New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees has gone on the offensive against NFL owners.

Brees, a named plaintiff in the players' antitrust suit against the league, told SI.com that he and his counterparts are motivated to defended themselves against what they feel is a league trying to exploit them.

And he invoked the name of late NFL Players Association chief Gene Upshaw as a rallying point.

Said Brees:

"Ever since Gene Upshaw passed away -- I'm just going to lay it all out there -- the owners saw blood in the water. They felt like, 'This is our opportunity to take a significant piece of the (financial) pie back at all costs, a piece that we will never have to give back again. This is our chance, while they don't have leadership, while they're scrambling to find a new executive director. This is our time.' "

Brees contends that NFL owners had a calculated plan to lock them out that was years in the making. He feels they want to avenge the 2006 CBA deal that is generally considered to have been favorable to players.

Said Brees, of his take on the owners' approach: