New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees
Weekly Media Availability
Tuesday, October 26, 2016

What makes this Seattle defense so effective?

"There extremely well-coached, they really invented that scheme that a lot of people are trying to replicate, but hard to do when you don't have the personnel. They're so good in so many areas from the front four, to the line backing core, to the secondary. There is really not a weak link in the defense, you just have to be your absolute best when it comes to execution and put yourself in favorable positions as an offense making sure you're in third and manageable situations and you're understanding the pressure and just making sure you get positive plays."

Is it possible to say they are the best defense you have faced in your career?

"Yeah, I mean obviously I feel like I have faced some good ones. I have faced a lot of really good players and kind of different teams that roll in at different times, but these guys over the last four or five years, I think it's rare to have a stretch of time where you just have so much consistency on one side of the ball, not just in the players that are there, but just in their performance is pretty remarkable."

Does good defense beat good offense?

"Depends on the day, I just know what it's going to take for us to win this game. I know that they're extremely talented in everything that they do so we have to be at our absolute best and we're in a situation in the season where this is the next game and it's the most important game and we have to have it."

How weird will it be to see Jimmy Graham in a Seahawks uniform in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome?

"Yeah it's going to be weird, obviously we had a lot of good years here with Jimmy (Graham), hated to see him go we were close and he was close with a lot of guys and we all loved Jimmy and we understand things like that happen in this league. I'm sure he's going to be pretty amped up to be back, but I know our fan base loved him and loved what he did for New Orleans and did for our team. There is a lot of love there."

Have you talked to Jimmy Graham this week?

"No we haven't and we're great friends, he's like a brother to me he really is, but I know this week he's probably going to be locked and loaded just like I will be this week."

Have there been issues in the screen game this season?

"I mean I'd say we probably haven't attempted a ton of them, maybe not like historically like we have, maybe our numbers are down just a little bit in that regard, but numbers are up in other places so I think it just comes and goes, but obviously every week we have called them it's just a matter if you find the right opportunities to call them."

Any thoughts about being on a career pace for touchdown passes?

"Nope, no thoughts, just playing ball, just focusing on winning games that's all that matters right now just trying to win however we can do that."

Is it overblown when someone switches teams and you pick their brain about what that other team does? I asked that to Richard Sherman. Do you need to rely on what you can see on film more than what someone can offer to you?

"I think there are some benefits to it, but you gameplan so much. I mean every opponent we face we spend countless hours' game planning those guys and trying to give them different looks they haven't seen. Make them think something is what they think it is, but it's not, I'm sure they are trying to do the same thing. Maybe there is insight there and maybe there's not I mean it depends on how far removed you are too. I mean things tend to change pretty rapidly in this league, even week to week it's almost like a totally different gameplan that you have to learn."

Are there any stats you would hope to set career bests in?

"Wins, at this stage in my career I really do not care about anything else other than how do you find ways to win, get in the playoffs and put ourselves in position to win a championship. At the end of the day that's how I'm going to measure myself, that's what I am focused on."

What has Max Unger meant to this team?

"Max has been as good as I ever could have imagined, not only just his production, but his leadership ability and his toughness and the presence he brings to the locker room and to that offensive line room and to our team. He is tremendous, he was voted a captain this year and that was an easy decision, easy choice because he represents everything you'd want in a captain."

What is the biggest challenge having such a young receiving corps, the youngest you've ever worked with and what's the best part of that?

"The biggest challenge obviously is just the time that we have together. If I can go back and say when we were rolling with Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Robert Meachem and Lance Moore these were guys that we had four, five, six, seven years together and you can just imagine the amount of reps that we had been through together in practice, games in all the situations, all the film studying. When things would happen in a game that maybe we hadn't seen in a while it wasn't foreign to us because we had been there done that and so it just seemed to be there. The skill was formed and we just knew what to do. With young guys you have to get them to that level, but our guys are smart, tough and most importantly they are hungry, competitive and want to be great players and they're not afraid to put the time and energy to get to that point and again each and every week it's so different as far as what you're putting in the gameplan and when you get to game time we've talked about it, we've repped it, we've been through all the scenarios and then when it happens in a game we've already visualized it."

What does Max Unger do well?

"All I can say is his contributions to the team have been immeasurable. He's been tremendous and I'm very thankful for Max and thankful he's on our team."

Did the trade that involved him and Jimmy Graham surprise you?

"Yeah it did, it was surprising to a lot of people. None of us expected it or saw it coming, but again it happened a while ago and it's current now because Jimmy is coming to town for the first time, but again every guy in this locker room loved playing with Jimmy Graham and still love Jimmy Graham, but he's a Seattle Seahawk this week."

How do you think of what you can do differently when the team isn't winning, even though you are playing at a high level?

"When you win it's easy to turn the page after the win and say we'll get it figured out because we won and it's all good, but when you lose that one or two things just eat at you, just gnaw at you. Those are harder to swallow and you just understand that there is not much room for error. You have to be ultra-efficient and that's ok. That's just the way this game is and I know that I can be better. I know there are some things that came up in that game where I shake my head and say I need to be better in order for us to play our absolute best."

Does the clock in the QBs head need to be a little faster playing the Seahawks?

"Yeah, these guys can get after you in the pass rush and that's their MO. They have been extremely good at it the last few years and you definitely have to know when the ball has to come out."

What's the fine line between getting it out quickly and just relaxing and playing?

"I mean relax and play, you just play fast, trust what you see and trust the clock in your head and trust your feet, so trust."