New Orleans Saints: Archie Manning Was Good, Drew Brees Is Better

At this point anyone that pays attention to the NFL knows what Saints quarterback

has done, and means, to the New Orleans Saints. Brees is the glue that holds the offense together and single handedly kept the team together through the lockout with his “sponsored” work outs at Tulane University.

No quarterback in the league has been more productive or has had better stats than Brees since 2006, that includes Tom Brady Peyton Manning, and Philip Rivers. The Chargers chose Rivers over Brees in 2006, darn.

The Saints also had a Manning at the helm of their franchise once, Archie Manning to be exact, and he too had a pretty successful run in the Big Easy during the years of 1971–75 and 77–82.

Until Brees came along Manning was the franchise leader in several different categories — passing attempts, passing completions, passing yards and passing touchdowns — and while Manning was once considered the Saints best quarterback his records fell fast last season.

Brees had already surpassed Manning in most of the above referenced categories, but  in week twelve against the Seahawks last year he connected with receiver Lance Moore for his 1,850th completion as a Saint, he then set his sights set on the long standing passing yardage record.

Archie Manning threw for 21,734 yards while Brees capped off his 2010 regular season throwing for 4,620 yards — his fifth consecutive season where he has surpassed the 4,000 yard mark. That also means Brees bested Manning’s mark with 22,918 passing yards in only five years to Manning’s nine with the Saints.

No disrespect is towards Archie Manning as his contribution to the Saints franchise came at an important time for a team that was attempting to make contenders of themselves, instead of the perpetually struggling “door mat” franchise they were known to be.

Manning during his tenure brought a sense of respect to the team, and hope to the fans, but unfortunately fell short of the biggest goal of a Super Bowl championship.

Brees has also delivered in this respect, leading the Saints past the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV to secure the franchises first ever world championship.  He still has plenty of football ahead of him and the sky is the limit to what he can accomplish with the talented team coach Sean Payton has assembled around him.

It surely was bitter sweet for Manning, as he was finally able to see the Saints franchise win it all, something he himself worked very hard to achieve for so many years. Peyton Manning, his eldest son, meanwhile had to deal with the agony of defeat and his second loss on the NFL’s biggest stage.