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It was 40 minutes after the New Orleans Saints' Black and Gold scrimmage. The crowd had long since retreated to the comfort of their air-conditioned cars. Inside, Saints players were sprawled across the locker room, giddily anticipating their first time off since the start of training camp eight days ago.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees put in extra work at Saturday's Black and Gold scrimmage.
But Drew Brees hadn't had enough.
After conducting post-practice interviews, he strapped on his helmet and dived back into the unrelenting midday sun.
While the media congregated around linebacker Jon Vilma, Brees quietly ran wind sprints across the practice field by himself.
There was no glory in this session. No fawning throng of fans or lucrative pay day.
This was simply Brees testing himself against the limits of Mother Nature.
Down and back, eight times, 53 yards each way. In helmet and shoulder pads. In a heat index of 122 degrees. After a grueling two-hour scrimmage and nine consecutive days of workouts.
Watch Brees trudge through the sadistic exercise and you understand exactly why Brees is the best player in the NFL.
"You've never arrived," Brees said.
There's not a lot of room for improvement in Brees. He put together two of the best seasons by a quarterback in NFL history. In 2008, he came within a 16-yard whisker of breaking Dan Marino's 24-year-old record for passing yards in a season with 5,069. And last season he led the Saints to the promised land while snapping Ken Anderson's 27-year-old NFL record for completion percentage in a season, with a ridiculous 70.6-percent accuracy rate.
Ever the stickler, Brees remains unsatisfied. He listed several areas of improvement, everything from diet to pregame preparation to video study to fundamentals in his passing game.
"Overall I just want to become as efficient as possible," Brees said. "If I can just get that ball out just a little bit sooner on that one route, or maybe there's just a certain look on defense that I've kind of had trouble with. There are always things you can work on."
For a mere mortal quarterback like Patrick Ramsey, such a notion is difficult to fathom. Ramsey had heard all of the plaudits on Brees before he signed with the Saints. But until this past week he had never played with the man. Brees lived up to his impeccable reputation and then some.
"He's really unbelievable," Ramsey said. "You can use all the superlatives. He's an excellent player. He's a great leader. He's incredibly accurate with the ball. He works hard. You can go on and on. He's the real deal."
Brees certainly would have found plenty of things to work on after his performance in the Black and Gold scrimmage Saturday. After going 4-for-4 and directing the first-team offense to a touchdown in his first series against the second-team defense, he struggled. He misfired on six consecutive passes and finished the day 6-for-16 for 110 yards. For an uber-competitor like Brees, it made the long hot afternoon even longer and hotter.
"I think we should score every time we touch the ball, and we didn't do that today," Brees said. "That's frustrating. Obviously our defense is playing very well."
Brees knows the Saints can't afford to rest on their laurels. Even though they've led the league in total offense three of the past four seasons, he understands the rest of the league will be lying in wait more than ever this year.
"I'm certain with the productivity and success we've had, you just know everybody is taking the Super Bowl winner's tape and grinding on it," Brees said. "When you know that it makes you pay more attention to the little things and the detail, just making sure you are so efficient. You've got to realize what makes you successful, and a lot of it is the process."
For Brees, the process includes a set of self-inflicted post-practice gassers in the relentless midday heat.
Super Bowl hangover? Not for this MVP.

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Rugby Saint II

You practice like you play I always say. The man seems to be driven to excellence. I'm going out on a limb here but I want it known that Drew Brees is the best QB playing the game. He's going to be compared to Joe Montana as the greatest QB ever and the records should reflect that even more in the next few years.

QBREES9

The second you stop working. There someone else taking your place.

SaintGup

Drew Brees could make 99% of his throws and he'd still be out there working on how to get that 1%. He is as dedicated a player as you'll ever see and his leadership skills are second to none. He is always striving to be that much better than he is and that is an inspiration to us all.