February 3
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said there is "no doubt in my mind" that his long-term contract with the Saints will be worked out before the start of free agency March 13. Although the Saints could use the franchise tag on Brees to maintain some exclusive negotiating rights, Brees said Thursday it's important for both sides to get his deal done so they can focus their resources on other priority free agents, including guard Carl Nicks and receivers Marques Colston and Robert Meachem."
February 2
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said there is "no doubt in my mind" that he will work out a long-term contract with the Saints before the start of free agency March 13. Although the Saints could use the franchise tag on Brees to maintain some exclusive negotiating rights to him, Brees said Wednesday that it's important for both sides to get his deal done so they could focus their resources on other priority free agents, including guard Carl Nicks and receivers Marques Colston and Robert Meachem. "Yes, yes, absolutely," Brees said when asked if it's personally important to him to get the deal done in that timetable. "My goal, and I know just from my conversations with (Saints"
February 2
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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Saints quarterback Drew Brees capped off a record-setting season by winning the FedEx Air Player of the Year Award on Wednesday at Super Bowl XLVI. Brees beat out Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers and New England's Tom Brady for the honor, which is based on fan voting. It's the fourth time Brees has won the award since its inception in 2003. He also was honored in 2006, 2008 and 2009."
January 31
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the most marketable player in the NFL, according to an exclusive survey of sports business execs, analysts and media personalities conducted by SportsBusiness Daily. The Super Bowl XLV MVP edged out Patriots QB Tom Brady, with three other QBs - the Colts' Peyton Manning, the Saints' Drew Brees and the Broncos' Tim Tebow - rounding out the top five. Rodgers was named on 41 of 50 ballots, five more than either Brady or Manning. However, Brady did receive 15 first-place votes compared to 12 for Rodgers."
January 26
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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The New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees (No. 1), Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers (No. 2) and New England Patriot's Tom Brady (No. 3) top the Bloomberg Businessweek/Horrow Sports Ventures 2012 Power 100 ranking of the most powerful professional athletes in the U.S. To determine who the 100 most powerful athletes are on- and off-the-field going into 2012. As the business of sports continues to grow, endorsement contracts increasingly impact players, teams, and the industry. These contracts take into consideration many of the same factors as the Power 100 ranking - performance, name awareness, appeal, influence, trustworthiness and overall popularity, among other things. Social media, for"
January 24
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis had this to say Monday about the free agency of quarterback Drew Brees. Loomis said negotiations, put on hold at Brees' request during the season, had not yet recommenced but he expects they will soon. "I don't think that there's any additional pressure," he said. "This is a player we value a lot, more than any other player in the history of our team. I don't know that pressure is the right word. We want to get him signed. We made an effort with Drew prior to last season, even at the beginning of last season. I understand his desire to table that until after the season and hopefully we can get going right away and get that buttoned up. It"
January 22
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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It should be a busy post-season for New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees in terms of the award banquet circuit. He is poised to rake in a ton of those, even if the one he wanted most eluded him. Like all truly great players, Brees would trade all such hardware in a heartbeat to once again hoist the Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl champion. But that won't happen for the Saints next month, so Brees will have to settle for various awards recognizing his record breaking 2011 season in which, among other things, he shattered the mark for passing yardage in a season that had stood since Dan Marino in 1984. The NFL players union, of which Brees is a director, launched the post-season award"
January 21
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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Saints quarterback Drew Brees echoed the words of coach Sean Payton on Friday, saying that he too would be "beyond stunned" if he's not back in New Orleans next season. Brees is set to become an unrestricted free agent March 13, but he said he hopes his agent, Tom Condon, and the Saints will be able to hammer out a deal sooner. "Really the sooner the better," Brees said Friday during a conference call with the New Orleans media. "Now here we are at the end of the season, and it's time to pick up discussions again, obviously once we all get a chance to step away and decompress and let this season kind of settle. But I've had conversations with (Saints General Manager) Mickey Loomis and my"
January 21
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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With coaching changes already occurring and more possibly on the horizon for the Saints, quarterback Drew Brees addressed the situation Friday. Brees employed one of his favorite words to describe the hiring of former St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo, 52, as Greg Williams' replacement as defensive coordinator, labeling it "awesome." Spagnuola's Rams beat the Saints 31-21 in Week 8 this season, and Brees joked that game -- perhaps the Saints' worst offensive performance in the past two years -- flashed through his mind when he learned Spagnuolo and he were now essentially teammates. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em -- or have him join you," Brees joked Friday. "We recognize his"
