METAIRIE, La. -- Bad memories of Saints quarterback Drew Brees completing 32 of 39 passes against his team on a Super Bowl Sunday back in 2010 have come flooding back to Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell this week.More than half a decade has passed since Brees and the Saints beat Caldwells Indianapolis Colts in the NFLs championship game. Brees had just turned 31. He was in his prime then -- and still is.Hes still obviously performing great, Caldwell said Wednesday, as the Lions prepared to visit New Orleans on Sunday.He spreads it around quite a bit, you know, and hes accurate as a day is long. You can tell by his numbers hes difficult to manage, difficult to handle.Brees play might not be generating as much attention as it would if the Saints (5-6) werent a game below .500 and struggling to stay relevant in the NFC playoff picture.But the fact is he might very well break his 2011 completion rate record of 71.2 percent, and could very well wind up leading the NFL in yards and touchdowns passing while hes at it.After completing nearly 80 percent of his passes in New Orleans past two games, Brees has a season-long completion rate of 71.5 percent.Last Sunday, Brees completed nearly 78 percent of his passes (28 of 36) for 310 yards and four touchdowns against the Los Angeles Rams, who entered the game with the sixth-ranked pass defense in the league.That marked the fourth time this season Brees has completed 77.1 percent or more of his throws in a game this season.Accuracy is part of it, but thats nothing new. Brees has been known to orchestrate accuracy competitions with fellow Saints QBs throughout training camp.In one appearance on 60 Minutes he stood on the 20-yard line and fired a ball off the crossbar. In a Sports Science episode, he hit a target with accuracy similar to that of an archer.Apparently, hes still got it.I feel like Ive become smarter, wiser through experience, Brees said. I work hard at my craft. The stats dont always tell the story.Theres certainly areas where Im continuing to try to improve. But I think, all in all, I feel good. I feel good about my preparation, about my process, and thats all I really focus on.Meanwhile, New Orleans has run the ball better lately, which forces defenses to respect play-action fakes.Also, Brees trio of young receivers has been blossoming, and running back Mark Ingram, who learned a thing or two about catching passes from his ex-NFL receiver father, has been a reliable option on screens and check-downs.When a quarterbacks completion rate is as high as Brees is, there are a lot of things that go into it,Lions safety Glover Quin said. For one, if youre running the ball well, then youre probably going to have a lot of wide-open throws.You can mix in play-action, mix in quick screens, you can mix in quick (outs) because (defenders) are so concentrated on stopping the run, Quin said.You can mix in a max-protect and take a shot down the field. Then if the guys are catching the ball, the completion percentage is probably going to be high.The offensive line has played pretty well, too, giving up 18 sacks, which is tied for sixth fewest in the NFL.We have a generational player at quarterback. Like, you hope you get the one in five -- thats the level hes at. For some reason he doesnt get that type of recognition, Saints right tackle Zach Strief said.You see lists and hes not in the top five. I mean, its just like preposterous, right? If you can give that guy time, I dont care who your receivers are and who the defense is, he will get it to some open guys.Brees leads the NFL with 3,587 yards passing and 30 TDs, putting him on pace for 5,217 yards and about 44 TDs, which would be marginally below career highs he set in both categories in 2011.A key to his completion rate this season, Brees said, has come down to decision-making, such making multiple reads and often opting for the easiest throw. The veteran QB recalled an expression he hear from Marty Schottenheimer, his former coach in San Diego, who told him, You never go broke taking a profit.At the end of the day, even if a completion gets you 2 or 3 yards, its better than taking that sack or having to throw the ball away, Brees said. Its the difference between third-and-5 and third-and-7 or third-and-8. Thats a big difference.Completions are good. Positive plays are good, Brees added. Plus I think theres a flow and a rhythm (for the offense) that goes into that as well.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---AP Sports Writer Larry Lage in Allen Park, Michigan, contributed to this report.Air Max 97 Canada Sale .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. Nike Air Max Motion Canada . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. http://www.clearanceairmaxcanada.com/air-max2-light-canada-sale.html . Philadelphia is 2-0 against the Senators this season and scored five goals in each victory. The Flyers recorded a 5-0 win in Ottawa on Nov. 12 and then earned a 5-2 home decision on Nov. 19. The Flyers have claimed three straight and four of the last five encounters with the Sens overall and Philly has won two in a row and three of its past four tests in Canadas capital city. Air Max 98 Canada . