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Then I wonder who or what managed to convince him to give it one last run ?
On the other side of that coin, what was prompting him to strongly consider retirement in the first place? I remember Favre, after being asked about some of his last few seasons where he was wishy-washy on retirement, mentioning that he would end a season feeling all banged up and ready to make retirement official........but then a few months would go by and some healing would occur, which would bring back the itch to play. Maybe that's how Drew felt after the Vikings game ?
Maybe it was mental just as much as it was physical? Imagine having 2017 ripped away from him in the manner it was........only have 2018 say "hold my beer, I can one-up that".........only to put together another 13-3 season just to get bounced at home in a wild card game? And then having to mentally envision the grind of re-starting the process yet again...
Then there are some that think it was the Tom Brady factor. I'm not really sure I believe the whole "there was talk about Brady being a Saint, so suddenly Brees put retirement on hold" story that floated around a week or so ago (why would Bill Parcells have been the one to reach out to Payton about that on behalf of the Brady camp?)..........but it was a fun story, anyway. Probably will forever be told regardless of credibility, sort of like the legendary "you know there were actually 2 Ultimate Warriors in WWF, right? The first one died and Vince replaced him with somebody else shortly thereafter!" tale that probably still gets repeated somewhere.
I personally like to believe that Brees...........like Favre a decade-plus ago.........simply gave his body some time to heal, and realized that the window is very much open right now. If he were walking into a 2015 situation again at the age of 41, I imagine he'd have probably just retired. But this team, on paper, may very well be the deepest roster he's ever had at his disposal.
I actually hope his "I had every intention of retiring" story is 100% accurate. What a great story that would be if "I almmmmmooost quit for good" turned into holding up another Lombardi.
On the other side of that coin, what was prompting him to strongly consider retirement in the first place? I remember Favre, after being asked about some of his last few seasons where he was wishy-washy on retirement, mentioning that he would end a season feeling all banged up and ready to make retirement official........but then a few months would go by and some healing would occur, which would bring back the itch to play. Maybe that's how Drew felt after the Vikings game ?
Maybe it was mental just as much as it was physical? Imagine having 2017 ripped away from him in the manner it was........only have 2018 say "hold my beer, I can one-up that".........only to put together another 13-3 season just to get bounced at home in a wild card game? And then having to mentally envision the grind of re-starting the process yet again...
Then there are some that think it was the Tom Brady factor. I'm not really sure I believe the whole "there was talk about Brady being a Saint, so suddenly Brees put retirement on hold" story that floated around a week or so ago (why would Bill Parcells have been the one to reach out to Payton about that on behalf of the Brady camp?)..........but it was a fun story, anyway. Probably will forever be told regardless of credibility, sort of like the legendary "you know there were actually 2 Ultimate Warriors in WWF, right? The first one died and Vince replaced him with somebody else shortly thereafter!" tale that probably still gets repeated somewhere.
I personally like to believe that Brees...........like Favre a decade-plus ago.........simply gave his body some time to heal, and realized that the window is very much open right now. If he were walking into a 2015 situation again at the age of 41, I imagine he'd have probably just retired. But this team, on paper, may very well be the deepest roster he's ever had at his disposal.
I actually hope his "I had every intention of retiring" story is 100% accurate. What a great story that would be if "I almmmmmooost quit for good" turned into holding up another Lombardi.