January 20
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees echoed the words of Coach Sean Payton on Friday, saying that he too would be "beyond stunned" if he's not back in New Orleans next season. Brees is set to become an unrestricted free agent but said he hopes his agent Tom Condon and the Saints will be able to hammer out a deal sooner than later. "Now here we are at the end of the season and it's time to pick up discussions again, obviously once we all get a chance to step away and decompress and let this season kind of settle," Brees said Friday during a conference call with the New Orleans media. "But I've had conversations with (Saints General Manager) Mickey Loomis and my agent and at some point"
January 20
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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First, my glass-is-half-empty view on the New Orleans Saints' offseason: They're facing the scariest free-agent period in franchise history. Although the Saints have thrived despite losing some valuable players in recent years, they've never lost one as important to the team as Drew Brees, Carl Nicks or Marques Colston. These guys are different. They're the elite of the elite, and they can't be easily replaced. Now, my glass-is-half-full prediction: I think the Saints will keep all three of them. It won't be easy. Although it's practically guaranteed that Brees will stay, the Saints might have to use their franchise tag on him. And Nicks and Colston certainly will attract a long line of"
January 18
New Orleans Times-Picayune
columnist Jeff Duncan
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Coach Sean Payton spent a large portion of his annual season-ending Saints news conference Tuesday talking about improvement. His goal this offseason, as it is every January, is to improve the team in every phase: offense, defense, special teams and coaching. That will be a tall order this year. A Jimmy Graham-like tall order."
January 13
New Orleans Times-Picayune
columnist Peter Finney
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As Tiger Nation remains in a deep state of mourning, we wait to see if Who Dat Nation can keep marchin' on. Keep in mind, there are all kinds of marches. In the case of LSU, the game plan, in military jargon, seemed to be: "About-face, to the rear march." There are times, even in the worst of blowouts, the losing team enjoys a moment or two. In a little more than three hours, in a 21-0 loss to Alabama, the Tigers had one. They blocked a field goal. Obviously, Les Miles was roundly out-coached. Nick Saban figured, correctly, the Tigers would try to run the ball right at the Bama defense, which they had done with some success in a 9-6 overtime victory in November. Not this time."
January 11
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees' attitude about playing in San Francisco on Saturday sounds like a twist on the unofficial motto of the U.S. Post Service: "Neither wind nor grass nor a feisty 3-4 defense can stop this high-powered passing attack." ... Or something like that. Brees admitted that the Saints will be facing perhaps their stiffest challenge of the season when they play the 49ers, both because of the hostile environment and equally-hostile opponent. But he hardly backed down from the challenge."
January 5
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is the NFC's offensive player of the month for December 2011, according to a league source. The formal announcement will be made by the league tomorrow."
January 4
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees' uniform and cleats from Week 16 were put on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday to commemorate the night he broke Dan Marino's record for passing yards in a single season. Brees said he was happy to oblige when the Hall of Fame made the request, but he kept some mementos for himself as well. Brees said he gave the ball that actually broke the record to someone, though he kept that personal. He said he also kept some balls from last week's game, which helped him raise the new mark to 5,476. He'll have two of them painted up for his sons Bowen and Baylen."
December 30
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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As you may have heard, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees set the NFL record for passing yards in a single season on Monday night. But that's not all he did. With his 307 yards and four touchdowns against the Atlanta Falcons, Brees moved up the all-time NFL charts in both categories. He passed Johnny Unitas on the yardage chart and now ranks 12th all-time with 40,353 passing yards. He passed both Joe Montana and Vinny Testaverde on the touchdown chart and now ranks ninth all-time with 276 passing touchdowns."
December 29
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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On the back of his 4-touchdown performance Monday night against the Atlanta Falcons, a game in which he broke Dan Marino's NFL record for passing yardage in a season, Saints quarterback Drew Brees is the NFC's offensive player of the week, the league announced Wednesday."
December 29
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton said his team will play to win on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. He said he will not bench any starters for the regular-season finale. "We're going full speed ahead," said Payton, who said he doesn't even plan to pay attention to the score of the San Francisco 49ers-St. Louis Rams game, which will be played at the same time."
