Why You Have to Go to Training Camp and Not Just Sit Behind a Desk:
For these three scenes ... Philip Rivers looks out on the practice field after the first practice of the year and sees 15-year vet Takeo Spikes, who has never played in a playoff game, doing extra work. He's the last guy on the field. "That's why I want to win -- for guys like Takeo,'' Rivers said ... To see how quick in and out of cuts rookie Nick Toon is in New Orleans -- and to think, "Are you kidding? Another weapon for Brees?'' ... Peyton Manning taking coaching from offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and quarterback coach Adam Gase. He's going to be his own coordinator on the field -- we know that. But the way they talk on the practice field, you can see Manning respects his new aides. ... Antonio Gates running with no limp after a 2011 season spent with constant foot pain, and smiling almost every time he took his helmet off, and saying afterward, "I appreciate my health so much now that I've got it back."
Now onto what I saw on the road in my first week out:
Oh, so there's really no point in me reading this, because I can't see/hear those things sitting (as I do) behind a desk. Ok. See you around, PK!
Drew Brees has something on his chest.
A Cleveland Steamer streak?
If you think the mayhem around the Saints is going to send them to 5-11ville, you're nuts. Too much talent. Too good a triggerman. You've all heard about the huge, glaring Sean Payton banner with "DO YOUR JOB" hanging over the Saints' indoor practice field. Interesting enough. I watched them doing it Friday, led by Brees.
Why is that interesting? Seriously, that's like the biggest cliche going these days in the football world.
There's a drill the offensive skill players run early in practice, with quarterbacks getting the ball out to sprinting receivers and tight ends quickly. It's a nonstop, ping-ping-ping, one-throw-after-the-other completion-fest, and Brees, by my count, threw 18 balls in a row that his receivers barely had to reach for. Every one, right there.
King always does this. He falls into this trap of thinking that everyone is going to be amazing because they are amazing in camp. This is how we get absurd predictions like Randy Moss catching 40% of all balls for the Vikings in 2003 (or whenever it was). It's quintessential Peter: he picks players he likes on a personal level, sees them do well in the perfect weather, no-contact drills of camp, and declares "Watch Out, NFL!" or something. He just doesn't have it in him to be critical. It's kind of sweet, but it's why he kind of sucks at his job.
Regarding Payton, Brees said: "Even though he's not here physically, I hear his voice in my head every day.''
"How will it affect this team?' I asked.
"I don't know. I think about it a lot. The hard thing is, your head coach (snaps his fingers) is gone like that. He's just gone. We're very familiar with coach Vitt, very comfortable, and then he's gone for the first six weeks. You take the two strongest presences in the building and remove them, and it's like taking the president and vice president away from government. You had better have a pretty strong Congress, then."
Hm. methinks Mr. Brees could use a refresher course in civics.
It's clear he's angry about the severity of the suspensions. He is angry that Payton and Loomis were summoned to the league office last winter before the league announced the existence of the bounty/pay-for-performance scandal and not told how much the league had on the Saints before they were questioned. (I'm not sure that matters, but he's not the only Saint who feels the league didn't share enough information with Saints officials before the February interrogations.)
Two things:
1) It
doesn't matter. Brees and his cohort are essentially angry that the league didn't tell the Saints that they might be in hot water for breaking the rules before meeting with them. Well, that's how investigations typically work, asshole. For fun, imagine what might have happened if the league called up Payton and said "Hey, uh...would you mind coming in? Yea, we think that you guys might be breaking the rules, and here's the evidence we have [x, y. z]. Yea, do you have a few minutes to talk about this? Mmm? That'd be great, thaaaanks." Off the top of my head, it seems pretty clear that one possibility would have been for the Saints to bury other evidence and make up shit about the evidence that the league had, thereby making it impossible to conduct an investigation.
I mean, think about Brees' position in another context: SEC suspects someone on Wall Street of insider trading. They have some fishy trades and maybe a tip from someone else with some inside information. So what does Brees have them do? Do they ask for a warrant to conduct a wire tap or search email records? Call the trader in and see what he has to say for himself?
No. Brees would call up the trader, tell the trader their concerns, and then ask the trader to come in some other time in order to talk. What could go wrong?
2)
Why didn't king follow up with a question to Brees?! Why not put his feet to the fire and say "Don't you think the league was concerned about a possible cover up? A concern that seems, frankly, justified?"
The answer of course is that King is more interested in being buddy-buddy with Brees than writing a story.
