Drew Brees Is Hiding in Plain Sight

Drew Brees spies the bouncy house—the friggin’ bouncy house—and grimaces.

德鲁·布里斯（Drew Brees）看到了那个充气屋——该死的——充气屋——然后做了个鬼脸。

He’s on the field at the Saints’ indoor practice field in mid-October, holding an inch-thick black playbook and rifling through pages of plays named after video games (Fortnite) and superheroes (Black Panther, Captain America).

十月中旬，他在圣徒队的室内训练场上，手里拿着一本一英寸厚的黑色剧本，翻阅着以电子游戏（《堡垒之夜》）和超级英雄（《黑豹》、《美国队长》）命名的剧本。

He turns to address the Boilermakers, the team of first- and second-grade flag footballers he coaches every Monday.

他转向锅炉制造者队，这是他每周一执教的由一年级和二年级腰旗橄榄球运动员组成的球队。

He’s oblivious to the parents seated in their lawn chairs, to the dogs roaming the sidelines and to the most repeated question of this 2018 NFL season: What record did Brees break this week?

他没有注意到坐在草坪椅子上的父母，没有注意到在场边漫步的狗，也没有注意到 2018 NFL 赛季中最重复的问题：布里斯本周打破了哪些记录？

The kids, though, are not oblivious.

不过，孩子们并没有忘记。

They’re distracted .

他们心烦意乱。

By the parents and the dogs and, most of all, by the giant bouncy house now being inflated across the field for the birthday party of coach Brees’s middle son, Bowen, who is turning eight.

父母和狗们，最重要的是，巨大的充气屋现在正在球场上充气，为教练布里斯的二儿子鲍文举办生日聚会，鲍文即将满八岁。

Sure, Brees may have vaulted the Saints into Super Bowl contention while expanding the footprint of his youth flag league, Football ’N’ America; he may have toppled the NFL marks for career completions and passing yards, thus (slowly) altering the prism through which we view his remarkably-consistent-and-still-not-yet-fully-appreciated career.

当然，布里斯可能已经帮助圣徒队进入了超级碗的竞争，同时扩大了他的青年旗帜联盟——橄榄球——美国——的足迹；他可能已经打破了 NFL 职业生涯完成次数和传球码数的记录，从而（慢慢地）改变了我们看待他的职业生涯的棱镜，他的职业生涯非常稳定，但仍然没有得到充分的赞赏。

But right now the 39-year-old is competing for attention against more than Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers or Peyton Manning, or even the overcooked notion that he’s some sort of football underdog success story.

但现在，这位 39 岁的球员正在与汤姆·布雷迪、亚伦·罗杰斯或佩顿·曼宁等其他人争夺关注度，甚至与认为他是某种足球失败者成功故事的过时观念竞争。

Now it’s Brees vs. the Bouncy House too .

现在又是 Brees 与 Bouncy House 的较量。

Deterred?

被吓倒了吗？

Please .

请 。

This is a man who takes his flag football so seriously that he cornered LaDainian Tomlinson over breakfast at the Pro Bowl last January and discussed flag formations, with a particular focus on motioning backs—second-graders!—out of the shotgun.

这个人非常认真地对待腰旗橄榄球，去年一月，他在职业碗的早餐会上将拉戴尼安·汤姆林森 (LaDainian Tomlinson) 逼入绝境，并讨论了旗帜的阵型，特别关注如何示意后背——二年级学生！——从霰弹枪中射出。

If Brees can overcome shoulder surgery, short-quarterback problems and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, surely he can wrangle a bunch of kids through practice.

如果布里斯能够克服肩部手术、短四分卫的问题以及卡特里娜飓风的后果，他肯定可以通过练习与一群孩子争论。

Right?

正确的？

“Everyone’s going to catch a ball,” Brees tells the kids in his well-worn dad voice.

“每个人都要接球，”布里斯用他老爸老套的声音告诉孩子们。

“ Then we’ll go over to the bouncy house.”

“然后我们就去充气屋。”

“I’d rather go therrre ,” pleads Bowen, who was born eight months after his father won Super Bowl XLIV in 2010.

“我宁愿去那里，”鲍文恳求道，他是在他父亲赢得 2010 年第 44 届超级碗冠军八个月后出生的。

“I know you would,” Brees says patiently.

“我知道你会的，”布里斯耐心地说。

“But we have to do this first.”

– 但我们必须首先做到这一点。 –

Later, after practice, as Bowen bounces and Brees cuts slices of Fortnite -themed cake and asks his daughter, Rylen, where her shoesies are, no one mentions the events of the previous day.

后来，训练结束后，鲍文弹跳起来，布里斯切着《堡垒之夜》主题的蛋糕，并询问他的女儿莱伦的鞋在哪里，但没有人提及前一天发生的事情。

Not the Saints’ 24–23 victory over the Ravens, the only team Brees had never beaten.

不是圣徒队以 24 比 23 击败乌鸦队，乌鸦队是布里斯唯一一支从未击败过的球队。

Not his 500th career TD pass.

这不是他职业生涯第 500 次达阵传球。

Not the fact that he bolstered his league-leading marks for efficiency (121.6) and completion percentage (77.3%) and had still yet to throw an interception.

事实上，他在效率（121.6）和完成率（77.3%）方面保持了联盟领先的成绩，而且还没有拦截。

“Great game yesterday,” one parent musters.

“昨天的比赛很棒，”一位家长说道。

That’s it.

就是这样。

It can seem like Brees prefers life this way, content to let his contemporaries be described as nonhuman quarterback deities.

布里斯似乎更喜欢这样的生活，满足于让他的同代人被描述为非人类四分卫神。

Brady, with his supermodel wife and all those rings, the holistic health guru who just might play forever; Rodgers, the golden-armed God with the celebrity girlfriend, helming an iconic franchise; and Manning, the genius gridiron savant.

布雷迪，带着他的超模妻子和所有这些戒指，是一位可能会永远打球的整体健康大师；罗杰斯，金臂神与名人女友，掌管着一部标志性的电影；还有曼宁，天才的橄榄球专家。

Meanwhile, here’s Brees, this middle-aged guy, just plugging along off to the side, coaching flag football .

与此同时，布里斯，这个中年人，只是在一旁坚持，执教腰旗橄榄球。

Because of that image, and because of a series of events from early in his career, he’s portrayed as merely human—or rather, something less than superhuman like the others.

由于这个形象，并且由于他职业生涯早期发生的一系列事件，他被描绘成仅仅是人类——或者更确切地说，不像其他人那样是超人。

In other words, Brady and Rodgers and Manning are the bouncy house.

换句话说，布雷迪、罗杰斯和曼宁就是充气屋。

We’re the kids, mesmerized by these shiny distractions.

我们是孩子，被这些闪亮的干扰所迷惑。

Brees is just Brees, the dad toiling in the shadows.

布里斯就是布里斯，那个在阴影中辛勤劳作的父亲。

And that notion of Brees as the plucky everyman is not merely overly simplistic.

将布里斯视为勇敢的普通人的想法不仅过于简单化。

It’s wrong.

这是错误的。

In reality, he’s just like them, a psycho-cyborg QB.

事实上，他就像他们一样，是一个心理机器人四分卫。

One of the greatest players in NFL history.

NFL 历史上最伟大的球员之一。

The proprietor of the Mother-in-Law Lounge in New Orleans knows his history.

新奥尔良婆婆休息室的老板了解他的历史。

Kermit Ruffins—trumpeter/singer/composer/Saints fan—wore his black number 9 Brees jersey for 15 straight days this fall, not wanting to mess with his quarterback’s mojo.

克米特·鲁芬斯（Kermit Ruffins）——小号手/歌手/作曲家/圣徒队球迷——今年秋天连续 15 天穿着他的黑色 9 号 Brees 球衣，不想扰乱他四分卫的魔力。

“Brees sets the tone for the city the same way musicians and chefs set the tone,” says Ruffins.

“布雷斯为这座城市定下了基调，就像音乐家和厨师定下基调一样，”鲁芬斯说。

“Playing his ass off like that at almost 40 years old—that is freakin’ gangster!

——快40岁了还这么胡闹——太变态了——黑帮！

Anything else you think gangster ain’t gangster!”

任何你认为黑帮都不是黑帮的东西！”

Ruffins takes a long pull from a Bud Light.

鲁芬斯喝了一大口百威淡啤。

“History is funny, man.

——历史很有趣，伙计。

Sometimes it sneak up on you.”

有时它会悄悄靠近你。”

In fairness, this season of records broken crept up on Brees, too.

公平地说，本赛季布里斯也打破了纪录。

Growing up in Austin, he played flag football until ninth grade, made forays into tennis and track and basketball and baseball, and almost quit the jayvee football team.

他在奥斯汀长大，一直打腰旗橄榄球直到九年级，后来又涉足网球、田径、篮球和棒球，还差点退出了 jayvee 橄榄球队。

The only history he cared about at that point was becoming the first athlete to play professionally in three sports.

当时他唯一关心的历史是成为第一个在三项运动中担任职业运动员的运动员。

Sure, as a Cowboys fan he loved Troy Aikman, and he emulated Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly.

当然，作为牛仔队的球迷，他喜欢特洛伊·艾克曼，他效仿乔·蒙塔纳、约翰·埃尔威、丹·马里诺和吉姆·凯利。

But he only came to appreciate that last golden age of quarterbacks in hindsight.

但他只是事后才意识到四分卫最后的黄金时代。

As for his current place among, if not above , them?

至于他现在在他们中间的位置，如果不是上面的话？

“I don’t think that was ever on my radar,” he says.

“我认为我从未关注过这一点，”他说。

Really?

真的吗？

“Honestly.”

– 老实说。 –

Brees still remembers his first preseason game, in Miami with the Chargers in 2001, and how he looked to the upper deck and saw Marino’s name up there, next to all of the Dolphins legend’s gaudy career accomplishments.

布里斯仍然记得他 2001 年在迈阿密代表闪电队参加的第一场季前赛，以及他如何看着上层甲板，看到马里诺的名字就在那里，旁边是这位海豚传奇人物所有华丽的职业成就。

But it wasn’t as if Brees resolved at that moment to pass Marino in every statistical passing category known to man.

但布里斯在那一刻并没有下定决心要在人类已知的所有统计传球类别中超越马里诺。

Instead he thought, Hey, don’t screw this up; let’s just try and complete some passes today.

相反，他想，嘿，别把事情搞砸了；今天让我们尝试完成一些传递。

So that’s what he did.

所以他就是这么做的。

He wanted to become a starter.

他想成为首发。

Lead his team to the playoffs.

带领他的球队进入季后赛。

Find a franchise that wanted him.

找到一个想要他的球队。

Make the Pro Bowl.

成为职业碗。

Win a Super Bowl.

赢得超级碗。

Then one day he woke up and he’d done all that, in 10 years.

然后有一天，他醒来，发现自己在 10 年内完成了这一切。

He decided he’d aim to play until he was 35, at least.

他决定至少打到 35 岁。

When he did, he resolved to try for 40.

