hitta

This is a question I think about a lot. The biggest weakness he's always had as been that he was susceptible to inside pressure disrupting his vision. I think he's the best pure passer to ever live by far(I also think he should be in consideration for GOAT, but the media will never give him his credit). With a few inches of height though on him, I think he would have been an unstoppable force of nature.

stickman

For the sake of debate.... I respectfully disagree. I think it made him work harder and adjust his game to fit his abilities.

hitta

Eh you can say that, and there is probably some truth to that, but for the sake of debate.. imagine if he was taller and had the same work ethic. I think a lot of teams that we had trouble with over the years with inside pressure wouldn't have had the same sort of success.

jeanpierre

Plus one. Brees's physical limitations put him in a frame of mind that he had to out-work the competition, he's mentions this - his work ethic is what sets him apart...

Beastmode

Billy Joe Hobert was 6'3. Doug Flutie was 5'9". Also a PB NFL QB.
There was a reason Ditka was trying to get Flutie; WORK ETHIC.

Being tall doesn't mean a hell of a lot without it. Can't coach it, can't teach it. If Brees was 6'5" though I doubt it changes much. What hurt Brees was perpetual abysmal defense as far as championships go. I can't even count the times Brady was bailed out by the defense. Last year, pretty much the entire season.

hitta

I agree entirely that his work ethic is what defines him. There have been so many games though where Brees has had the middle of the line pushed back in his face or they reroute the DEs back through the middle, and it has really affected him. It's pretty much been his only weakness. When Brees has pressure in his face he's force to check down to the outside, whereas a taller QB can check down easier over the middle. It's one of the reasons Brees and Graham were so well together, cause he gave him an out for internal pressure. He could throw the ball up high and JG would go up and get it like a BB player.

Brees has one of the best work ethics I've ever seen in a football player, and perhaps his shortness has played a large role in that occurring. I'm just saying that his size has caused him some issues as well, that I feel like if he was the same exact person and had a few more inches, it would have changed a lot.

Rugby Saint II

He might not have been so evasive at slipping tackles in the box. And who knows? He may be afraid of heights....

If I'd been 4" taller they would have made me play football and I would never had played rugby! I wanted to be taller when I was younger. Now, 5'10" turns out to have been a big man after all! The term my twin brother and I hear all the time is straight out of road house....."I thought you would be bigger." Humbly, we played at an exceptionally high level for 40 years and between the two of us we had quite the rep. We were smaller but we hit harder!

TheOak

What does 4" of height do for someone that is 6' standing behind a 6'5" Line... Nothing.

hitta

Quite a bit as far as vision over the middle and throwing angles. When you are shorter, you have to throw the ball at an upward angle over the line and have it come down to the receiver. When you are taller you don't have to do that as much. It's much easier to do checkdown type passes over the middle(which is something Brady does quite frequently).

Brees does checkdown over the middle when he gets outside pressure. Usually when he does this, he'll step up in the pocket and drop it off. When he gets that inside pressure though he's forced to go to the outside. Other QBs that are taller could still drop it off over the middle. Play designs are probably even changed a bit because of that, as a lot of the time they make sure they have some sort of outside drop off for him. We have quite a few plays where he'll throw to the outside RB or something and they'll be tackled for a loss. Teams probably even get to the point where they expect it. I've seen people actually complain about it on here during games. They'll be like "what are we doing, what is this playcalling blah blah". A lot of times it's not the playcalling, it's the inside pressure that's forcing Brees to dump it off.

neugey