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.

Additionally, Gates was on the receiving end of a 33 yard pass from teammate Drew Brees in a flea-flicker play selected by fans online.

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.

In week 16 against the Atlanta Falcons, on 12 / 26 / 2011 at 10: 35 pm New Orleans time at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Brees broke Dan Marino's long standing record of passing yards in a year of 5, 084 with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Darren Sproles with just under 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter of the game.

Brees signed a 6-year, $ 60 million deal with the Saints on March 14, 2006.

" Brees immediately issued another statement to clarify, " My WMD comment has nothing to do with politics or our brave military.

Brees has been selected to the Pro Bowl six times in his career – with the Chargers in 2004 and the Saints in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Brees is the only quarterback in NFL history to reach 400 + yards passing in consecutive playoff games, which he has done in three straight postseason games ( 2010 vs. Seattle ; 2011 vs. Detroit ; 2011 vs. San Francisco ).

Brees has the highest career completion percentage among all quarterbacks in NFL history with at least 2, 500 + attempts – 65. 94 %.

Brees is currently tied all-time with consecutive games with at least 1 TD pass – 47 ( 2009 – present ), with Johnny Unitas, who threw a touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games ( between 1956 – 1960 ), a record which has remained unsurpassed for 52 years.

With his first win over the Bears, Brees has defeated all NFL teams except the Baltimore Ravens.

Johnny Unitas has the all time record with 47 straight games with a TD pass, but Brees streak is the fourth-longest in the NFL since 1950.

Brees has not been held without a TD pass since Week 4 of the 2009 season, a 24-10 home win over the New York Jets.

With that TD pass, Brees tied Johnny Unitas ' consecutive game streak with at least 1 TD pass which has stood unbroken for more than 52 years.

Purdue has traditionally been called the ' Cradle of Quarterbacks ', having produced NFL stars Cecil Isbell, Dale Samuels, Bob DeMoss, NFL Hall of Famer and Super Bowl MVP Len Dawson, NFL Hall of Famer Bob Griese, Mike Phipps, Gary Danielson, Mark Herrmann, Scott Campbell, Jim Everett, Eric Hunter, Billy Dicken, Kyle Orton and Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees.

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.

Brees, whose contract expired at the end of that season, left the team and would sign with the New Orleans Saints.

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.

Brees evaluated the incentive-based offer as a sign of no confidence by the Chargers and promptly demanded the salary a top 5 " franchise " quarterback would receive.

Miami was unsure if Brees ' shoulder was completely healed and doctors suggested the team not sign him because of the injury.

He received 27 of the 50 votes cast, finishing far ahead of the 8. 5 votes received by second-place finisher Drew Brees.

For middle school, he attended St. Andrew's Episcopal School, where he was friends and teammates with future Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees.

To continue his education and improve his ability to pursue reasoned business ventures and opportunities, Brees also attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business for NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurship in 2008.

He threw for 3, 969 yards, a then-franchise record 35 touchdown passes with only 10 interceptions, completed an 70. 28 percent of his passes — the highest completion percentage of the 1990s, third all-time, and at the time, the best completion percentage by any quarterback with more than 400 attempts ( later eclipsed by Drew Brees in 2009 ).

Many famous athletes have been featured in the series, including Rob Ray, Andre Agassi, Ray Allen, Michael Andretti, Carmelo Anthony, Gilbert Arenas, Lance Armstrong, Paul Bearer, Rich Beem, Drew Bledsoe, King Kong Bundy, Bill Bradley, Drew Brees, Kobe Bryant, Mark Buehrle, Kurt Busch, Jennifer Capriati, Brandi Chastain, Chris Chelios, Roger Clemens ( who was in 5 of them, the most of any athlete ), Sidney Crosby, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Carl Edwards, Roger Federer, Kevin Garnett, Ozzie Guillén, Mia Hamm, Jim Harbaugh, Evander Holyfield, Tim Hudson, LeBron James, Keyshawn Johnson, Roy Jones Jr., Jim Kelly, Alexi Lalas, Bobby Labonte, Lennox Lewis, Mark McGwire, Shawn Micheals, Gheorghe Muresan, Dwyane Wade, Steve Nash, Candace Parker, Chris Paul, Gaylord Perry, Adrian Peterson, Michael Phelps, Mary Lou Retton, Ben Roethlisberger, Tony Romo, Pete Sampras, Maria Sharapova, Andriy Shevchenko, Jerry Stackhouse, Kerri Strug, Fernando Vargas, Adam Vinatieri, Shaun White, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Tiger Woods, David Wright, Alexander Ovechkin, and The Undertaker.

First, they signed free agent quarterback Drew Brees, who would go on to throw for more passing yards than any other quarterback over the next four seasons.

Brees nearly played for the Miami Dolphins, but the team's doctors doubted whether Drew's arm could recover in time for the season.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, a former teammate of Flutie's, executed a drop kick late on an extra point attempt in the fourth quarter of the 2012 Pro Bowl ; the kick fell short.

The Saints, under rookie head coach Sean Payton and new quarterback Drew Brees, defeated the Falcons 23-3, and would go on to notch the second playoff win in franchise history.

Drew Brees ended the 2008 season just 16 yards short of beating Dan Marino's single-season record of 5084 total passing yards.

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

To cap off the season, quarterback Drew Brees broke the single season passing record held for over 25 years, on the way to a Saints division winning game.

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

Saints All-Pro quarterback Drew Brees made a controversial tweet on June 20, 2012 stating, " If NFL fans were told there were " weapons of mass destruction " enough times, they'd believe it.

* Passing Yards Per Attempt: 16. 1 Drew Brees ( November 30, 2009 vs New England Patriots )

* Passing Touchdowns: 6 Billy Kilmer ( November 2, 1969 at St. Louis Cardinals ) & Drew Brees ( September 13, 2009 vs Detroit Lions )

* Passer Rating: 158. 3 Drew Brees ( November 30, 2009 vs New England Patriots )

* Consecutive Pass Completions: 19 Drew Brees ( December 27, 2009 vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers )

* Passing Completion Percentage: 71. 2 Drew Brees ( 2011 ) – NFL Record

* Passing Rating: 110. 6 Drew Brees ( 2011 )

The Chargers used those selections in the 2001 draft to select Texas Christian University running back LaDainian Tomlinson and Purdue University quarterback Drew Brees.

Drew Brees, who received the majority of snaps at quarterback during Rivers ' hold out, would retain the starting quarterback position.

Despite an abrupt ending to their season, Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer was named NFL Coach of the Year for the season, and Brees was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

The Chargers would go on to lose their season finale to the Broncos, with Brees suffering a dislocated shoulder to end the Chargers ' 9 – 7 season.

Rivers threw for 4, 254 yards ( 8th ), 28 TD's ( tied-6th ), 8. 8 yards per passing attempt ( 1st ), 64 completions of 20 + yards ( 1st ), only 9 INT's ( 4th with a minimum 400 pass attempts ), and a 104. 4 passer rating ( 3rd – only beaten by Drew Brees & Brett Favre ).

( third to Brees & Manning ), 30 TD's, only 13 INT's & a 101. 8 passer rating ( second to Brady ).

The others are Steve Bartkowski, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Dan Fouts, Dan Marino, Tom Brady and Y. A.