当他这样做时，他决定尝试 40。

And then, this summer, he looked at the Saints’ 2018 schedule and noticed the Redskins game in Week 5, in prime time.

然后，今年夏天，他查看了圣徒队 2018 年赛程表，注意到第五周黄金时段的红皮队比赛。

It was almost as if the NFL expected something—like, maybe he’d break Manning’s all-time passing mark.

就好像 NFL 期待着某种事情——比如，也许他会打破曼宁的历史传球纪录。

(Coming into the season Brees sat at 70,445 yards; Manning retired in ’15 with 71,940.) The league’s decision struck Brees as a tad presumptuous.

（进入赛季时，布里斯的成绩为 70,445 码；曼宁于 15 年退役，成绩为 71,940 码。） 联盟的决定让布里斯觉得有点自以为是。

He’d have to average 300 yards a game to get there.

他必须达到场均 300 码才能达到这个目标。

“At that point,” he jokes, “it’s like: All right, no pressure.” Then he resolved to “play ball.

“那时，”他开玩笑说，“就像：好吧，没有压力。”然后他决定“打球”。

Make them right.”

让它们正确。 –

As Oct.

正如十月

8 approached, Brees worried most about the kinds of things only Brees would worry about.

8 号临近，布里斯最担心的事情只有布里斯才会担心。

That he might break Manning’s record late in the game, in the middle of a critical drive, halting his team’s momentum.

他可能会在比赛后期、关键时刻打破曼宁的纪录，从而阻碍球队的势头。

Instead, as if scripted, his family made its way onto the field late in the second quarter.

相反，就像剧本一样，他的家人在第二节末进入了球场。

Brees found rookie wideout Tre’Quan Smith streaking up the right sideline unattended, lofted a perfect spiral and watched Smith carry him, 62 yards later, into history.

布里斯发现新秀外接手特雷·昆·史密斯在无人看管的情况下从右侧边线直冲而过，打出一个完美的螺旋球，看着史密斯带着他在 62 码后载入史册。

Brees remembers every detail about the aftermath.

布里斯记得事后的每一个细节。

Hugging tackle Terron Armstead.

拥抱截锋泰伦·阿姆斯特德。

Searching for his coach, Sean Payton.

寻找他的教练肖恩·佩顿。

Embracing his wife, Brittany.

拥抱他的妻子布列塔尼。

Telling his four children they can accomplish anything they work for.

告诉他的四个孩子他们可以完成他们为之努力的任何事情。

Handing the ball over to Pro Football Hall of Fame president David Baker.

将球交给职业橄榄球名人堂主席大卫·贝克。

“Perfect,” Brees says.

“完美，”布里斯说。

Baker wore white gloves for the occasion, ensuring that the last hands to touch the ball were those of the man who threw it.

贝克在这次场合戴着白手套，以确保最后接触球的手是投球者的手。

He placed the pigskin into a black cinch bag held by a Hall of Fame researcher, Saleem Choudhry, who would fly it back to Ohio the next morning along with a Saints equipment bag containing the QB’s jersey, pads and everything else he’d worn that night.

他把猪皮放入名人堂研究员萨利姆·乔杜里 (Saleem Choudhry) 拿着的黑色束带袋中，第二天早上，乔杜里将把它和圣徒队的装备包一起飞回俄亥俄州，其中装着 QB 的球衣、护垫和他当晚穿的所有其他东西。

Choudhry said he protected the gear “like the Hope Diamond.” Brees, typically, kept only a game program and a call sheet.

乔杜里说，他保护这些装备——就像保护希望钻石一样。布里斯通常只保留游戏程序和电话表。

Later that night he decamped to Rock-n-Sake Bar and Sushi.

那天晚上晚些时候，他去了摇滚清酒酒吧和寿司店。

Over sashimi and wontons and pork-belly lettuce wraps, he told a small group of close friends and family what they meant to him.

一边吃着生鱼片、馄饨和五花肉生菜卷，他一边向一小群亲密的朋友和家人讲述这些对他来说意味着什么。

Former president Barack Obama would later call the QB “a class act.” Manning would joke that all he had left in life, after his record fell, was “making dinner for my family.” Brees’s friend and former Saints teammate, Scott Fujita, would say, “I’d argue he’s playing the best football of his career.” His trainer, Todd Durkin, would say, “We’re watching Picasso with his paintbrush.” At dinner, though, the discussion never touched on Brees’s place in history.

前总统巴拉克·奥巴马后来将四分卫称为“集体行为”。曼宁开玩笑说，在他的纪录被打破后，他生命中剩下的一切就是“为我的家人做晚饭”。布里斯的朋友兼前圣徒队队友斯科特·藤田会说，“我认为他正在踢他一生中最好的足球”他的教练托德·杜尔金 (Todd Durkin) 会说，“我们正在看着毕加索用画笔。”不过，晚餐时，讨论从未触及布里斯在历史上的地位。

And that was fine with the guest of honor, the record breaker who never bought into any narrative laid out for him.

对于主宾来说，这很好，这位纪录打破者从不相信任何为他安排的叙述。

Even with a bye the next week, Brees wasted no time on reflection.

即使下周就要再见，布里斯也没有浪费时间反思。

He tried, instead, to dig into his latest read, Things That Matter .

相反，他试图深入研究他最新的读物《重要的事情》。

He would like to be able to describe the impact the book had on his historic season.

他希望能够描述这本书对他历史性赛季的影响。

He would like to be able to describe the book at all.

他希望能够描述一下这本书。

But the truth is, if he can make it through 10 pages on a given night, he considers that a win.

但事实是，如果他能在某个晚上读完 10 页，他就认为这是一场胜利。

If that makes him sound more like an exhausted dad than a football legend, so be it.

