The NFL Insiders crew weigh in on if the Chargers and Saints have each underachieved since San Diego let Brees sign a free-agent deal with New Orleans 10 years ago. (1:35)

METAIRIE, La. – Drew Brees didn’t try to downplay the significance of Sunday’s return to San Diego.

“I mean, listen, I’ve been waiting for the moment to go back there,” Brees acknowledged.

But the New Orleans Saints quarterback said Wednesday that he will try to get all of his personal emotions out of the way before kickoff, so he can concentrate on business.

Although it has been more than 10 years since the San Diego Chargers let Brees go in the wake of his major shoulder injury in 2006, this will be the first time Brees has played there as the visiting QB.

“I’m trying to make this just like any other game,” Brees said with a laugh. “It’s hard to do that, obviously, because it’s meaningful. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that this one may not mean a little bit more. But my preparation remains the same.”

San Diego is the only NFL city where Brees has not played since joining the Saints, because the NFL changed its West Coast travel schedule a few years back. Brees has, however, played his former team twice -- and beaten them both times -- in London in 2008 and in New Orleans in 2012 (even when the Saints were 0-4 heading into the game).

Brees is such a driven competitor that there is little doubt he wants to keep proving the Chargers wrong for letting him go. But he mostly shot down questions about the revenge factor on Wednesday.

“No, no, no. Everything happens for a reason. I belong here,” Brees said. “Listen, they’ve had a lot of success too. So I think that everything has happened the way it’s supposed to happen.”

Brees said that even back in 2006, he was more motivated to prove he could return from the torn labrum than he was to send a message to San Diego.

“It had nothing to do with them at that point,” Brees said. “It was just, this is a significant injury, I’m being told by some doctors I’ve got a 25 percent chance of coming back and playing. So that’s – you feel like your dream is being ripped away from you. That was the part that was really scary. That was where the motivation came from.”

But, yes, Brees acknowledged, “there was a little bit of a shock” when he realized the Chargers were offering him only a small contract that offseason when he was a free agent -- partly because of the uncertainty surrounding his injury, but partly because they had just acquired quarterback Philip Rivers in the 2004 draft, before Brees’ career really started to take off.

“I realized that, 'They expect me to come back and be a backup. And that’s not who I am. I’m going to go be a starting quarterback and win a championship somewhere. And if it’s not there, it’s not there,’” Brees said. “And it probably didn’t set in until I signed with the Saints, and it was, ‘All right, this is happening. I didn’t think it would happen, but it’s happening. And move on.’”

Brees has obviously moved on pretty well. His 48,555 yards and 348 touchdown passes in 2006-2015 were the most in any 10-year span in NFL history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He also won a Super Bowl and was the game’s MVP in February 2010.

Rivers has been no slouch, of course. He ranks second in the NFL in passing yards since 2006 (Brees has 49,617; Rivers 42,092). And their regular-season records are almost identical (Brees 94-67; Rivers 93-70), according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Brees said he could recognize back then how good Rivers was.

“Yeah, I did. I did,” Brees said. “A four-year starter in college, had all kinds of success. Just ultra-competitive, loved football. Those are the kind of guys that succeed.

“So it was kind of an interesting situation there, ’04, ’05, because here’s Philip, who they drafted there with the fourth pick, and you knew it was only a matter of time before they wanted him on the field. And Doug Flutie was still there in his 37th year as a professional football player. And then me, who was just trying to establish myself as the guy for the future.

“But I appreciate that time we all had together, because, man, we had some good times. And we all have a great friendship as a result of it.”

Brees rattled off a long list of friends and teammates he considers himself lucky to have been around, from Junior Seau and Rodney Harrison, to LaDainian Tomlinson, Lorenzo Neal, Antonio Gates, Nick Hardwick and many other offensive linemen.

“I’ve got a lot of great memories,” said Brees, who said he can still “close my eyes and visualize being in that stadium, can visualize the names that are up on the ring of honor, can visualize the scoreboard, can visualize the flags that kind of waver around the stadium.”

When asked what kind of reception he thinks he’ll get, Brees said he has no idea. But he was reminded that he received a standing ovation while playing in a celebrity game during this year’s baseball All-Star Game festivities in San Diego.

“Hopefully that’s a good indicator,” Brees said.