Drew Brees smiles widely and his eyes wander back to a time when he was a kid out of Purdue seeking his place in pro football.He was marveling at the statistics posted by the likes of Dan Marino Michael Thomas Jersey White , Joe Montana and John Elway, Hall of Famers all. And he wondered “How long do you have to play in the league to have a chance at that?”No more marveling for the 39-year-old quarterback in his 19th NFL season. Very soon, almost certainly next week in a Monday nighter against Washington, Brees will have thrown for the most yards in league history. Yep, more than Marino, Montana, Elway, Brett Favre, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.He’s glad it will likely come in New Orleans, where he signed in 2006 after pretty much being dumped by the Chargers, who feared his shoulder would never be healed enough for Brees to be a championship quarterback. Well, he found the perfect offense with coach Sean Payton, he won a Super Bowl for the Big Easy, and he might be leading a team good enough to win another.“I feel like we’re getting better each week and that’s what’s most important to me,” Brees says. “I feel like we’re beginning to play more complementary football and not just on offense with run to pass, but really as a team. Understanding how to win football games. We’ve won in a lot of different ways and found ourselves in a lot of different circumstances already and it’s still early in the season. These are things that strengthen you https://www.thesaintslockerroom.com/authentic-tre_quan-smith-jersey , bring you together and begin to help you form your identity as a team.”Brees’ identity as a passer in some ways has been obscured by the success of peers Manning and Brady. He’s been considered by the legions of NFL followers as a great quarterback and future Hall of Famer, but not quite on the level of Manning or Brady.That’s a fair assessment when it comes to the Patriots star who has five Super Bowl rings and eight appearances in the big game. But Brees is nearly as accomplished as Manning, and certainly has done as much as Favre and Marino.Consider that Brees probably will hold every regular-season passing record when he is done — and that day doesn’t appear to be closing in. Like Marino, he’s rarely had a defense capable of helping him win championships.His passing accuracy is unequaled by anyone. His mastery of the Saints‘ offensive schemes, as well as his versatility and, even approaching 40, his maneuverability, are enviable.“What makes him great?” asks tight end Benjamin Watson, who also played with Brady and is in his 15th NFL season. “Almost everything. His preparation, his confidence, his leadership.“Let me tell you something. Once when I was in the weight room at the (practice) facility, I looked outside and there he was, by himself, practicing his progressions, working through everything.“This is a Hall of Fame player who has been here (12) years, nearly 40 years old. He commands your respect with the way he plays and the way he leads.”As most quarterbacks and leaders do Drew Brees Jersey White , Brees spreads the credit around. Given the resilience the Saints are showing while atop the tough NFC South, he probably is correct in doing so.“Well there’s so much that goes in to it,” Brees explains. “I have to give a lot of credit to Sean and the entire coaching staff for the amount of time and hours they put into building a game plan each and every week. When I say the game plan and the game call and the shifts and movements and formations are completely different each week, it is completely different each week. It is a completely new offense each week, depending on who we’re playing and attacking that defense.“So there’s a lot of time and effort that goes into it on it on their part, but also the players to absorb all that and be able to go out and execute it with confidence. So it works, but we work very hard at it.”And it works because of who is at quarterback. PHOENIX (AP) — Roger Goodell laid down the law, and the owners readily changed NFL rules on reviewing pass interference, whether flagged or not.As the league concluded its spring meeting one day early, the owners passed by a shockingly overwhelming 31-1 margin that interference can be challenged by coaches and reviewed by officials next season.Owners voted on a one-year trial basis to include those often-controversial penalties in the officiating replay review system. Coaches still will have two challenges per game, and in the final two minutes of a half or fourth quarter or for all of overtime, the replay official can order a review of offensive or defensive pass interference.The major change — owners traditionally have been highly reluctant to include any penalties in the replay process — stems from an egregious missed call in the NFC championship game that likely led to the Rams making the Super Bowl and the Saints falling short.“I told the owners we need to get to a place, and I felt strongly we should have OPI and DPI and that we should be able to throw flags (that were not thrown on the field,” Goodell said. “Everyone in there finally got to understand through a long process and a lot of discussion, everyone wanted to get it right. Some had to remove themselves from long-shared views.”The competition committee, which recommends rules changes to the ownership Womens Marcus Davenport Jersey , had been split 4-4 on adding interference penalties, particularly non-flagged ones, to replay. But they tweaked the proposal, and it remains part of the overall replay system, which was a critical component.Falcons President Rich McKay, chairman of the competition committee, said the analytics also played a role in the rules change. Of the 50 most incorrect on-field calls as determined by officiating director Al Riveron and his staff that were impactful, half of them were for defensive pass interference.“We felt this was a place to start,” McKay added. “There was a lot of discussion and definitely a block of people on the committee and in membership concerned about the ability to put a flag on. We got more comfortable as we worked it out that it would be captured in the replay system.”It might have been a pyrrhic victory for Saints coach Sean Payton, a member of the competition committee, but he was a driving force in persuading many people such an alteration was needed.“It’s great when we can arrive at what we think is a good change,” Payton said. “We wouldn’t have any of these on the docket had it not been for one play. I don’t think any of these would be on a replay discussion.“So my point is, I think we need to do a better job thinking forward and preparing, regardless of what’s currently out there. Where do we want to be in 2028? It’s a good way to work and come backward. I think we do that in a lot of other things. But I feel like at times we come in here each year and we’re in a little bit in a reactionary mode.”Not this time.Earlier in the day, the NFL owners voted down a proposal to replace the onside kick with one play from scrimmage, and tabled a suggestion to require each team to have one possession in overtime regardless of what happened on the first series of the extra period.Owners vetoed the idea of a one-year trial of a fourth-and-15 play from the offense’s 35-yard line to replace the onside kick Tre'Quan Smith Jersey White , considered one of the game’s more dangerous plays. The powerful competition committee recommended the play by a vote of 7-1, but the owners were not swayed.The overtime change is championed by several clubs after the AFC championship game in January — and the 2017 Super Bowl — ended with a Patriots touchdown without the opponent getting the ball. New England won the coin toss both times.Currently, the format is a touchdown on the opening possession of OT ends the game, but a field goal allows the other team a series with the ball. If that team also kicks a field goal, the game continues.Owners will next take up the overtime topic at their May meeting.Approved on Tuesday:— Making permanent all kickoff rules implemented only for the 2018 season. Studies showed this player safety initiative worked.— Eliminating the blindside block in an effort to expand protection of a defenseless player. It is now a 15-yard penalty if a player initiates a block in which he is moving.“As a former player and father of two that play ball, and having the opportunity to coach (youth football),” football operations chief Troy Vincent said, “this particular play, the blindside block, it ends careers, puts people on the shelf.“That particular technique, I was taught that. To have that removed out of our game is significant.”— Allowing teams to elect to enforce on an extra point kick or play an opponent’s personal or unsportsmanlike conduct foul committed during a touchdown.