如果这让他听起来更像是一位疲惫不堪的父亲，而不是一位足球传奇人物，那就这样吧。

“I don’t get it,” James Carville says over a glass of Woodford Reserve and a plate of pasta at an Italian restaurant in Baton Rouge.

“我不明白，”詹姆斯·卡维尔在巴吞鲁日的一家意大利餐厅喝着一杯伍德福德珍藏酒和一盘意大利面说道。

“It’s like living in New York in 1926, when Babe Ruth was there.

— 就像 1926 年生活在纽约，当时贝比·鲁斯 (Babe Ruth) 就在那里。

Or Chicago in 1995, with Michael Jordan.

或者 1995 年与迈克尔·乔丹一起在芝加哥。

To actually live in a city where Drew Brees is critical to our lives 16 days a year—it’s stunning.

能够真正生活在德鲁·布里斯 (Drew Brees) 每年 16 天对我们的生活至关重要的城市里，真是令人惊叹。

He’s become like the river.

他变得像河流一样。

He’s just a part of us.” The Ragin’ Cajun continues: “People want to talk about how [Brees] never won MVP, [just] the one Super Bowl.

他只是我们的一部分。 – The Ragin – Cajun 继续说道： – 人们想谈论 [Brees] 从未赢得过 MVP，[只是] 赢得过一次超级碗。

.

。

.

。

.

。

What difference does it make?

这有什么区别呢？

Ted Williams never won a World Series.

特德·威廉姆斯从未赢得过世界大赛。

He’s still Ted f------ Williams.”

他仍然是特德·威廉姆斯。”

The problem with Brees and his place in the pro football pantheon is that the story of his career, while fascinating, inevitably leads us to the absolute wrong conclusion.

布里斯和他在职业足球万神殿中的地位的问题在于，他的职业生涯故事虽然令人着迷，但不可避免地会导致我们得出绝对错误的结论。

Consider the facts: Yes, Brees did tear his right ACL late in his junior year at Westlake High in Austin.

考虑一下事实：是的，布里斯在奥斯汀西湖高中三年级末确实撕裂了右前十字韧带。

No, he was not recruited by the local powers, the Longhorns or the Aggies.

不，他没有被当地势力、长角牛或阿吉招募。

Yes, he did fall to the Chargers in the second round of the 2001 NFL draft, in part because of his height: an even 6 feet.

是的，他确实在 2001 年 NFL 选秀第二轮输给了闪电队，部分原因是他的身高：均匀的 6 英尺。

He did struggle (by his eventual standards) in his first two seasons as a starter.

作为首发，他在头两个赛季确实很挣扎（按照他最终的标准）。

The Chargers did draft Philip Rivers in ’04, and Brees did win the league’s Comeback Player of the Year Award that season, essentially for thriving in the face of doubt.

闪电队确实在 04 年选中了菲利普·里弗斯，布里斯也确实赢得了该赛季联盟年度最佳复出球员奖，主要是因为他在面对质疑时表现出色。

He did dislocate his throwing shoulder in ’05, undergo surgery, suffer through free agency, land in New Orleans and lead the city, still reeling from Katrina, to its first and only Super Bowl win in that magical ’09 campaign.

他确实在 05 年投掷肩膀脱臼，接受了手术，在自由球员市场上受苦，登陆新奥尔良，并带领这座仍在遭受卡特里娜飓风影响的城市在 09 年神奇的赛季中赢得了第一场也是唯一一场超级碗胜利。

The shoulder surgery was epic.

肩部手术是史诗般的。

The doctor who performed it, James Andrews, says now, “Probably one in one million athletes could have gotten through that operation and been successful afterward.” It took three surgeons four hours to patch Brees’s shoulder back together.

进行手术的医生詹姆斯·安德鲁斯现在表示，“可能百万分之一的运动员能够完成手术并在手术后取得成功。”三位外科医生花了四个小时才将布里斯的肩膀重新缝合在一起。

Of all the thousands of surgeries Andrews has performed, he says, “that was the No. 1 most memorable.”

他说，在安德鲁斯做过的数千次手术中，“那是最令人难忘的第一名。”

So as the years passed, the story of the short signal-caller who conquered insurmountable odds—the kind of story sportswriters love to tell almost as much as fans love to ingest—morphed into folklore.

因此，随着岁月的流逝，短信号呼叫者克服难以克服的困难的故事——体育记者喜欢讲述的故事几乎和球迷喜欢吸收的故事一样——演变成民间传说。

Brees became the 6-foot, twice-injured savior who scrapped his way to football immortality.

布里斯成为身高 6 英尺、两次受伤的救世主，他为足球不朽而奋斗。

The little quarterback who could .

小四分卫谁可以。

But any narrative that centered on height and shoulder surgery went too far.

但任何以身高和肩部手术为中心的叙述都太过分了。

It’s like we’re more proud of him for his greatness than we are transfixed by that greatness the way we are with, say, Brady and Rodgers and Manning.

就好像我们为他的伟大而感到自豪，而不是像布雷迪、罗杰斯和曼宁那样为他的伟大而震惊。

In other words: Brees’s path may have been unlikely.

换句话说：布里斯的道路可能不太可能实现。

But the quarterback?

但是四分卫呢？

Just great.

太棒了。

Come on .

快点 。

Brees threw for 90 TDs and almost 12,000 yards at Purdue.

布里斯在普渡大学投出了 90 次达阵和近 12,000 码。

He won his seventh passing title in 2016, 11 years after he won his first.

2016 年，他赢得了第七个传球冠军，距他赢得第一个冠军已有 11 年。

He owns five of the nine 5,000-yard-plus passing seasons in NFL history.

