Brees reaches rarefied air

(Photo credit: We found this image earlier this year at SaintsReport.com. Credit to whoever PhotoShopped it together.)

 

In the bluster-filled buildup to Super Bowl XLIV, many of the storylines are already overblown.

 

Yes, the Saints will be making their first appearance in a title game. It's true that the Colts won the Super Bowl when it was last held in Miami (2007). This will, in fact, be the first time that two dome teams have met for an NFL championship. And it has just been confirmed that Peyton Manning was not only born in New Orleans, but his father was actually a quarterback for the Saints at the time.

 

Maybe the prosaic pigskin "pundits" wouldn't continually air stale information if they had gotten wind of these Cold, Hard Football Facts: Drew Brees owns a postseason passer rating of 100.6 and is just the third quarterback in NFL history to top the century mark for his career.

 

Brees entered the 2009 playoffs with a postseason passer rating of 92.7, but he still needed 27 more attempts to reach the minimum of 150 that would qualify him for the record book. He promptly met that requirement in the divisional-round game against Arizona, completing 23 of 32 passes for 247 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions. In so doing, Brees boosted his career rating to 99.5 and blew by several passing predecessors to claim third place on the all-time list.

 

That game would prove to be a duel between two of the three most prolific passers in postseason history. Powered by a strong showing in the wild-card round, Kurt Warner had climbed to within two-tenths of catching Bart Starr for best career passer rating in the playoffs. But after his pedestrian performance against New Orleans, Warner lost a little ground ... while Brees gained.

 

Here's a current look at the top-5 quarterbacks in NFL history based on postseason passer rating:

 

 

Brees has clearly joined elite company. Starr and Montana were first-ballot Hall of Famers, the newly retired Warner will likely be joining them in five years, and Anderson is an overlooked star whose case for Canton was previously presented by the Cold, Hard Football Facts. As Brees prepares to make his Super Bowl debut, this group now boasts 15 championship-game appearances, led by Starr's six (the last five resulting in titles) and Montana's four (all Super Bowl victories).

 

Beyond his steadily climbing passer rating, Brees has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 6-to-0 this postseason. The all-time leader in that category is Montana, who remarkably threw 11 TDs and no picks in the 1989 playoffs. That effort also established the record for most touchdown passes in a single postseason, a mark that was tied when Warner had 11 scoring strikes during the Cardinals' run a year ago (albeit in four playoff games to Montana's three).

 

However, no quarterback has ever thrown at least three TD passes in three games of the same postseason. That distinction could belong exclusively to Brees, who has a trio of touchdown tosses in each playoff game here in 2010.

 

What is the likelihood that he turns in a similar passing performance against the Colts? Several factors suggest that a three-score day is well within his reach.

 

First of all, half of Indy's projected starting secondary coming into the season will be wearing street clothes on Super Bowl Sunday. In November, cornerback Marlin Jackson suffered a season-ending knee injury during practice for the second straight year, and safety Bob Sanders, the 2007 Defensive Player of the Year, tore a biceps tendon and was likewise placed on injured reserve. Making matters worse (or, for Saints fans, better), rookie corner Jerraud Powers, who has started 13 games this season, and defensive end Dwight Freeney, a member of the All-Decade Team, are both listed as questionable.

 

Secondly, the Colts have been vulnerable through the air. Since Week 10 of the regular season, seven different quarterbacks have thrown at least two touchdown passes against Indy, and three of them – New England's Tom Brady, Jacksonville's David Garrard and Buffalo's Ryan Fitzpatrick – have thrown three.

 

Thirdly, Brees doesn't rely on any one receiver to get open or find the end zone. Seven Saints had at least 35 catches during the regular season, and the list doesn't include last year's top target, Lance Moore, who managed just 14 receptions in an injury-plagued campaign after making 79 grabs in 2008. Brees also connected with 10 different receivers on scoring throws, and his six postseason TDs have been spread among five players.

 

Finally, Brees has simply been a touchdown machine of late. In his last 45 games, he has thrown two or more TD passes 32 times and three or more 19 times.

 

If he can produce a third straight playoff hat trick, the Saints just might breeze to a championship.