NEW ORLEANS – Drew Brees has produced a lot of rare moments inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome over the past nine years. But this was a new one on Sunday -- the New Orleans Saints quarterback being showered by boos from the home fans after his second interception in the first half of Sunday's 27-24 overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
You'd think by now that Saints fans would be well aware that they have to live with the good and the bad of Brees, who has always been one of the most aggressive quarterbacks in the NFL.
But that's how much of an impact Brees' turnovers have made this season.
And he doesn't need thousands of people to remind him of it.
"I would've booed myself on that one," said Brees, who once again bluntly took the blame after his two picks and his overtime sack-fumble made all the difference in yet another gut-wrenching, last-minute loss.
"I've been playing this game a long time, I know how to play it at a high level," Brees said. "But certainly when you turn the ball over, it can compromise a lot of the good things."
Brees has been close to his usual self this year in almost every area but one. Those turnovers.
He has now given away 10 interceptions and two fumbles this season -- many of them costly for a 4-5 Saints team that has now lost four games that they were leading in the final two minutes of regulation.
"That's something's that's gotta get fixed. I'm not happy about it," said Brees, who has perhaps demanded more personal blame in recent weeks than at any other time in his career with the Saints. "I can't turn the ball over at the rate that I'm turning it over, and I certainly can't turn it over in the situations that I'm turning it over."
Most of the interceptions have followed a similar theme: Brees trying to fire the ball into a too-tight window or get rid of a ball under pressure. And he admittedly held the ball too long in overtime Sunday, waiting for running back Travaris Cadet to get free after being knocked off his route early on the play.
But that has always been Brees' style. As I've now written multiple times this year as this same theme keeps emerging, Brees has always been similar to Brett Favre in that regard.
And sure enough, Brees flashed the good side of that style in the third quarter Sunday, when he threw a classic, "No he didn't ... yes he did!" touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham after spinning out of a sure sack.
For that, Brees remains unapologetic. As he said last week when he was lauded for his aggressiveness in a win at Carolina, Brees is never going to change his aggressive approach.
"I think at the quarterback position you understand that there's gonna be moments -- for whatever reason, whether it's a bad decision, a bad throw or bad luck -- and you have to be able to compartmentalize that, move on to the next play, continue to stay aggressive and just do what you're coached to do, what you've been kind of programmed to do," said Brees, who threw three touchdown passes Sunday and helped rally the Saints back from a 21-10 halftime deficit to take a late 24-21 lead over the 49ers.
And it shouldn't go unnoticed that the Hail Mary that was nullified by Graham's offensive pass interference penalty at the end of regulation was a gorgeous throw.
But as Brees himself admitted Sunday, the good has to outweigh the bad. And that hasn't been happening enough this year.
"I think we did do a lot of good things out there," Brees said. "I think just unfortunately, for me personally too, there was too many bad things that you couldn't overcome with the good things."