NFL 历史上 9 个超过 5,000 码的传球赛季中有 5 个是他拥有的。

More than half!

超过一半！

Sure, Brady and Rodgers had their own origin struggles, but the focus of their stories evolved to center on their otherworldly gifts.

当然，布雷迪和罗杰斯也有自己的起源之争，但他们故事的焦点逐渐集中在他们超凡脱俗的天赋上。

Brees?

布里斯？

Still the little guy with the big heart.

依然是那个心胸宽广的小家伙。

But consider the similarities.

但请考虑一下相似之处。

Like Rodgers, Brees is more athletic than he’s given credit for; he beat fellow Austin native Andy Roddick in junior tennis and played AAU ball with Chris Mihm.

和罗杰斯一样，布里斯的运动能力也超出了他的想象。他在青少年网球比赛中击败了奥斯汀本地人安迪·罗迪克（Andy Roddick），并与克里斯·米姆（Chris Mihm）一起打过 AAU 球。

Brees, too, has a legendary memory, full of slights, and a long history of overcompetitiveness—broken Ping Pong paddles, long silences after wayward golf drives—that borders on unhealthy.

布里斯也拥有传奇般的记忆力，充满了轻蔑，以及长期过度竞争的历史——破损的乒乓球拍、任性的高尔夫球击球后的长时间沉默——这些都近乎不健康。

Like Manning, he’s notorious for his preparation, whether spending an hour debating a single play in a game-plan meeting or overseeing every aspect of the itineraries of family vacations with the Fujitas.

和曼宁一样，他因准备工作而臭名昭著，无论是在比赛计划会议上花一个小时讨论单个比赛，还是监督与藤田一家家庭度假行程的各个方面。

Like Brady, he’s learned under a Canton-bound football genius, and he’s dependent on a long-in-place team that cares for his body, obsessing over nutrition, stretching and muscle pliability.

和布雷迪一样，他是在一位远赴广州的足球天才的指导下学习的，他依赖于一支长期关注他身体、注重营养、伸展和肌肉柔韧性的球队。

And also like the Pats’ quarterback, who told New England brass years ago that drafting him in the sixth round was the best decision the organization ever made, Brees stared his Chargers offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer dead in the face in 2004, as San Diego weighed drafting Brees’s replacement, and said, “That would be the worst f------ mistake this organization ever makes.”

多年前，帕茨四分卫告诉新英格兰队高层，在第六轮选中他是球队有史以来做出的最佳决定。2004年，当圣地亚哥考虑选拔布里斯的替代者时，布里斯死死地瞪着他的闪电队进攻协调员布莱恩·肖滕海默，并说道，“这将是这个组织有史以来犯下的最糟糕的错误。”

So what, exactly, makes Brees the underdog?

那么，究竟是什么让布里斯处于劣势呢？

What makes him any more human than those others?

是什么让他比其他人更具人性？

Short answer: nothing, unless we cling to a few inches of height.

简短的回答：没什么，除非我们坚持几英寸的高度。

And “we’re talking frog hairs here,” says Tom House, the longtime throwing guru who has long worked closely with both Brees and Brady.

“我们在这里谈论的是青蛙毛，”长期与布里斯和布雷迪密切合作的投掷大师汤姆·豪斯（Tom House）说道。

“If [Brees] was doing this stuff by himself, it would just be absolutely amazing.

– 如果 [Brees] 自己做这些事情，那绝对是令人惊奇的。

[But] he’s been hiding in a crowd.”

[但是]他一直躲在人群中。”

Now, all these years and broken records later, Tomlinson posits a more accurate look back.

现在，经过这么多年以及打破记录之后，汤姆林森提出了更准确的回顾。

Had Brees remained in San Diego for that 2006 season, when Tomlinson won league MVP and the Chargers went 14–2, he says they would have “probably gone undefeated” and won the Super Bowl.

2006 年汤姆林森赢得联盟 MVP，闪电队取得 14 比 2 的战绩，如果布里斯留在圣地亚哥，他说他们“可能会保持不败”并赢得超级碗。

Not as plucky, lovable hustlers.

不像那些勇敢、可爱的骗子。

But as an NFL powerhouse.

但作为 NFL 强队。

“He still hasn’t gotten the due he deserves,” says Tomlinson, now an NFL Network analyst.

“他仍然没有得到应有的回报，”现任 NFL 网络分析师的汤姆林森说道。

“We get enamored with size or appearance.

– 我们迷恋尺寸或外观。

Drew Brees is the most accurate quarterback in NFL history and he’s six feet.

德鲁·布里斯 (Drew Brees) 身高六英尺，是 NFL 历史上最准确的四分卫。

Wendell Pierce was filming a TV show in Moscow when he made time to watch Brees break the all-time passing record.

温德尔·皮尔斯 (Wendell Pierce) 在莫斯科拍摄电视节目时抽出时间观看布里斯 (Brees) 打破历史传球纪录。

The quarterback means that much to the New Orleans–born actor.

这位四分卫对于这位出生于新奥尔良的演员来说意义重大。

Pierce also remembers attending the NFC Championship Game in 2010 against the Vikings, and how an older gentleman in front of him just couldn’t bring himself to watch the overtime field goal attempt that might send the Saints to their first Super Bowl.

皮尔斯还记得参加 2010 年 NFC 冠军赛对阵维京人队的比赛，以及他面前的一位年长绅士如何无法观看加时赛的投篮尝试，而这可能会让圣徒队首次进入超级碗。

Pierce grabbed the man’s head and physically turned it toward the field.

