Oct 23, 2008 - 3:16 PM
0 shoutsBy Ian Parker PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer
BAGSHOT, England (Ticker) -- Sunday's game against the San Diego Chargers would be special for Drew Brees no matter what country it was played in.
The New Orleans Saints quarterback will face his former team on Sunday for the first time since leaving San Diego as a free agent in 2006.
It just happens that the game will be at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
"I guess ever since I signed with New Orleans I knew the day would come," Brees said. "I waited for it so now that it's here I feel like I'm still preparing the same way like I would for any game but at the same time I know a lot of those guys and there might be that added motivation to win or put more pressure on myself, but I'm really just trying to approach this as a game we have to win."
Brees was drafted by the Chargers in the second round in 2001, the same year the team took his fellow Texan LaDainian Tomlinson with the fifth overall pick.
The two friends imagined creating a dynasty together in Southern California.
"When you come in as young guys you do think it's going to be forever," Tomlinson said. "I remember we made a pact that we were going to turn the organization around and we both thought we were going to do that.
"But I think we both understood that this was a business first and the plans you have aren't always the plans that the organization have."
Brees first understood that his plans differed from San Diego's when the Chargers acquired quarterback Philip Rivers in the 2004 draft-day deal that sent Eli Manning to the New York Giants.
"They drafted him very high - the fourth pick in the draft - in order to come in and be the future of the franchise, and I wasn't ready for that to happen yet," Brees said.
Brees would hang on to the starting job for two more seasons but a separated shoulder coincided with the expiration of his contract with the Chargers in 2006, and the team let him walk so they could turn the offense over to Rivers.
Brees admits it came as a "shock" to learn that his San Diego career was over after five years but he wasn't unemployed long before the Saints came calling.
New Orleans was still reeling from the immediate aftershock of Hurricane Katrina at the time, but Brees threw himself into his role as the face of an organization representing a troubled community.
He and his wife bought a home in downtown New Orleans and Brees set about raising money to rebuild the city through his Dream Brees Foundation.
"I think New Orleans really needed Drew, a guy like Drew, not just because of the quarterback that he is but because of the person that he is," Tomlinson said.
"The city was just devastated and it needed someone like Drew to help everyone get out of that so in the end I think it has worked out for the best."
Brees agrees.
"It's crazy to think that because really at the time it was the injury, you know, I dislocated my shoulder, my throwing shoulder, right at the end of the season when I didn't have a contract going into free agency so you could think, 'Why me? Why now? This is the worst thing that could happen to me'," Brees said.
"But looking back on it, it might have been the best."
Certainly Brees has been a success for New Orleans on the field. He led the league with 4,418 passing yards in 2006, adding 26 touchdowns as the Saints bounced back from a 3-13 record in 2005 and came within one game of reaching the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.
Brees was even better in 2007, throwing for 4,423 yards and 28 touchdowns.
The situation has worked out well too for San Diego, where Rivers earned a trip to the Pro Bowl in his first season and led the team to the playoffs in his second.
Going into Sunday's game, he is the NFL's top-rated passer this season.
Rivers believes the competition the pair shared for two years before Brees departed helped both become the players they are today.
"Certainly he had an impact on me for those two years and I'd like to hope that it was a healthy competition and our relationship pushed each other," he said.
Despite going head to head for the same role for two years, the pair remain friends, and Brees sees Rivers regularly in the offseason when he returns to his home in San Diego.
However, that friendship will be put to one side on Sunday as both players desperately seek to get their team's back to .500 going into their bye weeks. Each team has a 3-4 record.
Brees has plenty of friends in the San Diego locker room but also plenty of players who know his game.
Already this week, Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips has promised to hit Brees and make sure he knows about it.
The pair's history pre-dates their time together in San Diego as Phillips was a redshirt freshman during Brees' senior year at Purdue.
Phillips repeated the claim on Thursday, but insists it will all be done in the spirit of friendship.
"I've been joking about it all week, maybe I've given him a little locker room material, but it's nothing too serious," Phillips said. "Drew's a good friend of mine and I'm pretty sure that if I get a chance to take a shot at him I'm going to take it and I'm going to make a joke or a smart comment at him, but it's all out of respect.
"I'd never disrespect Drew but my job is to hit him as much as possible and as hard as possible."
Brees has responded to Phillips' taunts with a smile.
"Sean and I have known each other for a long time...so we've had some battles back and forth from those days when he was running scout team at Purdue," Brees said. "He loves to talk, doesn't he?"
