Holidays Be Damned, Brees And The Bad-Form Saints Scrooge The Winless Lions In Pursuit Of Stats

Drew Brees must really hate the Miami Dolphins.

Heading into the 2001 draft, I thought the 'Fins had a great chance to land Purdue quarterback Drew Brees. Not only was Miami in dire need of a promising young signal-caller in the wake of Dan Marino's retirement, but Brees represented good value late in the first round as a polished, accurate passer who had proven his mettle in the Big 10, which way back then was a more-than-respectable football conference.

Long story short, Dave Wannstache decided that using a first-round pick on a zone cornerback so he could plug him in as a nickel corner in a man-to-man defense was a strong move, so he snared Jamar Fletcher from Wisconsin. Three years, two interceptions and six starts later, Fletcher was shipped off to San Diego for a nondescript quarterback named Cleo Lemon and a late-round draft pick. Adding insult to injury, Fletcher became teammates with one Drew Brees in San Diego.


Five years later, the Dolphins had a chance to right that wrong—for FREE. Not very often does a team get the equivalent of a do-over in the NFL, but in 2006, Miami had a shot to grab Brees in free agency, after the Chargers had decided to let him go in favor of NC State grad Philip Rivers. Brees was coming off a shoulder injury, but wanted to come to Miami, was willing to accept a fair offer and would require no compensation in the form of draft picks. Instead, in a mind-boggling move that was as ridiculous at the time as it looks now, new 'Fins coach Nick Satan Saban passed up on Brees in order to draft Daunte Culpepper, a fat, overrated, undisciplined, slow-learning quarterback coming off a horrific knee injury. As the cherry on top, Culpepper wanted a huge contract and his current team, the Minnesota Vikings, needed a precious second-round draft pick in return.

Hmmm. Accurate, young, intelligent quarterback with a good prognosis to return from his injury for less money and no draft picks or an inaccurate, unintelligent athlete with a bad prognosis to return for more money and a second-rounder? Well, the Nicktator chose poorly, which has become a metaphor for his life.

Now, Brees is in the midst of his fourth straight 4,000-yard season, and he's trying to stick it to the 'Fins again by waging a full-out assault on one of the game's most untouchable records—Miami legend "Dandy" Dan Marino's epic 5,084-yard performance in 1984 (he also has the No. 5 single-season yardage total of all-time) during what remains the greatest passing performance by the greatest quarterback in history.


By all accounts, Brees is a good guy, giving back to the hurricane-averaged New Orleans region and serving as an inspirational leader on a team that has long lacked one.

However.

The Saints and Brees have had their eye on Marino's record all season long, leading to a lot of garbage-time passing. Through 15 games, Brees has already thrown the ball 586 times—more than Marino's 564 for the entire '84 season. New Orleans has been an enormous disappointment, so this year has seen a lot of Brees throwing and throwing and throwing some more, even as the Saints trail by many points and backups should have been in the game.

The topper, however, came on Sunday, as Brees & Co. victimized the hapless Detroit Lions, who were on their way to their 15 straight loss without a victory this season. The Saints opened up an obviously insurmountable 42-7 lead halfway through the final quarter, sewing up an ignominious (I know what that means) record for the Lions, who became the first NFL team to ever go 0-15. With New Orleans also out of the playoff hunt, coach Sean Payton obviously put in his reserves and younger players to get some action, right?

No.

Instead, up five touchdowns with the clock winding down, Brees was still throwing passes. Yes, you read that right. As much grief as the Patsies took last year—and deservedly so—for running up the score on teams, the Saints shouldn't be off-limits, even though they're far from the spotlight. I mean, even that thing on his cheek was telling Brees it was time to shut it down and give his arm a rest for a while.


I wouldn't have blamed a member of the Lions for taking a late shot at Brees late in that contest, down 42-7 with the anchor of an 0-15 season already hanging around your neck. Then, the uproar would have been about how a Detroit player took out one of the game's stars instead of questions about why Brees is still rifling passes around the stadium for purely selfish and personal reasons. New Orleans's tactic is one used by UNC's Roy Williams, who tends to leave his star players on the court way too long in blowouts, opening them up for possible injury.

These coaches forget that while the opposition may not have talent, they do have pride. And usually, especially in the NFL, what comes around goes around. So kudos to Brees, who needs 401 yards next week against the Panthers to tie Marino's record. It seems pretty important to him to get a record in the wrong and meaningless way. One would think that a franchise that has been through such rough times—both on and off the field—of late would have a little humility in these situations, a little empathy for the plight of the Lions, a little sportsmanship for the good of the game.

But maybe not, right Saints?

Merry Christmas, Detroit. Sorry about that … and good luck getting that first win in your last game.

Some of us still realize that spirit and class can go a long way.