IRVING, Texas - Drew Brees has experience playing football in the aftermath of tragedy.
In his first year with the Saints, the city of New Orleans was still suffering greatly from the damage of Hurricane Katrina. Many parts of the city were still in shambles, thousands of people were still displaced and very few citizens had many things to smile about.
But in 2006, the Saints returned to New Orleans and in their first game back in the Superdome, a place of refuge during the worst days of Katrina, Brees led the team to an inspiring 23-3 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
The Saints made it all the way to the NFC Championship that year, despite being just 3-13 the season before. Three years later, the Saints were Super Bowl champions.
Brees has taken an active role in the community of New Orleans in his time as a Saint and the organization has provided the people of the city brief, but satisfying moments of distraction from the natural disaster that ripped through their lives.
While the two situations are drastically different, on Wednesday Brees shared his thoughts about the Cowboys’ recent tragedy involving the death of Jerry Brown.
“That’s extremely tough,” Brees said. “I can only imagine what the organization has been through and the team losing a teammate and obviously the circumstances surrounding it.”
Of course, every situation is different and they must be handled accordingly. However, Brees did go on to talk about the difficulty and importance of remaining focused at a time that would usually be reserved for grieving.
“If anything, I feel like it brings people together,” Brees said. “It’s definitely tough to deal with that type of tragedy. You can do one of two things. It can cause you to go backward or it can motivate you to move forward and honor the memory of the person that you lost and try to do all of the things that you feel like they would have wanted to see you do. Keep them in your heart and try to move forward.”
