Marching In

The man has something important to say to Drew Brees. It is a warm afternoon early in the new year and Brees, the 28-year-old quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, is walking through Audubon Park, a 400-acre preserve not far from the century-old home that he and his wife, Brittany, bought last spring in New Orleans's Uptown. The man is walking with his wife and pushing an infant in a stroller. He extends his right hand to Brees as they pass on a walking path. "Thank you for what you've done for this city," he says. "I want you to know that we appreciate it."

Brees squeezes the man's hand and nods. "You're welcome," he says. "And thank you."

Now a red SUV passing on St. Charles Avenue honks its horn twice and the driver leans out the window in slow-moving traffic. "Thanks, Drew!" she shouts, waving.

Brees smiles and waves back. "That happens 10 times a day, at least," he says. "And it's never 'Good game,' or 'Can I have your autograph?' It's always somebody saying thank you." He looks at the ground and shakes his head, as if again humbled by the remarkable place where he has landed.

"He is a god down here right now," says chef Emeril Lagasse, owner of three New Orleans restaurants and a Saints season-ticker holder for two decades. "He is the miracle man."

A year ago the quarterback was wounded and the city reeling. Brees lay in a hospital bed with a shoulder injury so severe that even his surgeon wondered if he'd play again. The San Diego Chargers, who'd drafted him out of Purdue in 2001, had cast him aside with what Brees considered an insulting contract offer, and he and his wife were reconsidering their plans to start a family. New Orleans, meanwhile, lay in ruins, struggling to find traction after Hurricane Katrina. Now they are joined. Brees is steering the Saints on an improbable ride toward their first Super Bowl--"Without him we just wouldn't be here," says right tackle Jon Stinchcomb. "It's that simple"--an emotional journey that has given New Orleanians weekly respite from the otherwise unrelenting work of recovery.

"I play football for a job," says Brees. "But all this, it goes way beyond football."

Although the football can be pretty good. Last Saturday night the reborn Louisiana Superdome was filled again, as it has been for every home game this season, quivering with a desperate, ear-splitting energy as the Saints won just the second playoff game in their 40-year history, a 27--24 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Next Sunday, New Orleans plays for the conference championship against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.

Brees completed 20 of 32 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown. He did not throw an interception and has thrown just one in the last seven games. It was yet another solid performance in an All-Pro season during which he led the NFL with 4,418 passing yards. Yet Brees did nothing of greater value for his team on this night than put the ball in the hands of Deuce McAllister.

Selected 23rd by the Saints out of Mississippi in the 2001 draft, nine spots ahead of Brees, McAllister rushed for 143 yards (a Saints playoff record and his highest single-game total since '03) and one touchdown and scored another on an 11-yard swing pass from Brees. Twice he put his stamp on the game. On a five-yard touchdown run that brought New Orleans within 21--20 with 9:36 to play in the third quarter, the 6'1", 232-pound McAllister was hit at the four and drove a pile of a dozen players into the end zone. And after the Eagles punted with 1:56 to play, trailing by three with two timeouts left, McAllister carried three times to earn the first down that sealed the victory as 70,001 fans roared Dooooooooce!

McAllister is the Saints' alltime leading rusher, but he had never been in a playoff game until Saturday. Last season he tore his right ACL and missed the final 11 games; and this season he had to sublimate his ego by sharing his position with Heisman Trophy--winning rookie Reggie Bush. But the load-sharing has had its benefits. "I haven't had to carry this team," McAllister says. "Now my body is in the best shape it's ever been in at the end of a season. And you've got to run the ball in the playoffs."

Bush ran it too, as part of a wild night that began for him with a crushing, video-game hit from Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown that left him crawling across the turf in pain. He returned to rush for 52 yards on 12 carries, including a 25-yard scamper in the first quarter and a four-yard touchdown in the second, both on signature cutback moves. "I find myself getting ready to block whenever he's got the ball," says Brees. "It's never dull with Reggie."