皮尔斯抓住那个人的头，将其转向球场。

“Goddammit, we’ve been waiting all these years!” he shouted.

“该死的，我们等了这些年了！”他喊道。

“You’re going to watch this!”

“你会看到这个！”

When Garrett Hartley’s 40-yarder drifted through the uprights, the two men hugged and danced and cried like children.

当加勒特·哈特利 (Garrett Hartley) 的 40 码长杆飘过立柱时，两个人像孩子一样拥抱、跳舞、哭泣。

“I never got to see Jesse Owens run,” says Pierce.

“我从未见过杰西·欧文斯跑步，”皮尔斯说。

“I never saw Joe Louis box.

——我从未见过乔·路易斯的盒子。

But, man, if it isn’t special to be alive and watch Drew Brees every Sunday.”

但是，伙计，如果活着并每周日观看德鲁·布里斯并不特别的话。”

Cameron Jordan likes arguing with fans.

卡梅隆·乔丹喜欢与球迷争论。

“Just for fun,” he clarifies.

“只是为了好玩，”他澄清道。

The topic: Drew Brees is the single best quarterback in the history of the NFL.

主题：德鲁·布里斯 (Drew Brees) 是 NFL 历史上最好的四分卫。

The numbers make a compelling case: 73,580 passing yards on 6,494 completions, with a 67.3% connection rate, all records.

这些数字令人信服：6,494 次传球，传球码数为 73,580 码，接球率为 67.3%，均创下历史记录。

Then there’s his metronomic consistency: He last threw for fewer than 4,300 yards in 2005.

然后是他的节拍稳定性：他最后一次投掷距离不到 4,300 码是在 2005 年。

(Let’s preempt your freakout.

（让我们先制住你的恐慌。

No one is calling Brees the GOAT.

没有人称布里斯为“山羊”。

Just: His case is stronger than you might think.)

只是：他的理由比你想象的更有说服力。）

Fans arguing with Jordan inevitably bring up Brady’s five rings or Rodgers’s arm or Manning’s brain or Montana’s grace.

与乔丹争论的球迷不可避免地会提到布雷迪的五枚戒指、罗杰斯的手臂、曼宁的大脑或蒙大拿的优雅。

Jordan will stick to the numbers.

乔丹将坚持数字。

“Who’s had more passing seasons like Drew Brees?” he’ll ask.

“谁像德鲁·布里斯一样度过了更多的赛季？”他会问。

“I’ll wait.”

“我会等待。”

Jordan will reference an old Sport Science segment from 2009 that measured Brees’s accuracy throwing balls at a target.

乔丹将引用 2009 年的旧体育科学部分，该部分测量了布里斯将球投向目标的准确性。

The QB released each one at a launch angle of almost exactly 6 degrees, and his passes traveled an average of 52 miles per hour, with almost 600 revolutions per minute—not as hard as Patrick Mahomes , but sharp enough to hit open receivers all over the field.

这位四分卫以几乎正好 6 度的发射角度发射每一个球，他的传球平均每小时 52 英里，每分钟几乎 600 转——不像帕特里克·马霍姆斯那么猛烈，但足够锋利，可以击中全场空位的接球手。

Brees threw 10 balls from 20 yards and hit 10 bull’s-eyes—more accurate than most elite archers.

布里斯从 20 码处投掷 10 个球，击中 10 个靶心，比大多数精英弓箭手都准确。

“Who completes passes like Drew Brees?” Jordan asks.

“谁能像德鲁·布里斯那样完成传球？”乔丹问道。

“I’ll wait.”
Brees, he’ll note, is flirting with an 80% completion rate this season—that after setting an NFL record last year of 72%.

“我会等待。”他会指出，布里斯本赛季的完成率正接近 80%，去年创下了 NFL 72% 的记录。

He’s made 320-yard passing games his norm, turned pedestrian wideouts into household names and transformed the 10–1 Saints, again, into football’s scariest offense—all of which makes that whole underdog thing such a ridiculous sell.

他让 320 码的传球比赛成为常态，让行人外线成为家喻户晓的名字，并再次将 10-1 圣徒队变成了足球界最可怕的进攻，所有这些都让整个失败者的事情变得如此荒谬。

“Facts,” says Jordan.

“事实，”乔丹说。

“The only way that you underrate Drew is if you don’t count completion percentage, total yardage and touchdowns.”

“低估德鲁的唯一方法就是不计算完成百分比、总码数和达阵次数。”

Brees has won throwing deep and won throwing short.

布里斯赢得了深投和短投的胜利。

He’s won with the league’s 28th-best rushing attack, and he won 11 games last season with Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram becoming the first running-back tandem in NFL history to each surpass 1,500 yards from scrimmage.

他以联盟第 28 名的最佳冲球进攻获胜，上赛季他赢得了 11 场比赛，阿尔文·卡马拉 (Alvin Kamara) 和马克·英格拉姆 (Mark Ingram) 成为 NFL 历史上第一个距离混战距离超过 1,500 码的跑卫组合。

What he hasn’t won is what Jordan is so fired up about.

他没有赢得的正是乔丹如此兴奋的事情。

He’s never won an MVP award, not even after he broke Marino’s single-season passing mark in 2011, throwing for 5,476 yards.

他从未获得过 MVP 奖项，即使在 2011 年他打破了马里诺的单赛季传球纪录（5,476 码）之后也没有获得过 MVP 奖项。

(The MVP, with 48 of 50 votes: Rodgers, who threw for 800 fewer yards but won one more regular-season game.)

（MVP，50 票中的 48 票：罗杰斯，他的投球码数少了 800 码，但多赢了一场常规赛。）

House can explain as well as anyone why Brees deserves to be viewed in the same realm as his contemporaries.

