Drew Brees Absolutely Dissected the Defense in Sunday's One-Man Rehearsal for Monday Night Football

Drew Brees is still @drewbrees . Everyone else is done for the day, but he’s still out here by himself getting his extra mental reps.#WhoDat

~$HOWTIME pic.twitter.com/f1dkT7kTDp

— Reggie Jones (@RegJones20) December 15, 2019

Yesterday, @ReggieBush saw Drew Brees going through mental reps after the team's walkthrough and broke down what it means

Sound UP □#Saints pic.twitter.com/WM5dWjmYht

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) December 16, 2019

​Domination. A mercilessly clinical shredding unlike almost any we could ever dream of actually seeing. What Drew Brees did in manipulating the secondary he vividly envisioned in his own head, like each defensive back had its own string on the dummy defense he was puppeteering, was the exact type of stuff his legend will come to be made of. Sunday’s slaying of shadows probably won't occupy too much time on his career highlight package, but that doesn’t mean it’s not just as important, if not more so, to the explanation of his excellence. 

Above is your proof that only a thin line exists between insane and amazing, with the former often ushering in the latter. Saints’ fans weren’t just quick to take the under on the timetable of Brees’ thumb injury out of blind optimism. There was very much reason to believe he’d magically maneuver out of the constraints of modern medical practices. That reason was because he’s a psychotic competitor, which means he can often be mistaken as merely a psycho whenever he’s not literally competing against anyone other than his own insatiable self...   

Bruhhhhhh this dude is something else lmaoooooo. No way he’s missing more than 4 games.

pic.twitter.com/WDvi0DCXP2

— Ian (@IanHow33) September 29, 2019

To be fair, I’m being biased. I would be fast to make fun of almost any other quarterback who stayed well after practice to play with himself for an hour. That bias, however, is born of watching a “6 foot tall", athletically limited passer pulverize professional football, in a way almost no other quarterback has, by way of deadly accuracy and such an acute awareness and understanding of defenses that he often times doesn’t even have to see them to actively avoid them (or coax them into avoiding him). I don't know that it's always true that you play like you practice, but it's a saying that would certainly explain why Drew Brees regularly looks like he's effortlessly acting (and reacting) out a premonition on game days. 
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I understand the desire to crack jokes at the expense of someone dapping up invisible men after executing an audible on an entirely open field, because "mental reps” are nearly indecipherable from manic episodes. However, with a 40-year-old being only one week removed from the type of prime performance that was him two touchdowns short of the record NFL record and a couple hours away from starring in a time slot where he’s proven beyond torturous, I think I might suppress that urge...

Holy wow. Craziest stat of the day.

Saints' Drew Brees has 4,194 pass yards (349.5 per game) and a 39-6 TD/INT ratio for a 124.8 rating in his past 12 appearances on Monday Night Football.

— John Hendrix (@JohnJHendrix) December 12, 2019

​Those who are well into retirement after winning a Super Bowl alongside Drew Brees a goddamn decade ago are enamored with his certifiably insane preparation for a reason, and it’s because the results call for more reverence towards the otherwise irrational than an unconditional belief in organized religion.