South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Saints vs. Rams
NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Saints have what Rams want: Experience — and a victory — on the biggest stage. Stories,
Drew Brees is about to play his first game as a 40-year-old — and his biggest game in nine years.
When the Saints host the Rams in the NFC championship game Sunday in New Orleans, it will be the first time Brees, who turned 40 on Tuesday, has played for the conference title since the 2009 season. Brees turned 31 shortly before the Saints defeated the Vikings en route to the franchise’s lone Super Bowl.
One of the enduring images from that championship season was Brees standing next to his wife, Brittany, holding aloft their son, Baylen, who grasped at confetti floating around them.
Baylen was Brees’ first child, born on his father’s 30th birthday, and had recently turned 1 when the Saints beat the Colts in February 2010 in Miami.
Now Brees is a father of four — three boys and one girl, ages 4 to 10. They were all present on the sideline when Brees set the NFL record for career passing yards in Week 5, and Brees said after practice Wednesday that he has cherished the opportunity to share one of his best seasons with them.
“They’re so football-crazed right now,” Brees said. “That’s what makes this so much fun.”
Brees recounted that during some recent one-on-one time with his second child, Bowen, he asked his 8-year-old son what his favorite thing to do is.
“He said, ‘Go to the Saints facility with Dad,’ ” Brees said. “That kind of stuff is what memories are made of, and you want them to enjoy that as much as possible and give them those moments as much as possible.
“They love football. They love the Saints. They love our team. They love this season. We’re just trying to stay in the moment and enjoy it as much as we can.”
There has been plenty to enjoy. While leading the Saints to a 13-3 record and the No. 1 seed in the NFC, Brees broke NFL records for completions and passing yards. Through 18 regular seasons, he has completed 6,586 passes for 74,437 yards. His completion record surpassed Brett Favre’s 6,300. His passing yards eclipsed Peyton Manning’s 71,940. Brees’ 520 touchdown passes leave him 19 behind Manning — but also only three ahead of 41-year-old Patriots quarterback Tom Brady — for that record.
This season was not Brees’ most prolific but was his most efficient.
While Brees’ 3,992 passing yards were his fewest since he joined the Saints in
2006, his 74.4 percent completion rate broke his own NFL record of 72 percent set last season. His touchdown-to-interception ratio of 32-5 was the best of his career.
And after a slow start in a divisional playoff victory over the Eagles on Sunday, Brees finished 28 of 38 (73.7 percent) for
301 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
Brees connected on a number of tough throws, including first-down conversions to Michael Thomas on second-and-20 and
third-and-16 during a pivotal second-half touchdown drive.
The Saints did not have practice on Brees’ birthday, but he went to work anyway.
“A very normal day,” Brees said. “Come in early and get grinding on the film, get home in time for dinner and hang out with the kids and have a little cake, read bedtime stories and tell them to quit talking and laughing and go to bed.”
His wife had thrown a surprise party for her husband Sunday night after the divisional-round victory at a brewpub owned by former Saints right tackle and current radio play-by-play announcer Zach Strief.
Brees seemed to embrace the milestone birthday, enthusiastically donning a black baseball cap with a large No. 40 in gold numerals.
As with Brady, Brees’ teammates sometimes seem in awe of the discipline he demonstrates in maintaining health and fitness, as well as the work he puts in to studying game plans and opposing defenses, constantly refining his throwing mechanics and taking extra time after practice to develop chemistry and timing with receivers.
“He’s what you want to be as far as having someone to look up to, as far as having someone to emulate,” Ingram said. “Taking care of your body, eating right, community, on the field, father, family — he’s everything you want to be, man. He’s helped me grow a lot as a man, as a professional. I love him forever.”