DALLAS // Drew Brees, the Super Bowl winning MVP with the New Orleans Saints last year, believes Sunday's title game will be a great one and is relishing the duel between two of the league's top quarterbacks.
Brees, whose outstanding displays at quarterback led the Saints to their first ever Super Bowl win over the Indianapolis Colts, said that the match-up between the quarterbacks, Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger and Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers, comes down to a battle between experience and guts.
"They are different but they are the same in a lot of ways," he said.
"They are both great athletes, they both can avoid the sack, avoid the rush, get out of the pocket, make plays with their feet and their arms, make big plays, so that makes them very unique and special as players.
"Big Ben has been in this game twice before so the experience level is in his favour. Aaron Rodgers, I think what he has been able to achieve in three years as starting quarterback for the Packers, filling the shoes of a legend, a future Hall of Famer, Brett Favre, that was a hard thing to do.
"I think it took a lot of guts, a lot of character and I think it says a lot about him. I look forward to the duel."
Brees, who said he had needed to take some very deep breaths at the start of last year's clash in Miami, said he was sure Rodgers would be able to cope with his first appearance in the Super Bowl.
"He'll be fine. You are going to be nervous, it's how quickly can you fall into that groove and realize that it is just a ball game," he said.
"My heart was pounding, as prepared as I was and as confident as I was, still you just can't help but be caught up in the moment.
"That's probably the biggest challenge, just finding a way to calm it all down and you realize, midway into the first quarter that it is just another game, I'm programmed to do this, this is what I do, so just relax and play.
"It's going to be a great game, two great teams, that deserve to be here, two great offenses and defenses. You really can't find much of a weakness in what either team does. They are two legendary organizations that have won nine Super Bowls between them".
Brees, who on Saturday presented the Vicks NyQuil NFL Most Dedicated Fan contest to two Saints fans, said said that the week-long build-up, with extensive media and sponsor commitments, knocked him out of his normal preparation for a game.
"Your routine is totally thrown off in the week of Super Bowl. For example, on Tuesday I'd be normally locked in a room for eight to ten hours studying film, whereas you come to a Super Bowl, like Miami last year and Tuesday is Media Day, your talking to media for about six hours, you are doing team pictures, you are travelling around, doing all this stuff that you wouldn't normally be doing.
"You just have to find a way to embrace it all and find a way to establish a different routine and make it the best routine you can so that by the time Sunday rolls around, you can say 'I'm prepared, I'm ready and now I need to just go out, relax and have fun',"
