Drew Brees played quarterback in the NFL for 14 seasons with Sean Payton calling the plays. Rookie quarterback Bo Nix will play his fourth game with Payton when the Denver Broncos face the New York Jets on Sunday.
During an appearance on FOX Sports’ “The Herd” on Thursday, the 13-time Pro Bowl QB was asked if he had one piece of advice that he would give Nix on playing for Payton.
“Be just as demanding right back to him,” Brees said.
With Payton at coach and Brees at quarterback, the New Orleans Saints made nine playoff appearances and won Super Bowl XLIV after the franchise had six playoff appearances and one postseason victory in its 39 seasons before they arrived in 2006.
While the Saints went to the NFC Championship Game in the first season of the Brees-Payton partnership, the quarterback said his ability to work completely in step with the coach took some time and intense moments.
“Obviously, Sean and I got to a place with our relationship where it was almost like we could finish each other’s sentences,” Brees said. “I knew exactly what he was thinking before he called the play. We’d just rehearsed it so much. We’d talked about it so much throughout the course of the week that I knew the minute we crossed the 50-yard line, this was the play call coming out of his mouth. The minute we’re inside the red zone, this is the play we’re running. The minute they go to this defense, he want this, or that pressure, he wants this. It’s stuff that we’ve talked about and rehearsed together.
“Night before a game, we’re dotting a call sheet. ‘Here’s my favorite play, Sean.’ He’s telling me his favorite plays. We’re just, again, rehearsing it over and over so that we can be as if kind of one mind out there together.But look, of course, there were moments where, ‘Man I’m going to make a mistake.’ And we got to the point where he knew that I knew I made a mistake, so he doesn’t need to be yelling and screaming at me.
“For a young quarterback he’s trying to teach, coach and kind of get on the same page with him, there’s probably going to be a lot more of that, and he’ll be pretty firm with you at times. And I think what he loves to see — and I think a lot of this came from (coach Bill) Parcells; Parcells would be very demanding of his assistant coaches and Parcells wanted those coaches to have that same type of kind of intensity and confidence coming right back at him — so I think Sean loves that coming back from a quarterback.”
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Payton is in his second season as the coach of the Broncos, and Nix came aboard as the 12th pick in the NFL Draft on April 25.
Denver has not finished a season with a winning record since 2016, and the Broncos haven’t played in the postseason since defeating the Carolina Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, 2016.
After opening the 2024 season with a pair of losses, Denver defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-7 on Sunday for its first victory with Nix, a former Pinson Valley High School and Auburn standout.
The Broncos face the Jets at noon CDT Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
