Steve Birnbaum, Paul Mencke…or Drew Brees??

Congrats to WHO DAT Nation after one heck of a Super Bowl!  The game had pretty much everything, from big plays to huge brass-balls-style coaching decisions to, at times, absolutely flawless QB play in the biggest game of the year.  I mean really, between both Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, there was like what, ONE mistake the entire game?  And the mistake cost the Colts the game in one of the biggest defensive plays in Super Bowl history, by the same guy in Tracy Porter who picked off Brett Favre’s last pass two weeks before in the NFC title game.

And let me also add this – two weeks ago, I came away from the NFC title game thinking that the better team didn’t win.  Minnesota outgained them almost 2-to-1 in total yards, and if it wasn’t for the avalanche of turnovers, we were going to be watching Favre vs. Manning for the whole thing.  But now, after watching last night and looking at the bigger picture, I no longer believe that.  This is the NFL, and there just isn’t any “fluke” way to win a Super Bowl.  It’s so damn hard, period.  Even with homefield advantage and a first round bye and all that comes with it, you STILL have to go out and earn it!  And I think about what the Saints just accomplished, not only winning their first title, but beating, in order, Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and now Peyton Manning?  Uh, yeah, you beat your ASS they earned it!

But why even write about this on a Coug blog?  Well, because of the Super Bowl MVP, Drew Brees.  First, his performance was unbelievable after a shaky first quarter.  Did you know he started the game just 3-for-7 in the opening quarter, but would finish up going 29-for-32 over the last three quarters?  And one of those incompletions in that stretch was a spike to stop the clock, the other was a drop by a Saints WR?  Simply unreal, in every sense of the word.  That stretch is better than Phil Simms, who is widely regarded as having the most efficient game from any QB in Super Bowl history with his 22-for-25 act back in ’86.  Brees tied the SB record with 32 completions, and set a record for completion percentage in the big game.  And all from a 6-foot QB with average-at-best arm strength who, by the way, completely tore his rotator cuff so badly in ’05 that it was detatched from the bone, where the bone actually broke THROUGH the skin!  Ewww.  But to come back all the way from that to reach the ultimate pinnacle in sports is truly remarkable.

And…..I admit it…..some man-tears from myself after seeing some of the post-game with Brees and his 1-year old son.  You could see him mouth the words “I love you little man” to his kid, fighting back tears, as everything was sinking in.  Just an amazing scene that I will never, ever forget.

Anyway, the real reason to write about Brees today?  HE WAS ALMOST A COUG! Well, OK, not “almost”.  He WANTED to be a Coug, but unfortunately, WSU just couldn’t find a scholarship for him at the time. 

I remember hearing about this a few years ago, that it was documented somewhere that Drew Brees was not only a Coug fan, even wearing around a Coug hat while attending Purdue.  But I couldn’t find the story.  So thanks to “DesMoinesCoug” at Cougfan’s message boards for finding the article back from 12/29/2000 at the Seattle P-I.com:

Brees wanted to be a Cougar.

He bought a Washington State hat. Still owns it. Still wears it. In fact, he has special dispensation to put it on whenever or wherever he wants on the West Lafayette, Ind., campus.

Drew Bledsoe was his hero. They shared a name and position.

Why not Wazzu?

“I remember seeing him in a bowl game and I thought he was a great player,” Brees said of Bledsoe, the NFL’s top overall draftee in 1993. “We had the same first name. I kind of identified with him. I know it sounds kind of stupid.”

Dumber yet was WSU’s response after the quarterback’s family contacted the Pac-10 school.

“I think it was obvious that someone said, ‘We don’t have a scholarship for you,'” Brees said. “I know I was interested in Washington State.”

Damn.

Not to totally shove Mike Price under the bus here.  Honestly, Price hit so many home runs in recruiting that I’ve lost count.  Two Rose Bowls in a five year stretch, a #1 draft choice at QB, some tremendous defensive players, three bowl wins, etc.  And Brees didn’t jump off the screen with his measurables either, no matter how good his numbers were as he was ready to go to college.  Not tall, not fast, not a great arm.  But Jason Gesser showed that you don’t need to be 6-5, 230 to be able to execute the one-back offense to perfection.  And you think about it, Brees would have been the perfect QB, after Ryan Leaf and preceding the Jason Gesser era.  Instead, we got a few years of Steve Birnbaum, Paul Mencke and a whole lot “poop island” talk.  Oh well.

Drew Brees, one who got away from Coug Nation.  Who knew?

All for now.  Enjoy your Monday, and of course, GO COUGS!