December 27
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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On the night after Christmas, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees broke an NFL record that had stood for nearly three decades, and New Orleans beat its archrival Atlanta 45-16 to clinch the fifth division crown in franchise history. The victory keeps the Saints (12-3) in the hunt for the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs, and its convincing nature offered further evidence no team in football is more explosive than New Orleans. The Saints, undefeated at home this season, have now won seven in a row. All of those heartwarming holiday milestones the team reached paled, however, to Brees breaking Dan Marino's record of 5,084 passing yards in a season. Brees threw for 307 yards in the game,"
December 23
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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Three years ago, when New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees became only the second quarterback in football history to throw for more than 5,000 yards in a season, he spoke with the first one to do so and the only one to ever throw for more than Brees, Dan Marino. The topic, understandably, was Marino's single-season yardage record of 5,084, which has stood since 1984. "We talked about it after the '08 season," Brees recalled Thursday. "And at the time it was kind of just like, OK, we made our run at it, and the chances of that happening again are probably really, really slim.""
December 19
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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Every once in a while, a game just starts to derail in the NFL, and it was happening to the Saints during the first 16 minutes Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings: A fumble, a dropped pass that led to a punt, a penalty that nullified a touchdown, a botched snap for another fumble. Yet none of it seemed to matter for a Saints team that has become a runaway train with six consecutive victories. They eventually routed the Vikings 42-20 behind one of the best performances of quarterback Drew Brees' career. Brees became the first quarterback in NFL history to complete 80 percent of his passes (32 of 40) while throwing for 412 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions."
December 19
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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A month ago it seemed a foregone conclusion that Aaron Rodgers would win the NFL's Most Valuable Player award. But Drew Brees might just be passing his way back into the race. Make no mistake, Rodgers remains the overwhelming favorite to win the league's most prestigious individual award, and at this point, it would take an epic meltdown for the Packers' quarterback to lose it. But as we enter the season's final fortnight, Brees is making a furious late push for consideration. His numbers are simply too overwhelming to be ignored. Sunday was another monster, record-setting passing day for Brees as the Saints mauled Minnesota 42-20 at Mall of America Field. He completed 32 of 40 passes for"
December 16
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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Drew Brees said his contract talks with the New Orleans Saints have been tabled until after this season so he can keep his focus on the playing field. Brees, 32, is due to be a free agent after this season, though the Saints can maintain rights to him through the franchise tag. "You know, I didn't want it to become a distraction," Brees said of the decision that was quietly made sometime in the past month. "And from the discussions we had, going back and forth, there was no progress really being made. I really wanted to just focus on football. "It's been tabled for now ... and just hopefully will resume when the time is right.""
December 8
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was asked for his thoughts on fellow New Orleans sports icon Chris Paul and his desire to leave for a bigger market. Brees spoke highly of the New Orleans Hornets guard but didn't really address the trade talk. "I've had a chance a few times to be around Chris," Brees said. "My experience around him is awesome. I love watching him playing the game of basketball. I think he's certainly one of the best point guards in the league. You can tell he's a leader and guys follow. He has so many intangibles that you recognize just by watching him play the game. You compare the point guard position to the quarterback on a team."
December 1
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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The New Orleans Saints offensive line, along with every other unit, turned in an ugly performance in week 8 at St. Louis. The previously winless Rams hounded quarterback Drew Brees all afternoon, sacking him six times while handing New Orleans a 31-21 loss. In the three games since, Brees has not been sacked once. Not coincidentally, New Orleans is on a 3-game win streak. Payton said the team made improved protection a point of emphasis after the Rams game. More broadly, the offense rededicated itself to doing better on first and second downs, avoiding down and distance situations that put the unit and Brees at a disadvantage."
November 29
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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For Drew Brees, for Sean Payton's New Orleans Saints, it was an impressive message. There were two ways of looking at a 49-24 rub-out of the New York Giants that ended with Mark Ingram strolling 35 yards down the sideline into the end zone. Yes, the now 8-3 Saints oozed the confidence of a ball club prepared to wage holy war in a drive to the upper echelon of post-season play. Also yes, the manner in which the now 6-5 Giants were soundly whipped was the kind of whipping that not only dampened the team's playoff hopes, but could also wind up costing Coach Tom Coughlin his job. The Giants had no answer for Brees, who passed for 363 yards and four touchdowns and ran for a fifth."
