Kreutz: For me personally, I had a coach in New Orleans, and he was here, in Aaron Kromer. If I would’ve spent one more minute with him I would’ve torn his head off. I had to get out of that building. Didn’t feel comfortable in there. Just, just really a bad situation for me at the time where I knew if this guy said one more thing to me I would’ve put him in the hospital. McNeil & Parkins: What did Kromer say to you that you hated so much? Kreutz: Oh it was months. It was months. It was months of saying things to someone who’s 34, 35 years old and put in all that time. It was months of things that you shouldn’t say to a grown man without expecting an (expletive)-whooping. It was months of it, and it came down to where enough was enough and I couldn’t be in the room with that guy one more day. I knew that it wouldn’t be good for the team for me to be there any more. And I know that when I stood up to go after him and somebody grabbed me and I threw him against the wall, and it was Drew Brees, it was time for me to go. M & P: You threw Drew Brees against the wall? Kreutz: Yeah, that would’ve been my last day in New Orleans. (laughs). M & P: That’s a future Hall of Famer, face of the franchise. you threw Brees against the wall? Kreutz: Listen, Hall of Famer or not, you don’t grab people. ---------- As much as this debunked my self-assuring theory that Drew Brees steps off the practice field and gets rolled around the Saints' facilities in a protective bubble that somehow prolongs his youth, I do have to tip my cap to Olin Kreutz here. Seeing as the person who went on to absolutely obliterate records during that same season was no worse for the wear, credit has to be given to the savvy veteran signing gone awry. After all, if he did nothing else right in NOLA, he did know how to make one hell of an exit...
I don't know much about the internal operations of the New Orleans Saints, but I feel pretty confident in saying that laying one finger on Drew Brees in an aggressive manner is the quickest way on to the same street on which you'll later find your bags packed. Olin Kreutz may not have made the best player or teammate during his short time in black and gold, but - as an employee - he got to the live out the dream of making a shocking spectacle of his decided departure. Slamming the franchise quarterback, especially one of Drew Brees' acclaim, against the wall is as "fuck this, I'm out!" as it gets, and we all want to feel comfortable enough come the conclusion of our career to do something similar, albeit less superhuman. Considering the typical demeanor of offensive line coaches, it's not too tough to understand how someone who was already on the verge of retirement got bull-rushed over the edge. The demands of blocking for the best are rigorous, so it's not really surprising that a 35 year old who must have been made physically and mentally exhausted by years of hopelessly blocking for Rex Grossman and Jay Cutler wasn't entirely up to the task. For that reason, the only thing keeping this anecdote from having an "all's well that ends well" type conclusion is that, in my biased opinion, it should be one of the tales repeatedly told during the reunions of the Saints' second Super Bowl team, as 2011 will forever be the one that got away.
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