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    On a Rerouted Road Trip, Aaron Rodgers Looked Disoriented

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    The Packers quarterback was intercepted twice in a lackluster showing, while the Saints’ Jameis Winston threw five touchdown passes to take down the Packers.JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Saints’ home game that was scheduled to be held Sunday amid climate-controlled pandemonium in New Orleans was instead staged in dryer-vent conditions in north Florida before hordes of fans wearing foam blocks of cheese on their heads — and yet somehow all that seemed downright normal compared to what was transpiring on the field.A quarterback at TIAA Bank Field threw the ball to the other team, made reckless decisions and wilted under pressure, but it was not the player whose career has abounded with face-palming blunders. The culprit bore a striking resemblance to one Aaron Charles Rodgers, the N.F.L.’s reigning most valuable player and the protagonist of what will be its most captivating season-long saga.Rodgers said many months ago that his future was a “beautiful mystery,” a term shrouded in inscrutability. Whether he would retire, refuse to play again for Green Bay or host “Jeopardy!” — it all seemed feasible, or at least not unfeasible, as the extent of his dissatisfaction with the Packers front office emerged. He addressed his grievances with the Packers in stunning candor, vowed to compartmentalize and resumed preparing for what very well could be his final season with the team.Late in the third quarter of the Saints’ 38-3 demolition, Rodgers sat slouched on Green Bay’s sun-drenched sideline. The Saints had just converted his second interception in as many drives into a touchdown, and it would soon get worse. On the next drive, the Packers turned the ball over on downs and, given another opportunity to outclass Rodgers, Jameis Winston tossed his fourth touchdown pass. A few minutes later, Winston threw his fifth.If the Packers demonstrated a certain clumsiness in hatching their succession plan at quarterback, believing after the 2019 season that Rodgers had approached an irreversible decline and then trading up to draft Jordan Love without communicating those intentions to Rodgers, the Saints pursued a more conventional route to replacing Drew Brees: They bought low on Winston. He had been a remarkable talent who, if he can only improve his risk management after five turbulent seasons in Tampa Bay, might be molded into a better version of himself — strong-armed but disciplined.That is how Winston looked on Sunday, bypassing riskier throws he might have relished earlier in his career in favor of safer, shorter passes that extended drives. He threw for only 148 yards, with 55 coming on a majestic deep ball to Deonte Harris that revealed the facade of Winston’s training-camp competition with Taysom Hill.But even if Winston didn’t fling the ball downfield much, Saints Coach Sean Payton still showed his trust in him by going for two fourth-down conversions during a second-quarter drive. Winston converted both with throws to Juwan Johnson, including a 1-yard score that extended the Saints’ lead to 17-0.The Packers kicked a field goal as time expired in the first half, then drove 66 yards to the Saints’ 9-yard line before Rodgers morphed into Winston, circa 2019. Chased out of the pocket, Rodgers darted forward and tried whipping a pass to Davante Adams, who was cutting toward the near sideline. The ball zipped behind him and into the arms of the rookie cornerback Paulson Adebo. Rodgers lamented his bad decision — he should have thrown it, he said, to Aaron Jones in the flat.“Obviously,” Rodgers said, “the play of the game.”Rodgers is beyond aware of how the Packers’ last two seasons unfolded and concluded, of their going 13-3 before losing in the N.F.C. championship game, in back-to-back attempts. Their defeat in January at home against the Buccaneers, and how it ended — with Coach Matt LaFleur attempting a close field goal instead of trusting his quarterback to surmount an 8-point deficit — contributed to the urgency facing this team.Whether the Packers believe it or not, they are under pressure to reach the Super Bowl this season. They have a dire salary-cap situation, Adams appears eager to test free agency, and Rodgers, through concessions Green Bay made with his contract, has the power to determine where he plays next season. Rodgers said last week that he was “in a good head space.”“The feel that I get with the energy in the locker room is not pressure — it’s focus,” Rodgers said last week. “I think it’s the right perspective and the right type of focus.”After Sunday’s game, Rodgers suggested he thought the Packers were a bit complacent, believing that they would throttle a team displaced by Hurricane Ida. The Saints bypassed Florida’s other N.F.L. destinations — Tampa Bay and Miami — for Jacksonville because, in part, of its relative inaccessibility and the heat and humidity, which sapped the Packers’ energy.“We felt like the hotter, the better,” Payton said.But, according to The New Orleans Times-Picayune, it also didn’t escape the Saints that Rodgers was 3-4 with a 78.1 passer rating — which would have ranked 32nd in the league last season — in games played in Florida. Rodgers, pulled for Love with about 11 minutes left as the Packers faced a large deficit, is now 3-5 in the Sunshine State.“It’s just one game,” said Rodgers, who completed 15 of 28 passes for 133 yards. “We played bad. I played bad.”The Packers might find comfort from precedent: In Week 9 last season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost by the same score to the Saints, then recovered to win the Super Bowl. There is danger in ascribing too much meaning to the first game, in presuming that Winston will continue playing with discipline and poise and that the Packers are plowing toward disappointment. What happens next with any and all of them is, as Rodgers might say, a beautiful mystery. More

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      Can Anyone in the N.F.C. Stop Tom Brady and the Bucs From Repeating?

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      Tampa Bay returns much of its Super Bowl-winning roster, but Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams have Jordan-and-Pippen-style title dreams for Green Bay.Amid the chaos and reshuffling of an N.F.L. season played during a pandemic, the 2020 season concluded with an all-too-familiar scene: Tom Brady hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.Even at the ripe age of 44, Brady could continue his title-winning ways at the helm of a Tampa Bay team that returns much of its roster. But the Buccaneers’ path to repeat as champion should be tougher, beginning with their Week 1 opponent. The Dallas Cowboys return Dak Prescott, who led all quarterbacks in passing yards through the first five games of last season before suffering a gruesome right ankle injury.Aaron Rodgers, the reigning league most valuable player, and the Packers renewed their vows after having narrowly missed taking down Brady and company in last season’s N.F.C. championship game, thanks to a, umm, notable play call. And the Los Angeles Rams traded with Detroit for the veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford in the off-season, adding fresh blood to the gauntlet that is the N.F.C. West.Will all the retooling around the conference stop another rerun?N.F.C. EastDallas Cowboys (6-10)Key additions: S Keanu Neal, DE Tarell Basham and DE Brent UrbanKey departures: DB Chidobe Awuzie, QB Andy DaltonAfter a disappointing 2020 season, the Cowboys completed their biggest off-season task by signing quarterback Dak Prescott to a four-year, $160 million contract extension. Though it’s risky to guarantee such hefty money, at $126 million, to a quarterback coming off a season-ending broken ankle, Prescott’s absence showed how mightily the Cowboys’ offense depends on him. Running back Ezekiel Elliott is back to his college weight, and Prescott will throw to one of the N.F.L.’s best receiver trifectas in Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb. But that won’t mean much if Dallas’s aging offensive line can’t buy Prescott time to find them. Dak Prescott, left, and Ezekiel Elliott have to like the Cowboys’ shot at winning the wide open N.F.C. East. Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesNew York Giants (6-10)Key additions: WR Kenny Golladay, WR Kadarius Toney, TE Kyle Rudolph, CB Adoree’ JacksonKey departures: DL Dalvin Tomlinson, RB Wayne Gallman, OT Cameron FlemingQuarterback Daniel Jones slid backward in his second year in the league, but, no pressure, team owner John Mara thinks his quarterback can win a Super Bowl. To back up that assertion, the Giants brought in a true No. 1 receiver in Golladay and took Toney with the 20th pick of this year’s draft, a move that stood out for its sagacity. Those additions, with the return of Pro Bowl running back Saquon Barkley, and the signing of the veteran tight end Kyle Rudolph should all aid Jones’s campaign — if not for a Super Bowl, at least for a contract extension — though they won’t help much if the offensive line continues to struggle. Leonard Williams, who the team signed a three-year, $63 million contract after he posted a career-high 11.5 sacks in 2020, should help generate a pass rush.Philadelphia Eagles (4-11-1)Key additions: WR DeVonta Smith, S Anthony HarrisKey departures: QB Carson Wentz, WR DeSean JacksonThe Eagles are reworking their roster on the run after overhauling the core personnel that had led the team to three straight playoff berths and a Super Bowl victory. Coach Nick Sirianni replaces Doug Pederson, and the team named the second-year quarterback Jalen Hurts, who was 1-3 in four starts last season, their starter. They added the former Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew in late August but the essential question for this young team is whether Sirianni — who spent the last three seasons as the Colts’ offensive coordinator — can develop Hurts.Washington Football Team (7-9)Key additions: QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, WR Curtis Samuel, CB William Jackson III, LB Jamin DavisKey departures: OT Morgan Moses, DE Ryan Kerrigan, QB Alex Smith, TE Jordan ReedCoach Ron Rivera has continued his revamp in Washington by adding the speedster Samuel on a three-year, $34.5 million deal (Rivera coached Samuel with the Carolina Panthers) and bolstering the defensive backfield, while parting ways with stalwarts on the offensive and defensive line. In signing Ryan Fitzpatrick, 38, to replace Alex Smith, Rivera also signaled that Washington is closer to finding a new team name than a franchise quarterback.Washington won the N.F.C. East with a losing record last season (and then gave the eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers a scare in the playoffs) but a second consecutive division title should be tough with an improved Dallas in the running.— Ken BelsonN.F.C. NorthChicago Bears (8-8)Key additions: QB Justin Fields, QB Andy Dalton, RB Damien Williams, TE Jesse JamesKey departures: WR Cordarrelle Patterson, CB Kyle Fuller, QB Mitchell Trubisky, DT Roy Robertson-Harris, OT Charles LenoBears fans grew so loud in their anticipation of rookie Justin Fields, right, taking the starting quarterback spot that Fields asked fans not to boo its current occupant, Andy Dalton.Nam Y. Huh/Associated PressC’mon, Chicago. Let Fields throw a regular-season pass before you name a museum after him, OK? Bears fans are acclimating themselves to an alien phenomenon, hope at quarterback, after the team traded up to draft Fields, the former Ohio State star, with the No. 11 pick. Every decision now revolves around his development, but the people making those decisions are largely the same ones who dealt away draft picks, compromising the Bears’ depth at places like, for instance, offensive line.They should have a solid defense and an elite receiver in Allen Robinson, who will be catching passes from Dalton to begin the season — but, probably, for not much longer than that.Detroit Lions (5-11)Key additions: QB Jared Goff, RB Jamaal Williams, WR Tyrell Williams, DE Charles Harris, DT Michael Brockers, OT Penei SewellKey departures: QB Matthew Stafford, WR Kenny Golladay, WR Marvin Jones, DT Danny SheltonFirst-year coach Dan Campbell has said he begins each day by ordering at Starbucks two venti coffees, each with two espresso shots. All that caffeine might not be good for his heart, but then again, neither is watching the Lions. Brad Holmes, the first-year general manager, traded Stafford, the franchise’s career passing leader, to the Rams for Goff, and gutted the roster.But the Lions are building from the offensive and defensive lines out — a sound strategy — and though that might not help them much in 2021, it could a few years from now, when they have a new quarterback.Green Bay Packers (13-3)Key additions: WR Randall Cobb, WR Amari Rodgers, OT Dennis Kelly, LB De’Vondre CampbellKey departures: RB Jamaal Williams, C Corey Linsley, LB Christian KirkseyThe next 18 weeks (and beyond) are going to be captivating theater in Wisconsin, where Aaron Rodgers may or may not be playing his final games with teammates he loves, but for a front office he doesn’t. There’s no reason