November 21
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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Hot off his Thursday (Nov. 17) appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," Drew Brees will appear on Monday's (Nov. 21) episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," scheduled to air at 3 p.m. on WDSU. Brees' wife Brittany will also appear. Among the topics discussed in the pre-taped appearance will be the Penn State scandal, according to a news release by the show."
November 20
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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When Drew Brees ended up 15 yards short of Dan Marino's single-season passing yardage record in 2008, he figured he'd never get close again. The Saints' offense was just too "lopsided" that year, Brees said, finishing first in the NFL in passing but 28th in rushing. And worst of all, New Orleans finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs. This year might be the perfect storm, though. This time, the wins are piling up along with the passing yards for the Saints (7-3). And they aren't quite as unbalanced, with a running game that has been inconsistent but showing signs of improvement. The key is that the Saints are gaining a ton of yards. Not only is Brees on pace to shatter Marino's record, but"
November 20
New Orleans Times-Picayune
columnist Jeff Duncan
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Only two players in NFL history have passed for more than 5,000 yards in a season. Dan Marino set the NFL record with 5,084 yards in 1984. Drew Brees made a bold run at Marino's mark in 2008, memorably falling 15 yards short when his pass to Lance Moore fell incomplete on the game's final play in the season finale against the Panthers. It says something about this pass-happy NFL season that three quarterbacks are on pace to eclipse the hallowed 5,000-yard threshold. Brees, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers all have Marino's mark in their crosshairs. Brady has passed for 3,032 yards in nine games. Rodgers has 2,869 yards in nine games. Brees has 3,326 in 10. While Brady, with an average of 336.8"
November 17
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees ranks seventh overall and second among NFC quarterbacks in the fan portion of this year's Pro Bowl balloting. Jimmy Graham ranks first among all NFC tight ends, and Roman Harper ranks first among NFC strong safeties. Balloting will continue online at NFL.com/probowl through Monday, December 19. Fan votes are combined with votes by players and coaches to determine the final rosters for the game, which will take place in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Sunday, January 29, 2012."
November 16
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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Coming off a near flawless performance against the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has once again been nominated as FedEx Air Player of the Week. Fans have until 12 p.m. EST Friday to go to www.NFL.com/FedEx to vote for their choice. Brees completed 30 of 43 passes for 322 yards and two touchdowns in the Saints 26-23 overtime victory that put New Orleans at 7-3 for the season and atop the NFC South entering the team's bye week."
November 11
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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The NFL Players Association released a statement from New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and the NFLPA regarding their proposal for human growth hormone testing. According to the statement, Brees noted that the player and NFL officials should institute a program together. "This is our joint program, not just the NFL's," Brees said in the statement. "The Players have proposed a comprehensive program that is both fair and protects the integrity of the game." Following is the full NFLPA statement on HGH: "The Players of the National Football League are unequivocally committed to ensuring that football is played by men who do not use performance-enhancing drugs. The health and safety of"
November 3
New Orleans Times-Picayune
"
At the midpoint of the New Orleans Saints' season, two things are clear about the offense: It has not been as consistently good as it needs to be, and the players are glad their final grades haven't been set. Several players said Wednesday the team's embarrassing loss at St. Louis last Sunday had colored the offense's production, that things are not as bad as they seemed. But all of them acknowledged a handful of poor performances has turned what could have been an outstanding record at the halfway point into a barely acceptable 5-3."
October 28
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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The Drew Brees contract talks have been awfully quiet over the past month or so, with New Orleans Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis and Brees' agent Tom Condon having agreed to disagree for the time being. The two sides will likely touch base this weekend, though, since Condon's home base is St. Louis, where the Saints are traveling to play the St. Louis Rams."
October 26
New Orleans Times-Picayune
"
Going back as far back as he could, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees says he had never been a part of anything quite like what happened Sunday night in New Orleans' 62-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. Nothing with his former team, the San Diego Chargers, nothing in college at Purdue and not even an 84-0 victory back at Westlake High School in West Lake Hills, Texas. But there is a reason Sunday night was so special."
October 25
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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Football players and coaches are creatures of habit. Sean Payton has his Juicy Fruit gum. Drew Brees has his beefy mac. Payton said Brees always eats a heaping helping of beefy macaroni casserole at the team training table on the eve of games. One problem: the new hotel the New Orleans Saints stayed at Saturday night did not receive the memo. Or more accurately, according to Payton, they just dropped the proverbial ball and failed to fulfill the order. They did the same with the lasagna dish Payton habitually eats on the night before games."