New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees delivered a pregame speech before his dramatic 2016 game against the then-San Diego chargers.
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When Drew Brees last played against his former team back in 2016, the Chargers were still in San Diego. And that game happened to be his first return to the West Coast since signing with the New Orleans Saints in 2006, adding an element of drama to it. And that’s not even considering the stakes: the Saints were 0-3 at the time, and desperate for a win before their bye week (sound familiar?). They were fresh off the heels of a blowout loss to the NFC South-rival Atlanta Falcons, who went on to blow a 28-3 lead in Super Bowl LI.
The Saints defense had allowed 400-plus yards in each of their first three games, but they came through in the clutch against the Chargers that day. After giving up 24 points in the first half, the Saints rallied to force three Chargers punts to open the second half, and they closed out the game with three consecutive takeaways.
Winning still wasn’t easy. Brees threw an interception (his second of the day) early in the fourth quarter that set the Chargers up to extend their 34-21 lead. New Orleans struggled to move the ball on the ground and through the air, with Mark Ingram leading the team in yards as both a runner (56) and receiver (49). It took a late-game Michael Thomas touchdown catch from 5 yards out to close the gap, and a goal-line scoring run from fullback John Kuhn to take a one-point lead.
But then the defense took over. Nick Fairley sacked Philip Rivers on first down from the San Diego 25, and Rivers fumbled on second down. Then he missed a deep shot on third down, and the Chargers were stuck on fourth-and-22 deep in their own territory with the game on the line. B.W. Webb (remember him?) intercepted Rivers’ final throw, and Brees kneeled as time expired to seal the 35-34 win.
It was exhilarating. But it wasn’t a sign of success to come just yet, as the Saints needed another mediocre 7-9 finish for Sean Payton to recognize that it was time for serious changes to his staff. Jeff Ireland was given more control of the team’s scouting process, and yielded the best draft class since Payton’s first year in town — bringing in talents like Alvin Kamara, Ryan Ramczyk, Marshon Lattimore, and Trey Hendrickson. The defensive coaching staff was rebuilt from the ground up, bringing in high-quality assistants like Ryan Nielsen and Mike Nolan.
And all of those changes worked. New Orleans went on to win 41 of their next 55 games, with three straight division titles. Maybe they can capture some of that magic from their last game with the Chargers on Monday night.
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