to doubt this could be, as Rodgers and Davante Adams suggested in dual Instagram posts before training camp started, a fruitful “Last Dance”-y kind of season for the Packers, who have more talent than any team in the conference that doesn’t have “Bay” in its name. Where Rodgers plays next season will be fascinating, clearly. But not as much as how he and his team handle this one.Minnesota Vikings (7-9)Key additions: DT Sheldon Richardson, DT Dalvin Tomlinson, CB Bashaud Breeland, S Xavier WoodsKey departures: RB Mike Boone, TE Kyle Rudolph, OT Riley Reiff, LB Eric WilsonEntering quarterback Kirk Cousins’s fourth season in Minnesota, the Vikings have yet to win the N.F.C. North. Unless the Packers’ team buses get detoured to Idaho every game day, that streak isn’t likely to end. Still, the Vikings have a raft of elite players — running back Dalvin Cook, receiver Justin Jefferson and defensive end Danielle Hunter — and their off-season additions improved a defense that Coach Mike Zimmer last season called the “worst one I’ve ever had.”At the least, Minnesota figures to be average. At best, it could win double-digit games, good enough to snag a wild-card berth.— Ben ShpigelN.F.C. SouthAtlanta Falcons (4-12)Key additions: WR Cordarrelle Patterson, TE Kyle Pitts, RB Mike Davis, S Duron HarmonKey departures: C Alex Mack, WR Julio Jones, S Ricardo Allen, S Keanu Neal, DE Charles Harris, CB Darqueze Dennard.No team imploded as spectacularly — or as often — as the Falcons, who lost nine (!) games that they led last season. In theory, that won’t happen again. Any expectations beyond that? ¯_(ツ)_/¯The Falcons, under new leadership at coach (Arthur Smith) and general manager (Terry Fontenot), are in transition. After trading Jones and bypassing a potential Matt Ryan successor in order to draft Pitts at No. 4 overall, Atlanta seems to be walking up a down escalator. The onus will be on the defensive coordinator, Dean Pees, who was lured out of retirement, to generate loads of pressure — and on Ryan to generate loads of points. With Ryan working in a play-action heavy offense that resembles the one from his 2016 M.V.P. season, it might be possible. In theory.Carolina Panthers (5-11)Key additions: QB Sam Darnold, LB Haason Reddick, OT Cameron Erving, CB Jaycee HornKey departures: WR Curtis Samuel, RB Mike Davis, QB Teddy Bridgewater, LG Chris ReedThe Panthers acquired Darnold from the Jets this spring in the hopes that extricating him from the Jets’ juju — and surrounding him with, you know, better players — might unlock his promise. Bold strategy. In season 2 under Coach Matt Rhule, Carolina’s prospect of contending is rooted in too many hypotheticals (if Darnold can rebound, if running back Christian McCaffrey can stay healthy, if its young defense can coalesce) to take seriously.New Orleans Saints (12-4)Jameis Winston will step into the quarterback spot owned for 15 seasons by Drew Brees when the New Orleans Saints open the season with a “home” game against the Packers in Jacksonville.Derick Hingle/Associated PressKey additions: TE Nick Vannett, DE Tanoh Kpassagnon, DE Payton TurnerKey departures: QB Drew Brees, DE Trey Hendrickson, DT Malcom Brown, CB Janoris Jenkins, CB Patrick RobinsonSweet mercy, the Saints lost a lot of talent in addition to Brees. The team’s viability hinges on whether Coach Sean Payton can coax efficient quarterback play — and respectable ball security — from Jameis Winston over a full season. Either way, Winston is their best internal option, and he should benefit from playing behind a talented offensive line. Payton relishes the chance to put Winston and Taysom Hill on the field together. Good thing, too.The defense powered the Saints last year, and with their overall playmaking cast diminished — the star receiver Michael Thomas is out indefinitely as he recovers from ankle surgery — that unit might need to offset their offensive volatility.Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5)Key additions: RB Giovani Bernard, DE Joe Tryon, OT Robert HainseyKey departures: C A.Q. Shipley, LB Deone BucannonMoving some beads around the ol’ abacus, Tampa Bay’s front office performed a modern miracle in this salary-cap era: The Buccaneers managed to retain all 22 starters from the team that dusted Kansas City in the Super Bowl. Their roster, the best in the N.F.L., is loaded with absurd amounts of star power — from receiver Chris Godwin to linebackers Shaquil Barrett and Lavonte David — but also depth at every position except, perhaps, quarterback.That isn’t necessarily a problem, since Tom Brady is fated to start there until the sun collapses. Brady quarterbacked the last team to repeat as champions — the 2004 New England Patriots — and anything less than another title for Tampa Bay, which would be his eighth, would be a disappointment.