| The Philadelphia Inquirer MIAMI -- It really was a calling. All of it is true. SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS Drew Brees didn't have many options four years ago, when his throwing shoulder was in ruins and his career at a crossroads. He was through in San Diego, discarded like an old car because daddy got a new toy and his name was Philip Rivers. Doubted his whole life because he wasn't the prototypical quarterback, not super tall but just an average height, Brees went where no one else wanted to go. He looked at New Orleans, with its tattered psyche, its broken stadium and its beleaguered NFL franchise, as an opportunity, not a curse. It was a chance, he thought, to do something special, to resuscitate not just a football team but also an entire town. Sunday night, four years after his arrival, Brees did just that with a masterfully efficient performance for the ages. Brees didn't beat the Indianapolis Colts with the long ball. He crushed them with a relentless string of on-the-money throws that ate clock, ate yardage, and limited the Colts' powerful offense to just eight possessions. In this game, on this night, the best defense was a ball-hogging offense. When it was over, when the red confetti rained onto the field at Sun Life Stadium, there was Brees holding a string of Super Bowl records, an improbable come-from-behind 31-17 win, and his young son. It was a picturesque moment, Brees with tears in his eyes and his blond-haired boy in his arms as the world erupted around him. Brees now is king of New Orleans. He'll never want for anything there -- a drink, a steak, nothing -- ever again. "He's a great leader", Saints guard Jahri Evans said afterward. "His performance was awesome." That it was. The numbers were simply staggering. Brees completed 82.1 percent of his passes, the second-highest percentage in a Super Bowl behind the record of 88.0 by Phil Simms for the Giants in Super Bowl XXI. His 32 completions tied the Super Bowl record set by New England's Tom Brady against Carolina in 2004. With his Super Bowl performance, the NFL's most accurate passer during the regular season capped a scorching postseason run. In notching wins over three surefire future Hall of Famers and former Super Bowl winners in Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning, Brees went 72 of 102 for 732 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions for a postseason passer rating of 117.0. Brees became the fifth quarterback with eight or more postseason touchdown passes without an interception, joining Joe Montana, Steve Young, Simms and Troy Aikman. That's not bad company. In the crowning moment, Brees won the Pete Rozelle Trophy as the Super Bowl MVP. "Is it me?" he said rhetorically. "It's such a tremendous honor, but to be a Super Bowl champion is enough to me." Brees' performance in what turned out to be the game-winning drive will go down as one of the best ever. With the Saints trailing Indianapolis, 17-16, with 10 minutes, 39 seconds to play, Brees methodically picked apart the Colts' defense with a series of short passes that didn't wow anybody but effectively moved the Saints down the field. The Colts were happy to give Brees anything he wanted underneath, just as long as he didn't beat them deep. Brees beat them anyway. On the game-winning drive, Brees completed all seven of his passes to seven different receivers. The nine-play, 59-yard drive, and subsequent two-point conversion, swung the momentum toward the Saints, and they weren't about to let it go. When Brees took a knee to end the game, his offensive line mobbed him. He couldn't believe it was over. "Just to think of the road that we've all traveled to get to this", Brees said. "There was so much we had to go through, and how much adversity we faced along the way. Then again, how many people believed in us and gave us the strength to go out there and do what we did tonight and really what we've done all season? "Really, over the last four years since I've been in New Orleans, to be given the opportunity there when not a lot of people wanted to give me that opportunity, and to really start from scratch building a team, building a mind-set, and setting those goals we knew we could achieve through hard work and trusting one another. What can I say? "We played for so much more than just ourselves. We played for our city. We played for the entire Gulf Coast region. We played for all the entire Who Dat? Nation that has been behind us every step of the way. What can I say? We've been blessed with so much. It's unbelievable." It really was. For Brees, the Saints and their delirious fans, the fun has only just begun.
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