of keeping Brees on "a pitch count" in minicamp and training camp to avoid any setback.

"Drew's been the role model leader for our team," Loomis says. "In terms of his shoulder, he's doing today the things we thought he'd be doing two or three weeks from now.

"We know there's a risk. We went into this deal with eyes wide open. But when you look at the character of the player, his work ethic, the quality of the repair and the doctor who did it, it's acceptable risk for us. I have every reason to believe he's going to be healthy and playing in our season opener."

Brees has been a human U-turn everywhere he's been, reversing the Chargers from 4-12 to a 12-4 playoff team in 2004 after taking Purdue to the 2001 Rose Bowl.

Deep into his own personal comeback, Brees reflects on the small part the Saints can potentially play in a far more meaningful regional revival.

"You look at what we do: We play football for our job; we live a dream," Brees says. "What a lot of guys don't realize is how much of a role we can play in this community, playing a game to lift the spirits of people more than we'll ever know."



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Great read gets me pumped for this season !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!