豪斯可以像任何人一样解释为什么布里斯值得被视为与他同时代的人处于同一领域。

He believes Rodgers “is probably the most talented thrower in the history of the game,” followed by Brady and then Brees.

他相信罗杰斯“可能是这项运动历史上最有才华的投手”，其次是布雷迪和布里斯。

Brady, he says, is the savant with computerlike recall, followed by Brees and then Rodgers.

他说，布雷迪是具有计算机般记忆能力的专家，其次是布里斯，然后是罗杰斯。

And Brees, he says, is the best at controlling the game—processing information, making split-second decisions—ahead of Brady and then Rodgers.

他说，布里斯最擅长控制比赛——处理信息、做出瞬间决策——领先于布雷迪和罗杰斯。

“He orders chaos as well as anybody I’ve ever seen,” says House.

“他和我见过的任何人一样会制造混乱，”豪斯说。

As part of Brees’s training, House affixes the QB with a band that measures brain activity, and whether Brees is dripping sweat or taking a water break, his readings hardly change.

作为布里斯训练的一部分，豪斯在四分卫上贴了一条测量大脑活动的带子，无论布里斯是在流汗还是在喝水，他的读数都几乎没有变化。

That he doesn’t look the part, like Brady, Manning or Rodgers, is beside the point.

他看起来不像布雷迪、曼宁或罗杰斯，这不是重点。

Ignore the dad camouflage.

忽略爸爸的伪装。

He throws and obsesses and prepares and cajoles and competes just like those others.

他像其他人一样投球、着迷、准备、哄骗和竞争。

Again: splitting frog hairs.

再次：劈开青蛙毛。

Instead of debating the merits of each quarterback, House proposes, we should kick up our feet and crack open a beer.

豪斯建议，我们不应该争论每个四分卫的优点，而应该站起来，打开啤酒。

He compares it to modern-day men’s tennis.

他将其与现代男子网球进行了比较。

It doesn’t get any better, might never be this good again.

它不会变得更好，可能永远不会再这么好。

Brady is Roger Federer, the regal king with the most titles.

布雷迪就是罗杰·费德勒，拥有最多冠军头衔的王者。

Rodgers is Rafael Nadal, the artist whose very artistry makes him more susceptible to injury.

罗杰斯就是拉斐尔·纳达尔，这位艺术家的艺术性使他更容易受伤。

And Brees is Novak Djokovic , the technician, the one whose greatness isn’t as readily apparent, who is sometimes overshadowed by shinier objects.

布里斯就是诺瓦克·德约科维奇，一位技术员，他的伟大之处并不那么明显，有时会被更闪亮的物体所掩盖。

Like the bouncy house.

就像充气屋一样。

“They all go about their brilliance in their own way,” House says.

“他们都以自己的方式展现自己的才华，”豪斯说。

“We should just enjoy that we get to watch it.”

“我们应该享受观看它的乐趣。”

Last year someone sent Archie Manning a photo from an honors ceremony.

去年，有人给阿奇·曼宁发了一张荣誉仪式的照片。

Pictured: Marino, Brett Favre and Archie’s son Peyton, along with a caption noting the 200,000-plus passing yards accounted for in that one snapshot.

图为：马里诺、布雷特·法夫尔和阿奇的儿子佩顿，并附有说明文字，指出该快照中的传球码数超过 200,000 码。

But now, Archie points out, you could swap in Brees for Marino and that number would go up, past 215,000.

但现在，Archie 指出，你可以用 Brees 换成 Marino，这个数字将会上升，超过 215,000。

That’s football today in a nutshell, he says: “If Patrick Mahomes plays into his 40s, he’ll have 100,000 yards.”

简而言之，这就是今天的足球，他说：“如果帕特里克·马霍姆斯踢到 40 多岁，他将有 100,000 码。”

Records indeed fall.

记录确实下降了。

Peyton Manning sent his father a text message recently.

佩顿·曼宁最近给他的父亲发了一条短信。

There’s a kid at Peyton’s old high school, Isidore Newman, who broke his single-season passing record.

佩顿以前的高中有一个孩子，伊西多尔·纽曼，他打破了他的单赛季传球记录。

“All my records!” he wrote.

“我所有的记录！”他写道。

“They’re all gone!” In the NFL they fell to Brees, mostly.

“他们都走了！”在 NFL，他们大多输给了布里斯。

For now.

目前。

So it’s the first weekend in November.

这是十一月的第一个周末。

Louisiana is the center of the football universe.

路易斯安那州是足球世界的中心。

On Saturday, No. 1 Alabama will tango with No. 3 LSU in Baton Rouge.

周六，排名第一的阿拉巴马州队将在巴吞鲁日与排名第三的路易斯安那州立大学队进行探戈。

On Sunday the Saints welcome the 8–0 Rams.

周日，圣徒队将迎来 8:0 公羊队的比赛。

But first: Brees, sliding comfortably into dad mode, is “super pumped” and “really, really excited” for a series of flag football playoff games on Friday night at City Park in New Orleans.

但首先：布里斯轻松地进入了爸爸模式，对周五晚上在新奥尔良城市公园举行的一系列腰旗橄榄球季后赛感到“超级兴奋”并且“非常非常兴奋”。

There’s chaos on the sidelines—kids snacking on chicken fingers, moms discreetly pouring wine into cups, a deejay blasting Drake at max volume.

场边一片混乱——孩子们在吃鸡手指，妈妈们小心翼翼地把酒倒进杯子里，DJ 开最大音量播放 Drake。

.

。

.

。

.