— Ben ShpigelN.F.C. WestArizona Cardinals (8-8)Key additions: DE J.J. Watt, WR A.J. Green, RB James Conner, LB Zaven CollinsKey departures: CB Patrick Peterson, RB Kenyan DrakeIn two seasons, Coach Kliff Kingsbury has yet to lead the Arizona Cardinals to the playoffs. Should his team fail to reach the postseason in 2021, Kingsbury may be seeking employment elsewhere. The Cardinals return a talented roster led by quarterback Kyler Murray and receiver DeAndre Hopkins. They added veteran contributors on both sides of the ball by signing Watt and Green. Despite strong opposition in the division, any finish less than playing a game on Wild-Card weekend will be a disappointment.For the second season in a row, the Texans’ loss has been the Cardinals’ gain as J.J. Watt joined his former teammate DeAndre Hopkins in Arizona.Rick Scuteri/Associated PressLos Angeles Rams (10-6)Key additions: QB Matthew Stafford, WR DeSean Jackson, RB Sony Michel, WR Tutu AtwellKey Departures: S John Johnson III, CB Troy Hill, TE Gerald Everett, QB Jared GoffStafford’s arrival in Los Angeles dramatically elevates the Rams’ expectations as the team welcomes fans to its $5.5 billion stadium, which will host this season’s Super Bowl. The team returns a stout defense led by Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey, but any hope of a championship run depends on Stafford, whose 45,109 career yards rank fifth among active passers, but who, at 33, has not won a playoff game in three tries.Coach Sean McVay will look to unleash the offense behind Stafford and with Sony Michel, whom the team traded for to shore up a running back rotation that lost starter Cam Akers to a torn Achilles’ tendon before training camp.San Francisco 49ers (6-10)Key additions: QB Trey Lance, C Alex Mack, LB Samson EbukamKey departures: WR Kendrick Bourne, RB Tevin Coleman, DE Kerry Hyder Jr., CB Ahkello WitherspoonThe 49ers traded three first-round picks to the Miami Dolphins to draft Lance third overall this spring. He’ll eventually replace Jimmy Garoppolo, but how soon that transition occurs depends on Garoppolo’s health and Lance’s learning curve. Since Garoppolo has played a 16-game season only once with San Francisco, and Lance showed steady improvement in the preseason, figure on his time coming sooner than later.The team returns key starters to a defense that was decimated by injuries and boasts a potent rushing attack based on motion before the snap and passes behind the line of scrimmage.Seattle Seahawks (12-4)Key additions: TE Gerald Everett, OG Gabe Jackson, DT Robert NkemdicheKey departures: CB Shaquill Griffin, RB Carlos Hyde, DT Jarran ReedRussell Wilson, tired of continually being sacked by Aaron Donald and other pass rushers in the N.F.C. West, caused a stir this off-season by asking for more of a say in roster decisions. Despite the fracas, and that the team did not dramatically improve its offensive line, Wilson is back and trying to make it work in Seattle, where his chemistry with DK Metcalf resulted in 1,303 yards receiving, good for sixth among wideouts last season.In August, Seattle made Jamal Adams the highest-paid safety in the league with a four-year extension reportedly worth $70 million, in an effort to improve the defense, which allowed the 11th-most yards in the league.— Emmanuel Morgan More

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      N.F.L. Moves New Orleans Saints’ Season Opener to Jacksonville

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      As much of New Orleans remained without electricity in the wake of Hurricane Ida, the Saints’ Week 1 home game against the Green Bay Packers was relocated.The Saints will open their season in Jacksonville, Fla., as New Orleans recovers from Hurricane Ida, the N.F.L. said on Wednesday.The Saints will play the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 12, a Sunday, at TIAA Bank Field, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars.Though the Superdome, the team’s stadium in New Orleans, did not suffer major damage when Hurricane Ida swept through the region, nearly a million customers in Louisiana