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With second son on the way, Saints QB eager to recreate touching moment


METAIRIE, La. -- Moments after the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, quarterback Drew Brees carried his son, Baylen. Brees' wife, Brittany, carried a secret.

Two days later, Brittany shared it with her husband.

"My wife and I are sitting in our kitchen still in the middle of the whirlwind, not knowing what had hit us yet with all of the things that had happened after the Super Bowl, with me and Baylen being on the cover of Sports Illustrated," Brees revealed Monday. "We started saying, 'How are we going to eclipse this with the next child, whenever that child comes?

"I said, 'I wish that child could have been a part of this.' And my wife said, 'Well, he was. Because I'm pregnant.'"

One week before the Super Bowl, Brittany discovered she was pregnant. She saved the secret until two days after the biggest win in New Orleans sports history.

"That baby, be it the size of a sesame seed, was alive and well during the Super Bowl," Brees said.

The Brees' timing was good but not all together perfect. Their second baby boy is now due in mid-October. The Saints have their bye in November. They can only hope their unborn child's birth date does not interfere with a game date. But Brees is not worrying about the issue right now.

What's on his mind is this: He would like to hoist a second Vince Lombardi Trophy and a second son, all at once.

Other observations from Saints camp:
• When Saints head coach Sean Payton stepped onto the ESPN training camp tour bus, the first topic he wanted to discuss was not the Super Bowl, not a blossoming draft pick, not New Orleans' Thursday night regular-season opener versus Minnesota. Payton wanted to discuss the Kenny Chesney music video, "The Boys of Fall," in which he is featured. The video is an inspiration to any youngster dreaming to become a football player. Actually, it's a video for anybody seeking inspiration.

• Before the Saints kicked off camp, Payton presented his team with two pages of important notes. The first page included 10 reasons the Saints would be successful. The second page included 10 reasons the Saints would not be successful.
"Human nature would tell you that after you reach that kind of pinnacle of success, that all of a sudden you kind of get back to work. And when those little things start happening in the past you would've squashed immediately, but now you kind of say, 'Ah, we'll fix it later' or 'We'll fix it on game day. We'll figure it out,'" Brees said. "You can't do that. You've got to make sure you're constantly critiquing yourself."
And the Saints have.
"I think when you have success, it does validate your methods, it validates it with the players, with the coaches," Payton said. "I like this locker room. I like the leadership on this team. And I like Page 2 a lot better than 1."
• Saints linebacker Jonathan Casillas might always be best remembered for being the player who recovered the onside kick to open the second half of Super Bowl XLIV. But this summer, Casillas has made his mark as New Orleans' starting weakside linebacker, replacing Scott Shanle, who has shifted over to strongside linebacker to replace Scott Fujita, now with the Browns.
The 6-foot-1, 227-pound Casillas has been flying to the football and punishing ball carriers, proving that he's an even better player than the Saints suspected he was when they signed him in 2009 as an undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin. Now the Saints' linebackers this season are reminding them of their running backs last season, when the public had questions about the unit but the organization didn't. The public was wrong. The organization was right, and it believes it is again.

• Saints wide receiver Robert Meachem came off the physically unable to perform list Monday and is ready to practice. Now, any team looking to trade for a wide receiver might consider studying the Saints' roster. New Orleans is six deep at wide receiver. The top four are Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Meachem, Lance Moore, Courtney Roby and Adrian Arrington. Might be tough for the Saints to keep all six, but all six will be on NFL rosters this season.

• New Orleans has fortified its offensive line for the future, hitting on two draft picks in April. Former USC offensive tackle Charles Brown, a second-round pick, and former Boston College center Matt Tennant, taken in the fifth round, have justified their selections this summer. Each could be a stalwart on the Saints' line for seasons to come.

• One more note on the Super Bowl XLIV onside kick: The man who kicked it, Saints punter Thomas Morstead, dislocated his shoulder during the team's preseason opener at New England. Kicker Garrett Hartley stepped in and launched five punts, averaging 47 yards, proving one thing: No team has a kicker and punter as good or as versatile as the Saints. Hartley can kick with the best and punt, and Morstead can punt and kickoff. Good special teams in New Orleans.

• Payton and Brees made a friendly bet about who would sell more books. And when they stepped aboard the ESPN tour bus, they came bearing autographed books. Brees wrote to reporter Chris Mortensen: "To Mort -- I guarantee I will sell more books than Sean Payton. Drew Brees 9."

Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints wants second son to experience Super thrill - ESPN