Saints’ winning drive sums up why Drew Brees is a Hall of Famer

All Drew Brees wanted was a chance to win at the end of the game for the @Saints. His team provided it, and he delivered. pic.twitter.com/uDIDbK6Zcz

— NFLonCBS (@NFLonCBS) November 24, 2019

NEW ORLEANS – Drew Brees has passed for more yards than any other quarterback in NFL history.

He holds or is threatening to break virtually every other significant NFL passing record.

But those records can’t illustrate why he has pre-approved membership in the Pro Football Hall of Fame any better than his performance on the final possession of the New Orleans Saints’ 34-31 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Brees is best known for throwing touchdown passes, but it was a possession that yielded a lousy field goal that sums up who he is.

The score was tied at 31 when he took the field at the Saints 20-yard line with a limited amount of time (1:51), one timeout and a tiny margin for error.

But Brees also had a clear mission to accomplish with those limited assets – drive far enough to produce points and leave the Panthers little or preferably no time when he was done.

“Just playing the situation,” Brees said. “Knowing how much time you have, knowing we have one timeout, knowing that all we have to do is get in field goal range and we feel good about our chances. Just want a chance to win in the end.”

Simple enough.

It didn’t begin that way though.

On the first play, Brees was sacked for a 6-yard loss and the Panthers declined an illegal shift penalty on the Saints, a shaky start to say the least.

Brees followed that with a 14-yard completion to Michael Thomas that was crucial because it made third down manageable. Carolina had three timeouts and a three-and-out would have given the Panthers a realistic chance at a tiebreaking score.

The Saints converted the third-and-2 with Brees’ 4-yard completion to Alvin Kamara, greatly reducing the Panthers’ chances of winning in regulation.

Then came an 8-yard completion to Kamara, but on second-and-2, Brees couldn’t find anyone open downfield. He dumped the ball to Kamara in the left flat and cornerback Javien Elliott made an open-field tackle for a 4-yard loss that left the Saints with a third-and-6.

With the clock down to 37 seconds, Brees was all but forced to use his final timeout, which he did.

Brees then found Thomas up the right side for a 24-yard gain. That gave Brees another set of downs to work with, Thomas got out of bounds to stop the clock as the Saints were already in position to try a field goal from the edge of Wil Lutz’s range at the Panthers 40.

Coach Sean Payton knew he already was in realistic field-goal range because if the Saints had stalled there, it could have meant a 58-yard field goal, the same length from which Lutz had made a game-winner in the season opener against Houston.

But the Saints still had time to get much closer.

With 31 seconds left, even without a timeout, Payton had the option of running the ball or throwing into the middle of the field to improve Lutz’s chances. But instead he opted for a home run on first down and Ted Ginn Jr. was open down the middle but Brees’ pass drifted away from Ginn for an incompletion.

Then Brees connected with Kamara for a short completion that Kamara turned into a 16-yard gain before getting out of bounds at the 24 with 19 seconds left.

At that point the field goal was all but assured but Payton wanted to make sure Carolina wasn’t left with any time and why not get Lutz even closer.

So Brees handed off to Kamara, who ran for nine yards to the 15.

The clock ticked under 10 seconds as Brees calmly and slowly walked to the line of scrimmage and spiked the ball with three seconds left.

Lutz came on and sneaked the ball inside the right upright as time expired just as he had after Brees had moved the team 35 yards in six plays and 37 seconds against Houston.

“I told Drew,” Lutz said, “thanks for making it a little shorter this time.”

That drive against Houston turned an apparent 28-27 loss into a 30-28 victory just as Sunday’s drive turned an apparent overtime game into a victory in regulation.

“That’s something Drew has been doing for a long time,” Payton said, “and he’s awfully good at it.”