It feels like forever since the Saints have been relevant

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.
I totally agree. This is the part I mentioned about knowledge of what is going on across the line of scrimmage. It really takes more mental ability than physical ability to be able to pull off such spectacular completions, particularly for a guy like Drew Brees who didn't have a Howitzer for an arm. The ability to "anticipate" the progress of a receiver and figure in the closing speed of a defender is what made Drew great, especially on intermediate routes.

I just hope whoever gets the starting QB gig in the future will be able to master this part of the job as much as anything else. Gotta keep the sticks moving! :9: