If you can visualize a salt shaker and a water tumbler, said Gil Brandt, a former vice president of player personnel for the Cowboys who helped develop the computer models. A short quarterback is the salt shaker that has to throw over the water tumbler, to a receiver on the other side that is probably just a little taller than the salt shaker. Brees is a 1-in-100 guy. If you look around, the quarterbacks that are playing the best, theyre all at least 6-3.
To compensate for not being as tall as Peyton Manning or Ben Roethlisberger, each 6-5, Brees has an instinctive ability to slide a few feet in the pocket to better see his throwing lanes. He is no Steve Young, the barely 6-1 Hall of Fame quarterback whose superb scrambling ability helped make up for his size, but Brees shares Youngs conviction that vision is not a problem.
Giants defensive lineman Justin Tuck, who endured Breess four-touchdown day last month, said he guessed that Brees takes a deeper drop before he passes to give him a better view over his offensive line. Nope, Brees said. But Tuck does know one thing from experience.
His release is so quick, it makes it so tough to judge when hes letting the ball go, so you dont know when to jump, Tuck said.
Brees calls his quick release one of his survival skills. He has concentrated on releasing the ball with his hand high in the air, not down near his shoulder.
Ive seen plenty of tall guys where the ball is coming out at a height equivalent to their shoulder, Brees said. Compare a 6-5 guy who throws the ball sidearm to a 6-0 guy who has a high release point, and whose ball is coming out higher?
At Purdue, Tiller noticed that Brees has exceptionally long thumbs, and bigger hands than most people 6 foot. That, Tiller said, allows Brees a better grip on the ball. That may be why Brees is also so adept at throwing the ball from a number of release points, the better to get the ball around and over the linemen.
Over the top, sidearm, three-quarter he can alter his throwing motion, said the former coach Jon Gruden, now an analyst for ESPN.
In the end, what has made Brees great, though, may have more to do with what he has in common with Brady and Manning: extraordinary preparation. Brees has mastered the Saints offense, and Coach Sean Payton has given him the freedom to change plays, just as Brady and Manning do. Because Brees knows where everybody is going, which allows him to release the ball before his receiver even makes his break, he can throw off the timing of the leaping linemen.
Height only matters when youre not mastering it, Young, also an ESPN analyst, said. Maybe the degree of difficulty is a little higher, but its still not a gating issue to success.
Still, even Young said that although he never wished he was 6-6, he was always thankful he was not 5-11.
6-0 is the Maginot line, he said.
Brees just made it.
Youre standing next to these N.F.L. quarterbacks, and youre the shortest one, Brees said. You get these looks like, You play quarterback?