were still without power days after the storm tore through the state, causing flooding and knocking out power lines. Entergy, Louisiana’s largest utility, said on Wednesday that it could be days before electricity was fully restored in New Orleans and other Louisiana cities hit by Ida.Saints personnel and their families on Saturday relocated to North Texas before Ida’s arrival, holding practices at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys. Saints Coach Sean Payton said on Tuesday that the team would continue to train in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as New Orleans recovered from the storm. He said the region made sense because it had many Saints fans nearby, stadiums capable of hosting N.F.L. games and a major airport.“We’ve got enough fans in this area and Houston, and certainly from northern Louisiana, that we think that would be something that’s very realistic,” Payton said.The team moved practices to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, which has an indoor field and other training facilities. Doug Miller, a team spokesman, said the Saints’ training facility in Metairie, La., just outside New Orleans, received only superficial damage in the storm, and the team has allowed officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to use offices there.The decision to move the Saints’ first regular-season game came two days after Tulane announced that it would move its college football matchup on Saturday against Oklahoma to Norman, Okla., from New Orleans.By the time Tulane made its decision, the football team had evacuated to Birmingham, Ala., and seen its hopes for a Tuesday return to New Orleans dashed.“Obviously, that was wishful thinking,” Willie Fritz, the Tulane coach, said at a news conference this week after his team fled rain in Birmingham and practiced in Tuscaloosa, Ala. “It’s a very unfortunate situation. We feel for the people in New Orleans.”The university said Monday that it would decide in “the days ahead” how to handle planned home competitions in football and women’s volleyball. The football program is next scheduled to play in New Orleans on Sept. 11, while the volleyball team’s next home matches are scheduled for Sept. 17.“We’re like the Terminator: You’ve got to just point us in the right direction and we will go there,” said Fritz, who added that Tulane officials had been able to get onto campus to pick up equipment, including the Green Wave’s uniforms and cleats.The N.F.L. did not say whether future Saints home games would be moved. Their Week 2 and Week 3 matchups are road games. The Saints will play the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, N.C., and then the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass.The Saints’ second home game of the season is scheduled for Oct. 3 against the Giants.In 2005, the Saints played their entire regular season on the road after the Superdome was damaged during Hurricane Katrina and the city’s residents were displaced. The team opened the season at the Giants in East Rutherford, N.J., and played its remaining games at the Alamodome in San Antonio and Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, home of the Louisiana State football team. More

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      Drew Brees Retires, His Focus on the Details Until the End

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn Pro FootballDrew Brees Retires, His Focus on the Details Until the EndBrees, who won seven division titles as the Saints’ quarterback, including the most recent four, retired after 20 seasons with the most completions and passing yards in N.F.L. history.Drew Brees waved to fans after a playoff loss to the Buccaneers in the divisional round.Credit…Brynn Anderson/Associated PressMarch 14, 2021Updated 6:03 p.m. ETEvery great quarterback has a defining characteristic.Tom Brady, even at 43, still excels in big games. Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes, with their prodigious arms, complete throws others wouldn’t dare attempt. Peyton Manning, a presnap savant, could decode the most complex of defenses.Many will never come close to knowing what such excellence feels like, in any field. But when it comes to Drew Brees, another member of that exalted group of quarterbacks, trying to understand what distinguished him as he retired Sunday, exactly 15 years after he signed with the Saints — that feels a bit more accessible: Just grab a toothbrush and some toothpaste.