(NEXSTAR) — Before starting what would become an illustrious career with the New Orleans Saints, retired quarterback Drew Brees was late to what would go down as one of the biggest games in the Superdome’s history.

Brees joined the Saints ahead of the 2006 season, one season after the impact of Hurricane Katrina forced the team to play their home games away from the Louisiana Superdome (now the Caesars Superdome).

Brees and the Saints played their first two games of the season on the road and got off to a 2-0 start with wins over the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers.

But on September 25, 2026, the eyes of football fans across the country turned to the nationally televised divisional matchup on Monday Night Football when the New Orleans Saints hosted the Atlanta Falcons.

“Biggest game of my life, reopening of the Dome, national TV. This is insane,” Brees said.

New to the city, Brees made sure to allow himself enough time to drive from his hotel to his first game at Superdome on time.

“I usually get to the game three hours ahead of time, so if I leave an hour before I’m supposed to be there,” Brees said.

“It is only a 20-minute drive, I should be totally fine,” he recalls thinking at the time.

What he didn’t account for was rush hour traffic on a Monday and the wave of fans who were also making their long-awaited returns to the Superdome.

The unprecedented traffic was in gridlock for almost two hours, Brees recalls and he had yet to make it to the stadium.

“The game is starting at 7:30 p.m. I’m supposed to be in the locker room at 5:30 p.m. and it’s 5:25 p.m. and I’m sitting on the overpass staring at the Superdome,” Brees said. “I am going to be late to my first home game with the Saints at the Superdome.”

The situation almost forced the quarterback to call an audible and pull his vehicle to the side of the overpass and make the rest of the trek on foot, but he ultimately decided against it.

He eventually made his way off the highway and toward the stadium parking garage, but the story didn’t end there.

At that time, Brees drove a 1997 Land Rover Defender 90. Already a large vehicle, his model also had a safari rack on top, adding enough height to the top that the parking attendant questioned if it would make it through the parking entrance.

To avoid being even later to his call time in the locker room, Brees drove through and, sure enough, got caught in the metal piping above on the parking garage roof.

Sparks flew and a scraping sound made Brees take his foot off the gas, but somehow managed to get himself unstuck. He eventually handed his keys to a security guard and asked for someone to park the vehicle so he could sprint to the locker room.

“I think the car is still stuck there,” former Saints head coach Sean Payton told Nexstar in a 2023 interview.

Despite being late, Brees and the Saints went on to win 23-3, in a game many fans remember as a turning point for post-Katrina New Orleans.