It feels like forever since the Saints have been relevant

Bill said
Andrus,.. as good as it would be for our next franchise QB to have great arm talent, I believe the thing that propels a QB to the top is the 5 inches between his ears. I believe most NFL starting QBs have enough physical talent to move around and hit open receivers.

What made Drew Brees great was a complete knowledge of the game, the playbook, his teammates, and of what is happening on the other side of the line of scrimmage. As much as I would desire a big brawny QB with a cannon for an arm, I'd take a guy with average physical abilities who could develop the mental skills that we saw when #9 was running the show on the field.

From what has been reported, both Haener & Rattler are known for their grey matter and could excel at the QB position even if they are less than stellar with their physical tools. I liked the way Haener ran the offense during his limited opportunities under center. He also has a head start over Rattler at studying the playbook. However, if Rattler is a better physical specimen and can grasp all the mental things that made Drew such an outstanding QB, then I'm all for him moving into that role.

That said, I don't believe any great QB is able to earn that status on his personal abilities alone. Even the great ones of the past needed a 'perfect storm' of the right supporting cast... including a coaching staff that understands how to showcase their talents. If either Haener or Rattler has what it takes to emulate what Drew Brees brought to the Saints, let's just hope their career isn't spent carrying clipboards while the Saints return to the era of the Baghead Brigade of the 70s & 80s. I don't think I could endure another decade of such misery. :covri:

The “QB Greatness trait” that I believe doesn’t get talked about often enough is the ability to a.) see a guy about to become open before he’s actually is open, and b.) the ability to “throw a guy open.”

These are two things that made Drew incredible, along with many of the other greats over the years.

They just have an uncanny ability to know and process that “Hey, my guy is covered at this moment but I know the route he is about to run and when he does it he will have his man beat based on what I am seeing and what I know his abilities are as well as that defender’s abilities, as long as I put it in THIS exact spot at this exact millisecond.” So many of the average-tier QBs must SEE their guy open before pulling the trigger, and that hinders them tremendously, or when they try to do what Drew and other greats do, they miscalculate it significantly more often than not or they're not as accurate with the placement, and as a result throw interceptions.

You can have all the arm strength, all the accuracy, and all the brain power you can get…if you don’t have that Anticipation Trait that I don’t even know if it can be taught, you’re never going to be as great.

There are even some Hall of Fame/multi-Pro Bowl QBs that didn’t have this gift, and this is one of the things that creates the separation of the true all-time greats from the normal-tier good QBs.