“I’ve challenged people to do this before,” said Zach Strief, a former offensive tackle who helped protect Brees for 12 seasons in New Orleans. “Brush your teeth with 275 strokes tomorrow. Do it that many times, then try to repeat it for 20 years. That’s how he lives his life. His attention to detail is his superpower.”Over those 20 years, as Brees overcame a career-threatening shoulder injury to become one of the most statistically productive quarterbacks in N.FL. history, he trained his body and brain for optimal performance.Because he couldn’t dislodge his head from his shoulders to see over towering linemen, the 6-foot Brees often threw passes blind. “You just see a ball appear out of nowhere,” said the former receiver Lance Moore, who played eight seasons with Brees.Brees knew the coverage, the routes and where the ball was supposed to go, so it didn’t seem peculiar. It’s why every repetition in practice had to be perfect, and if it wasn’t, Brees and his receivers would stay after — communicating that need telepathically — until they aced it.Brees’s wife, Brittany, with their sons Bowen, left, and Baylen, middle, in 2012. Credit…Gerald Herbert/Associated PressHe reviewed the entire game plan after Saturday walk-throughs, drilling his cadence and progressions, dropping back without holding a ball, toiling alone in the Saints’ practice bubble. He arrived at the team’s training facility at 6 a.m. even if he played the night before. His wife, Brittany, would bring their children over at a certain time, and Brees would chase them around for a certain amount of time, and then they would leave at a certain time, so he could retreat to the darkness of the film room.“It’s unnerving at first to watch him as a young player, because you’re like, ‘Damn, how do I replicate this?’” said Marques Colston, a Saints receiver from 2006 to 2015. “It put you in a mode where you had to match his intensity.”Brees and Colston joined the Saints within weeks of each other in 2006. New Orleans drafted Colston that year, but Brees, after five seasons with the San Diego Chargers, chose the city. Identifying with its resilient spirit, he signed with the Saints to rebuild — his shoulder, his career, the organization, a region reeling from Hurricane Katrina.With those projects long complete, Brees, 42, leaves the game after 20 years of unbridling his superpower to maximum effect.“Over and above his outstanding performance, Drew came to represent the resolve, passion, and drive that resonates not only with Saints fans and football fans but our entire community,” Gayle Benson, the team’s principal owner, said in a statement.When Brees arrived, the Saints were a woebegone franchise coming off a 3-13 season in 2005, with one playoff victory in 39 years. Brees reached the N.F.C. championship game in his first year, delivered a Super Bowl in his fourth — beating the Hall of Fame quarterbacks Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Manning along the way — and won seven division titles, including in each of the last four seasons. He transformed the national perception of the Saints and recalibrated locals’ expectations of offensive proficiency.Brees celebrating with the Super Bowl trophy in February 2010. The Saints had one playoff win in 39 years before his arrival.Credit…Barton Silverman/The New York TimesWhen Brees arrived, New Orleans was recovering from the devastation wrought by Katrina, so much so that after Coach Sean Payton got lost while showing Brees around the area on his free-agent visit, driving past ravaged communities, he figured Brees would sign with Miami. Instead, Brees settled in Uptown New Orleans, restored a century-old home, and committed to raising millions of dollars to refurbish parks, schools and athletic fields.When Brees arrived, his surgically repaired right shoulder was still ailing, and all throughout training camp and into the preseason his passes wobbled. Some teammates wondered whether he would ever recover. Payton did, too.As Strief remembers it, Brees went to throw a 20-yard out route early in the Saints’ third preseason game, and his pass skipped 5 yards short of the receiver. Payton asked the quarterbacks coach, Pete Carmichael, who coached Brees in San Diego, “Is this as good as he gets?”