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. Nike Air Max 93 Canada . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that.Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistans captain, has called on his batsmen to rise to their biggest challenge of competing in English conditions, to give a powerful bowling attack - that looks set to be led by the returning Mohammad Amir - enough runs to put England under pressure.Misbah, who led Pakistan to a 2-0 series win in the UAE in their last campaign against England, praised the manner in which his team has gelled in the six years since the controversies of their 2010 tour.However, he emphasised that a series win in England was the point they had to prove to draw a line under the spot-fixing scandal that tarnished their image on their last visit to Lords.This is the biggest challenge for us in a long time, Misbah said during the Investec Test series launch at Lords. This is the best chance for us, and me as a captain, to perform here especially in these conditions. Thats the point we have to prove.To perform in England, Australia, even South Africa, these are the tours where you really develop your team. The 2010 tour, I think, was a tough tour, but guys like Azhar Ali did well in tough conditions and situations, and that makes you a better player.Pakistans exhaustive preparations for this series have included training camps in Lahore and at the Ageas Bowl in Hampshire, prior to a satisfactory first outing of the tour against Somerset this week, in which Younis Khan and Azhar both made hundreds, and Asad Shafiq chipped in with a brace of half-centuries.Either side of those performances, Amir impressed with three top-order wickets while legspinner Yasir Shah - who is also making a comeback after serving a three-month suspension for a doping violation - showcased his form with two wickets.Thats a fact that, whoever comes from Asia in these conditions, the batting really has to stand up, Misbah said. If you can put good scores on the board, the Pakistan seam attack is good, and weve got the best spinner at the moment whos really bowling well. We really have to stand up as a batting unit and give them good scores, and we are capable of doing well against them.Throughout their preparations for the series, Pakistan have treated the England tour as the culmination of a long campaign to restore their image, and Misbah praised the extent to which his players had bought into that vision. With Mickey Arthur installed alongside him to add extra discipline as a coach, the signs are promising in the lead-up to the Lords Test. I think weve done really well in the llast six years and all credit to the players, Misbah said.dddddddddddd Weve understood what was going on with the Pakistan team at that time, and they responded really well in terms of performances, roles and especially, their off-field behaviours. Its about restoring that image for Pakistan and, as a whole, its quite satisfying.The focus will doubtless be on Amir come the first morning at Lords, and though Misbah conceded he had not initially been in favour of his recall following his five-year ban, he insisted he was now fully supportive of his reintegration, not least because it was what Pakistans fans wanted for their star bowler.Obviously those are decisions not in your control, Misbah said. More importantly it is the fans and how they reacted, they wanted to see him back playing and so they [the PCB] made the decision with the support of the ICC. So we are there to support him, everyone wants to see him playing again.Plenty has been said and written about the reception that Amir, and Pakistan as a whole, will receive when they take the field next Thursday, but already Misbah was blocking his ears to the off-field noise.Honestly speaking, I dont care about these things, he said. Personally I focus on whats going on in the middle, and how [Amir] performs when he bowls, thats what we are looking for.Hes got the best chance to prove himself out in the middle, and he doesnt need to worry about whats happening with thousands of spectators saying something. He just has to focus on whats going on in the middle.I think hes bowling really well even on flat tracks in T20 cricket, one-day cricket, four-day cricket, he added. His pace is there, hes swinging the ball, hes got all the tricks to get batsmen under pressure. But one more thing is that hes more mature. He wasnt that mature at that time [in 2010], but that maturity can help him now.On the subject of maturity, Misbah himself conceded his slight concern that, at the age of 42, this campaign may yet prove to be a bridge too far for, arguably, Pakistans most influential captain since Imran Khan - and scores of 0 and 19 in the tour match at Taunton were inconclusive. Nevertheless, he insisted he was eager for the challenge, and that in itself would help to get him through.Thats what you always really fear, he said. But when there is no hunger, theres no need to play. ' ' '
