There’s no better story in the NFL this year than Drew Brees, who goes head to head with Peyton Manning on Sunday in Indianapolis, down the road from the Purdue campus where Brees was the Big Ten player of the year in 1998 and 2000.
At the beginning of this season, he was a player on the outs with the San Diego Chargers, who had drafted Eli Manning, traded for Philip Rivers and shopped Brees until shortly before the October trading deadline.
On Sunday, he takes his 11-3 Chargers against Manning’s 11-3 Colts as the No. 2-rated passer in the AFC behind only Manning.
After throwing 29 touchdown passes and 31 interceptions in his first three seasons as a pro, Brees has 24 touchdown passes and only six interceptions this year. After the Chargers were picked last in the AFC West, they have clinched the title. After Brees was considered gone in February, he will be going to the Pro Bowl.
After the Chargers reconsider their options, Brees probably will be back in 2005 as skeptics wonder whether he’s a one-year wonder. But this is now, and Brees has a very good view of the top of the football world.
“There have been quite a few guys that have come up to me after games and said, `I’m really proud of you. I’m really happy for you. Good things happen to good people. You deserve it. Take them all the way,'” Brees said.
“A lot of people come up and say, `You’re a Pro Bowl quarterback. You’re going to lead this team to the championship. Y’all are going to win it all.’ That makes me feel good, just to know that.
“There are other people out there that have been through these types of situations, faced this type of adversity. So to be recognized and to know that people maybe have watched it a little bit as you progress and become more mature and experienced, it means a lot.”
Brees’ teammates started noticing when Brees began spending six to seven hours a day working and studying in the off-season. Two days after the draft, when Brees’ fate as an ex-Charger seemed sealed, Brees said he intended to take the Chargers to the playoffs and earn a spot in the Pro Bowl.
“A lot of guys could have gone in the tank and said, `I’m going to dog this organization,'” running back LaDainian Tomlinson said. “But Drew didn’t handle it like that. He handled it like a true professional.”
Said backup Doug Flutie: “Personally, it’s got to be a feeling of redemption and satisfaction for him. When they go draft a quarterback in the top round, they’re thinking he can’t get it done. And when you’re told that you can’t do something, it’s a great motivator.”
Tomlinson is the player the Chargers picked after trading the rights to quarterback Michael Vick to Atlanta in the 2001 draft. They got Brees at the top of Round 2 and figured the combination of Brees and Tomlinson would be better than Vick alone.
Pro Bowl fallout
If Bears center Olin Kreutz was surprised about making the Pro Bowl, consider Minnesota center Matt Birk.
Birk made only his 10th start Friday after battling a sprained ankle and having two surgeries to repair hernias. He missed the first three exhibition games because of his first hernia surgery. He returned, but it wasn’t long before he was hobbling because of a second hernia.
Then he sprained his ankle and missed all but the last few plays of the Vikings’ overtime victory over Houston in October. Finally, the pain of the second hernia became too great and he has missed the last four games after a second surgery.
Pro Bowl snubs
Unlike Kreutz and Birk, players are usually surprised when they don’t make the Pro Bowl. There were plenty in that category, starting with members of the NFC’s top-rated Washington Redskins defense.
Tackle Cornelius Griffin was their best player, and middle linebacker Antonio Pierce and cornerbacks Fred Smoot and Shawn Springs also felt left out.
“A few people on our team got robbed,” Pierce said. “If there’s anybody on our team I feel sorry for, it’s Grif.”
Said Springs: “I probably played better than any corner in the league. I can’t think of a guy who played better than me or Fred.”
One player who wasn’t surprised was New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, who went in 1998 and 2001 but predicted another snub despite his strong season.
“Just because I’m not trying to be buddy-buddy with everyone out there, they don’t vote for me?” Harrison said. “I’m out there playing football. I’m not there to make friends. It’s ridiculous.
“The same thing happens to me every year. One year in San Diego (2000) I had six picks, six sacks and [126] tackles, and still I didn’t go. It’s a joke.”
With two games left, the Marian Catholic grad and Markham native has 125 tackles, most among defensive backs and third most in the league, as well as three sacks, two interceptions and three forced fumbles.
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Grateful winner
Atlanta’s Pro Bowl defensive end Patrick Kerney is inviting the other eight defensive linemen and their families, position coach Bill Johnson, defensive assistant Dennis Allen and Kerney’s parents, four sisters, and six nieces and nephews to Hawaii, all on his dime.
Kerney estimates it could be about 37 people.
Said Kerney: “I know people are skeptical when I say that sacks are a team statistic, that it’s such a team game. But it is. If I was playing left defensive end with three chumps next to me, I wouldn’t be going to the Pro Bowl.
“You have to pay back all the guys that helped you get this honor.”
Bowl of brothers
Tiki and Ronde Barber are the seventh pair of brothers to be Pro Bowlers and the third in the same year. The others were Clay and Bruce Matthews in 1988-89 and Shannon and Sterling Sharpe in 1992-94. The others: Brian and Bennie Blades, Randall and Sam Cunningham, Jay and Joel Hilgenberg, and Larry and David Little.
C-Mart special
The Jets’ Curtis Martin leads the league with 1,511 yards rushing. At 31, he’s the oldest back to reach 1,500 yards, surpassing Walter Payton. Martin is 31 years 246 days. Payton was 31 years 150 days when he rushed for 1,551 in 1985.
Manning’s endorsement
The Colts’ offense is known for the Triplets of Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James and Marvin Harrison. Manning is lobbying for a quartet including receiver Reggie Wayne for “just being able to work that left side constantly during games. I know [Torry] Holt and [Isaac] Bruce did it a couple of years ago in St. Louis, but besides that, it hasn’t been very common for two receivers from one team to go. But I think Reggie has really had a Pro Bowl year.”
Thanks to Ravens
When the Steelers send Ben Roethlisberger, seeking his 12th straight victory, against Baltimore on Sunday, they will thank the Ravens for him.
In last season’s finale, Baltimore played all of its starters until the end in a meaningless game for the Ravens to beat the Steelers in overtime. With that loss, the Steelers moved up to No. 11 in the draft and got Roethlisberger. Then, on Sept. 19, the Ravens knocked out quarterback Tommy Maddox with an elbow injury, setting the stage for the Roethlisberger era to begin.
Biggest upset
Upsets happen any given weekend, but Monday night’s Miami victory over New England marked the first time a team has defeated another that had at least 10 more victories. The Dolphins entered at 2-11, the Patriots 12-1.