“I remember standing there thinking, like, oh wow,” Strief, who was hired last month as the Saints’ assistant offensive line coach, said. “Like, asking myself: ‘He’s an N.F.L. quarterback. How is that possible?’”As Strief discovered, Brees progressed at his own pace. Meshing with Payton, he threw for 4,418 yards that season, the first of seven times he led the N.F.L. in that category. No one has completed more passes or thrown for more yards, and only Brady has thrown more touchdowns.Some of Brees’s totals are bloated by the era, facilitated by rules changes, schematic innovations and a short-passing ethos. But in many years, the Saints needed Brees to throw just to offset their horrific defenses: Each of the five times New Orleans finished in the bottom seven in scoring defense, Brees led the league in passing. Over the last four seasons, as the Saints leaned more on their running game and a strong defense, Brees reinvented himself, throwing (even) shorter passes and fewer interceptions, never reaching double digits in that statistic after throwing 15 in 2016.“You just knew the ball was going to be perfect coming from Drew Brees,” the former All-Pro cornerback Aqib Talib said in a telephone interview. “He’ll just find ways to kill you.”Brees became more reliant on short passes in his final four seasons.Credit…Sean Gardner/Getty ImagesConsistent as Brees was, sometimes that focus blinded him from change swirling around him. Long a vocal supporter of the military, he equated kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality with denigrating the flag.As civil unrest roiled the country last summer, and as the league and its players grew more proactive about addressing systemic racism and social injustice, Brees reiterated that he considered it disrespectful to kneel. His comments angered teammates past and present, many of whom were mystified that someone generally so aware could be so insensitive. Brees later apologized, saying his comments “missed the mark.”“It hurt — like, dang, Drew, really? No way,” Moore said. “But sometimes it takes a situation like that for somebody to grow. I’m not going to allow something like that to erase the history we had together. I had to help teach him a lesson, and I think it was a moment of reflection for him.”Brees had ample time to ponder his future after the last three seasons, which all ended with a playoff defeat at the Superdome. Eliminated by the Rams in the playoffs after the 2018 season after officials missed a pass-interference call against Los Angeles, and by Minnesota in overtime after the 2019 season, when he missed five games with a thumb injury, the Saints lost to Tampa Bay at home in the divisional round in January in part because the Buccaneers converted two of Brees’s three interceptions into touchdowns.That day Brees, already managing the aftermath of the 11 fractured ribs and punctured lung he sustained in Week 10, was also playing with — as revealed in an Instagram post Brittany Brees would make two days later — a torn fascia in his foot and a torn rotator cuff. Struggling to move the offense downfield against Tampa Bay, Brees passed for 134 yards, his fewest in 18 postseason games by far, and if it all seemed like a discordant conclusion to a career steeped in splendor, that’s because it was — but yet it still sort of misses the point.So much of the Brees mythology focuses on what he lacks, things out of his control — the prototypical height of a quarterback, an Elway-esque arm, a second championship to enhance his legacy — instead of what he is, what he has, what he could do. And over the last two decades, as the N.F.L. transitioned into a passing league, no one summoned his superpower better to fulfill the position’s elemental responsibility — throwing a football accurately and consistently — finer than he did.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      A New Outbreak Leaves a Broncos Rookie in an Awkward Position: Quarterback

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesWho Gets the Vaccine First?Vaccine TrackerFAQAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySaints 31, Broncos 3A New Outbreak Leaves a Broncos Rookie in an Awkward Position: QuarterbackReceiver Kendall Hinton was a last resort fill-in when four Denver Broncos quarterbacks were ruled ineligible to play in Sunday’s game because they’d been exposed to the coronavirus.Kendall Hinton was pressed into quarterback duties when four Denver Broncos passers were ruled ineligible because of exposure to coronavirus. He connected on one of nine passes in Sunday’s loss to the New Orleans Saints.Credit…Matthew Stockman/Getty ImagesBy More