Drew Brees became an NFL Hall of Famer with his brain as much as his arm

Late in the first half of a Monday Night Football game against Washington during the 2018 season, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees walked to the line of scrimmage and surveyed the defense. The Saints faced a 1st-and-10 near midfield, with under three minutes to go in the first half.

Seconds later, wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith was in the end zone and Brees was atop the NFL record books in career passing yardage, and the reason why is one of the many reasons he will be enshrined in Canton later this week.

His ability to break down a defense in the blink of an eye.

Brees’ career arc is like many of those that end in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. An undersized prospect coming out of Purdue, where he shattered the school record books, he slid to the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft, coming off the board at pick No. 32 to the San Diego Chargers. He was the second quarterback taken overall, behind only No. 1 pick Michael Vick.

But it was his time in West Lafayette that put him on the path to Canton.

“Look, I was 6-foot, 170 pounds,” Brees said to the Associated Press about his early days. “I wasn’t really the prototype of anything in football.”

Because of that, Brees was not a highly recruited quarterback coming out of Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. Despite leading his team to a state title, and winning 5A Offensive Player of the Year, none of the major programs in state offered him a football scholarship, and Brees thought his professional path would be on the diamond, but not the gridiron.

But then a call came from Joe Tiller, who was taking over the Purdue program and looking to install a pass-heavy offense.

And looking for a quarterback.

“Had I gone to Texas, I would’ve handed the ball off to Ricky Williams; if I’d gone to A&M, I would’ve handed off to Dante Hall,” Brees said years later. “I go to Purdue and I’m throwing the ball 50 times a game.”

The numbers he put up in the Big Ten — where he is still fourth in career passing yards and fifth in career touchdown passes — opened the door to the NFL, despite the lack of prototypical size for a quarterback. Yet what allowed Brees to stay in the league for so many years, and rewrite both league and franchise history, was his mind. His ability to break down a defense in the blink of an eye, and punish the opposition for the slightest mistake.

Which brings us to that Monday night in question, and that career yardage record.

As noted above, the Saints faced a 1st-and-10 situation near midfield, and head coach Sean Payton called a variation of Four Verticals: “All Go Special X Shallow Cross.” Run out of a 3x1 formation, the concept pairs three vertical routes on one side of the field with a shallow crosser coming from the other side of the offense.

Payton at one time called it one of his favorite route concepts to call on social media.

This variant also tasked the running back, the dangerous Alvin Kamara, with running a swing route to the three-receiver side, in essence flooding the right side of the formation and stressing the defense in that direction. As the play begins, Brees flashes his eyes to the right, then sets his feet to throw to Kamara on the swing route.

But in that blink of his eye, he sees defenders start to squat underneath, leaving Smith breaking wide open on his vertical route. Brees resets, throws to his wide receiver along the sideline, and makes history:

To be sure, it is just one play, a snapshot in a lengthy career that spanned two different NFL organizations. One touchdown out of hundreds, and one completion out of thousands.

Yet, it speaks to what Brees did over his career, and how he finds himself headed to Canton this weekend.

“He was like [artificial intelligence],” said Payton, whom Brees selected as his presenter in Canton. “That ability to process fast -- like, elite fast -- is a really rare gift. He could just multitask comfortably.”

The pinnacle of Brees’ career came in New Orleans under Payton, where he not only delivered the only Super Bowl title in franchise history but helped the city and community rebound after Hurricane Katrina. It was a leap of faith for both player and team, as Brees was coming off a shoulder injury that ended his time with the Chargers. While the Miami Dolphins initially were his next destination, the team balked at his shoulder injury, and the Saints stepped in.

After going 3-13 the year before under Payton, New Orleans had nothing to lose, and took a chance on Brees.

The marriage worked. Payton gave Brees the offensive design he always wanted to run in the league, and the freedom to push the envelope as a passer and a quarterback. Brees was setting protections at the line of scrimmage, and calling plays himself when the team went up-tempo.

“He empowered me so much,” Brees said. “It made me that much more confident. And certainly I had that driving motivation to prove him right and to represent him.”

Brees and the Saints represented the NFC in Super Bowl XLIV, where they took on Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. New Orleans won that game 31-17, a contest most remembered for Payton’s bold decision to try a surprise onside kick to open the second half. The Colts led 10-6 at the half, with the Saints getting a 44-yard field goal just before the break to pull within four, and Payton wanted to try and steal an extra possession.

New Orleans recovered that surprise onside kick, and Brees connected with Pierre Thomas on a 16-yard touchdown pass minutes later to give the Saints a 12-10 lead. While Indianapolis regained the lead in the third quarter, the Saints scored the final 18 points of the game to win the franchise’s first — and only —Super Bowl title.

Brees was named the MVP of Super Bowl XLIV, completing 32-of-39 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns.

The quarterback was motivated to prove Payton right when the Saints acquired him. That motivation pushed Brees to a Super Bowl title, and comes full circle this weekend in Canton, Ohio.