。

And Brees stands in the center of it all, assigning order to the mayhem, chomping gum like a young Pete Carroll.

布里斯站在这一切的中心，为混乱制定秩序，像年轻的皮特·卡罗尔一样嚼着口香糖。

His first- and second-graders win two playoff games with a power outage sandwiched in between.

他的一年级和二年级学生赢得了两场季后赛，中间夹着一次停电。

Dusk gives way to darkness.

黄昏让位于黑暗。

The lights come back on.

灯又亮了。

Imagine what it must be like to stand on the opposite sideline, coaching your kids, only to look across and see the NFL’s chief record breaker holding that black binder.

想象一下，站在对面的场边指导你的孩子，却看到对面拿着那个黑色活页夹的 NFL 首席纪录打破者，会是什么样子。

Brees’s older team, the third- and fourth-graders, takes the field last.

布里斯的老队，即三年级和四年级的学生，排在最后。

They fall behind, roar back to tie it up and just miss an extra point that would have settled the whole thing in regulation.

他们落后了，咆哮着追平比分，却错过了本来可以在规则中解决整个问题的额外一分。

For a second Brees flashes that thing that makes him Brees—arms splayed out, face twisted into another grimace.

一瞬间，布里斯的脑海中闪现出让他感到布里斯的东西——双臂张开，脸扭曲成另一个鬼脸。

Then the Boilermakers lose in overtime and Brees gathers them in a huddle, telling them as they wipe tears from their eyes that they should be proud of their season.

然后锅炉制造商队在加时赛中输掉了比赛，布里斯把他们聚集在一起，一边擦眼泪一边告诉他们应该为自己的赛季感到自豪。

Two days later Brees will throw four touchdowns, handing Sean McVay and company their first loss of the season.

两天后，布里斯将投出四次达阵，让肖恩·麦克维和他的团队迎来本赛季的第一次失利。

He’ll say afterward that he has no imminent plan to retire, no long-term vision after football beyond expanding his flag league and coaching his own kids.

他事后会说，除了扩大自己的旗帜联赛和执教自己的孩子之外，他没有立即退休的计划，也没有退役后的长期愿景。

In all this, he’s not actively trying to change his story.

在这一切中，他并没有积极尝试改变他的故事。

But with the history he’s making and in the records he’s ignoring, the narrative surrounding Brees and his career is becoming more accurate.

但随着他创造的历史和他忽视的记录，围绕布里斯和他的职业生涯的叙述变得更加准确。

Yes, the injury and the surgery and the recovery are still part of it.

是的，受伤、手术和康复仍然是其中的一部分。

So is Katrina.

卡特里娜飓风也是如此。

But so are all the numbers, and the wins, and the performances that are, dare we say, superhuman.

但所有的数字、胜利和表现也是如此，我们敢说，是超人的。

They’re the reason Bobby Hebert, the Saints quarterback turned broadcaster, wonders in all seriousness whether local officials will replace the city’s torn-down Robert E.

这就是为什么圣徒队四分卫转型为广播员的鲍比·赫伯特（Bobby Hebert）认真地想知道当地官员是否会取代这座城市被拆毁的罗伯特·E·赫伯特（Robert E.

Lee monument with a statue dedicated to the quarterback.

李纪念碑上有一尊四分卫的雕像。

Ruffins, Carville, Pierce—they’re all right.

鲁芬斯、卡维尔、皮尔斯——他们都很好。

It’s time to see Brees the way they’ve long viewed him, regardless of height or appearance or false premises.

现在是时候以他们长期以来看待布里斯的方式来看待他了，无论身高、外表或错误的前提如何。

They know the real story, that of the genius-surgeon-robo-quarterback and the dad absorbed in flag football 48 hours before the season’s biggest game.

他们知道真实的故事，即天才外科医生、机器人四分卫和父亲在赛季最重要的比赛前 48 小时热衷于腰旗橄榄球的故事。

That Brees can be both of those things at once doesn’t make him any less heroic than Brady, Manning or Rodgers.

布里斯同时具备这两种能力，但这并不意味着他不比布雷迪、曼宁或罗杰斯更英勇。

It just makes him Drew Brees, one of the greatest quarterbacks, if not the greatest, who ever lived.

这让他成为了德鲁·布里斯（Drew Brees），即使不是有史以来最伟大的四分卫，也是最伟大的四分卫之一。

GREG BISHOP Greg Bishop is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who has covered every kind of sport and every major event across six continents for more than two decades.

格雷格·毕肖普 (GREG BISHOP) 格雷格·毕肖普 (Greg Bishop) 是《体育画报》的资深撰稿人，二十多年来，他报道了六大洲的各种体育运动和每一项重大赛事。

He previously worked for The Seattle Times and The New York Times.

他此前曾在《西雅图时报》和《纽约时报》工作。

He is the co-author of two books: Jim Gray's memoir, "Talking to GOATs"; and Laurent Duvernay Tardif's "Red Zone".

他是两本书的合著者：吉姆·格雷的回忆录《与山羊交谈》；以及洛朗·杜韦内·塔迪夫的《红区》。

Bishop has written for Showtime Sports, Prime Video and DAZN, and has been nominated for eight sports Emmys, winning two, both for production.

Bishop 曾为 Showtime Sports、Prime Video 和 DAZN 撰稿，并获得八项体育艾美奖提名，并赢得两项，均为制作作品。

He has completed more than a dozen documentary film projects, with a wide range of duties.

他已完成十多个纪录片项目，职责广泛。

Bishop, who graduated from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, is based in Seattle.

毕肖普毕业于锡拉丘兹大学纽豪斯学院，现居西雅图。