New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has a unique connection to the BCS and Super Bowl Championships.
For that reason alone, I am picking the New Orleans Saints to upset the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.
Brees is a main reason why Alabama won the BCS national championship, the school’s first crown since 1992.
When Nick Saban was coaching the Miami Dolphins four years ago, he chose Daunte Culpepper over Brees.
Brees was coming off shoulder surgery. Saban traded a second-round draft pick for Culpepper.
All Brees did was sign a six-year, $60 million contract with the Saints, coming off a horrid 3-13 campaign.
The shoulder questions eventually went away as Brees and coach Sean Payton turned the Saints into one of the NFL’s most feared passing offenses.
A year later, Brees guided the Saints to the NFC Championship Game. Two years ago, he also became the NFL’s second-ever player to throw for 5,000 yards in a season.
Three years later, the Saints are in Super Bowl XLIV.
If Saban had signed Brees, he would’ve never come to Alabama in 2007.
To paraphrase former New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath, the Crimson Tide would still be “struggling.”
The Brees and Saban combination would be playing in the Super Bowl, not New Orleans. The Saints (15-3) would likely still be looking for a quarterback and hovering around the .500 mark.
In the NFL, having a franchise quarterback puts you well ahead of the competition. The Saints did a great job building their team around Brees, the Saints’ best quarterback since Archie Manning.
My formula for NFL success is based on a four-year window. You get four years to win a championship. From there, teams usually decline.
Only the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Colts, Dallas Cowboys are successful year-to-year because they have a great front office.
New Orleans is at the fourth year of that championship cycle. The Saints are also close to joining the Cowboys, Colts, Patriots and Steelers as one of the NFL’s top organizations.
With that in mind ... New Orleans 34, Indianapolis 31.
James Jones is a sportswriter for the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss. He can be reached at jkjones@sunherald.com.
