NEW ORLEANS -- Somewhere in Atlanta, Nick Saban might have interrupted his film work for Monday night's College Football Playoff National Championship to hurl his remote against a wall. Drew Brees had just thrown an 80-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter of what would be a rollicking playoff victory for the New Orleans Saints over the Carolina Panthers -- the same Drew Brees who might have kept Saban in the pros in Miami, fighting his buddy Bill Belichick for control of the AFC East.
You know the story. In the spring of 2006, Dolphins doctors were worried enough about the right shoulder Brees wrecked in his final San Diego game to persuade Saban to sign Daunte Culpepper instead.