Chip Brees played basketball for the Texas A & M Aggies men's basketball team, and his grandfather, Ray Akins, had the third-most victories as a Texas high school football coach.

Brees ' college success led to projections that he would be a mid-to-late first round draft pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, but he slipped due to concerns about his relatively short stature for a professional quarterback ( 6 ' 0 "), a perceived lack of arm strength, and a sense that he had succeeded in college in a spread offense.

Brees became a free agent after the season and was not expected to return to San Diego, which had already committed a large sum of money to Rivers.

Brees had a productive first year with the Saints.

In 2008, the Saints again missed the playoffs but Brees had a strong year statistically, finishing 15 yards short of the NFL record for passing yards thrown in a single season set by Dan Marino in 1984.

In 2009 he appeared in all 16 games as the holder on the Saints place-kicking unit, and saw his first playing time at quarterback in 3 years during a week 17 loss to the Carolina Panthers, as the Saints had already clinched homefield advantage and rested starter Drew Brees, as well as many other starters.

Similarly, during the 2011 Saints 63-7 victory, while the margin of victory was very large and the game was almost beyond doubt at half-time, Drew Brees had thrown a below his average number of yards.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington, who suffered two tears to his rotator cuff and has undergone as many surgeries to repair it, is often compared to Cook because their injuries are so similar ; his injury was also similar to that suffered by New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who had surgery on his rotator cuff after the 2005-06 season and finished the following season as an All-Pro quarterback.

After a close win in San Francisco, they went 3-3 down the stretch as Drew Brees threw several interceptions and Garrett Hartley ( the hero of the 2009 postseason ) suffered multiple missed field goals that resulted in his being temporarily benched in favor of John Carney, a former kicker who had first played in the NFL back in 1988.

Drew Brees completed a postseason-record 39 passes for 404 yards and two touchdowns.

Westlake went 28-0-1 when Brees started for two seasons and beat Abilene Cooper High School 55-15 in the 1996 title game.

Under the terms of the franchise player contract, Brees was eligible to be traded or sign with another team, but the Chargers would receive two future first round draft choices in return.

Though he completed 27 of 49 passes for 354 yards against the Chicago Bears, and two touchdowns, Brees committed three costly turnovers, and was penalized for an intentional grounding in the endzone, resulting in a safety, as the Saints lost 39 – 14.

The next week, Brees threw for 308 yards on 25 of 33 passing along with two touchdowns and one interception in leading the Saints to a 35 – 27 victory and franchise tying best start at 7 – 0 against the rival Atlanta Falcons.

The Saints then lost their last two games, with Brees sitting out the week 17 finale against Carolina.

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, who completed 32 of 39 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns, was named the Super Bowl MVP.

In the second quarter, Brees added two more touchdown passes, one to Henderson on a flea flicker and the other to Colston that was set up by a Will Smith interception, giving them a 35 – 14 first half lead before adding 10 more points in the second half on a Hartley field goal and Bush's 83-yard punt return.

Drew Brees was named Super Bowl MVP for tying a Super Bowl record by completing 32 of 39 passes, with 288 passing yards and two touchdowns.

On December 10, 2006, Henderson caught two passes from Drew Brees for 92 yards and one touchdown, as the Saints defeated the favored Dallas Cowboys 42 – 17 on NBC Sunday Night Football.

The start of the game looked bleak for the Saints as they quickly went down 13-0, but Drew Brees led a comeback, throwing for 353 yards and two TDs as the Saints came back to win a shootout 34-27.

As a high school football player, Brees completed 314 of 490 passes ( 64. 1 percent ) for 5, 461 yards with 50 touchdowns including, in his senior season, 211 of 333 passes ( 63. 4 percent ) for 3, 528 yards with 31 touchdowns.

The following season Brees passed for 4423 yards and tied a then team record with 28 touchdowns.

Drew Brees totaled 371 yards passing, posting a perfect passer rating of 158. 3, and is the only person to throw for five touchdowns against a team coached by Bill Belichick.

Brees completed 17 of 31 passes for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Brees also set a new Saints franchise record for passing touchdowns in a season with 46.

In week 2, Drew Brees defeated the Chicago Bears during the Saints's home-opener for the first time in his career as a starting quarterback, with 270 yards, 3 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Brees became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 5 touchdowns, 400 + yards, and a completion percentage of 80 % in a game.

Brees threw for 339 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions.

That year, only his second season in the NFL, Gates became quarterback Drew Brees ' favorite target, finishing the season with 81 receptions for 964 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Brees finished the season as the NFL's top rated quarterback ( 109. 6 ), completing an NFL-record 70. 6 % of his passes for 4, 338 yards and 34 touchdowns, with just 11 interceptions.

Bush racked up 217 all-purpose yards, while Brees threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns.

Brees completed 31 of 42 passes for 319 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 1 interception.

New Orleans proceeded to go for the franchise record as Drew Brees threw 5 TD passes in a 62-7 demolition of their opponent. The saints held most points in a game and Drew Brees held most passing touchdowns in a game.

Manning's Colts defeated the Chargers in 1998 and 1999, but in 2004 with Leaf long gone from the game the revamped Chargers behind Drew Brees erupted into playoff contention ; on December 26 with both teams at 11-3 the Colts hosted the Chargers with Manning close to matching Dan Marino's touchdown record ; the Chargers stormed to a 31-16 lead, but Dominic Rhodes ' kickoff return put the Colts within eight points, then with one minute remaining Manning rifled a 21-yard touchdown to Brandon Stokley, breaking Marino's record ; the two-point try succeeded, then after Brees was intercepted the game went to overtime and the Colts won 34-31 on a field goal.

" Seven people testified, 2 sworn affidavits ( one by Drew Brees ) all saying the same thing.

Warner and Green's combined gross passing yard total was 5, 492, which, if held by just one player, would surpass the single-season record held by Drew Brees ( 5, 476 yards ).

In 2011, Drew Brees broke Dan Marino's 27 year-old record for most passing yards in one season ( 5, 084 ) in the 15th game of the season ( week 16 ) against the Atlanta Falcons at home in New Orleans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with a TD pass to Darren Sproles.

With the 79 yard TD pass to Devery Henderson in the 2nd quarter, Brees extended his streak of games with at least one passing TD to 29, which is 1 game behind Dan Marino and 7 behind Brett Favre, who both have 30 and 36 games with at least one TD pass thrown respectively.

In week 3 against the Houston Texans, Brees threw 3 touchdown passes to extend his streak to 30 games with at least one passing TD, tying Dan Marino.

In week 7 against the Indianapolis Colts, Brees threw 5 touchdown passes to extend his streak to 34 games with at least one passing TD.

He was the third-string quarterback behind Drew Brees and Mark Brunell for one game against the Denver Broncos.

" Seven people testified, 2 sworn affidavits ( one by Drew Brees ) all saying the same thing.

The NFC made one final drive late in the game, but Vick was intercepted ( the third pick of the game for the AFC ) by Nate Clements, and Drew Brees kneeled to end the game.