CANTON, Ohio — One of the legends of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is that when the museum closes, when the last tourist leaves for the night, and the lights go out, the players enshrined in bronze busts in the gallery talk to each other.

They tell stories, they share inside jokes, they bust each other's chops.

But mostly, they talk ball.

If that's true, and who are we to say if it is or isn't, having Luke Kuechly and Drew Brees in such proximity to each other for football eternity could be problematic for the other 385 members of the Hall of Fame.

"If they make the mistake and put those two busts next to each other," former Saints coach Sean Payton said, 'No one else in that Hall of Fame will get to sleep."

The thing Payton knows, and the thing that is confirmed if you've ever been in the same room with the two of them, is that these two could talk about football forever, and never get tired.

Which is the same way they worked at football. Which is why they're so good at it.

Earlier this spring, after about 10 solid minutes of the kind of granular football that will make anyone who is not Luke Kuechly or Drew Brees' head spin, the former Panthers linebacker laughed to himself and shrugged, and humbly said: "That's some football nerd stuff, but it's cool."

Yes, Luke Kuechly and Drew Brees, it is cool. And yes, you are both absolutely football nerds. And that is also cool.

But that's also why they won't put you next to each other in the group photos.

The other thing they are is a mutual admiration society.

"I mean, I've said this in front of him, and to him so many times," Brees said. "This is the greatest defensive player I ever had a chance to play against.

"Every time we played him, he just set a standard that was just unmatched."

"But the one thing, and there's a million things that I took from Drew," Kuechly began. "But one of them that always struck me early on in my career was, 'How you do everything is how you do anything, and how you do anything is how you do everything.'"

If Drew Brees praises your preparation, and Luke Kuechly praises your attention to detail, you know it's praise-worthy.

These two could go back and forth like this all day. And they did, for the eight years Kuechly was with the Panthers, and Brees was in New Orleans.

As a result, they cannot be around each other very long without admiring the other, and it's deserved.

Brees is second all-time in passing yards and passing touchdowns, behind some guy named Tom Brady. He was a two-time offensive player of the year (though neither of those came when Kuechly was in the league), and a Super Bowl MVP. He earned five total All-Pro mentions in 20 years, and it would have been more if he wasn't playing at the same time as Brady and Peyton Manning. He threw for 5,000 yards in a season five times, and holds the record for highest completion percentage in a season (74.4 percent).

Kuechly was an All-Decade linebacker and former defensive player of the year, and earned seven All-Pro mentions in eight years. The only two players in the history of the league who sustained that kind of excellence at a higher percentage were Barry Sanders and Jim Brown, and the two players immediately behind Kuechly on that list are Reggie White and Anthony Munoz. We're talking about the very best of the very best.

This is the company they keep. But for all their stats and superlatives, it's perhaps most appropriate that their records are 8-8 against each other in the regular season.

It, and they, were that close.

"Honestly, I appreciate him so much because he made me better; He made us all better," Brees said. "Like a week preparing for a Luke Kuechly-led defense, we just knew we had to be so on point, so laser-focused; it was almost like we could not make a mistake, or else this guy would find a way to ruin our day."

Having two processors of this kind of ability presented a challenge for their coaches, because you know that every game plan has already been considered deeply by the opponent, so a lot of time was spent on the kinds of details you don't even need against other teams.

"You would do things that you couldn't normally do," former Panthers head coach Ron Rivera said. "You know, some of the things that we do, we put some automatics into some of the calls, knowing that he could get them changed for us. I mean, Sean (McDermott, the defensive coordinator) gave him some leeway to make some decisions and change some things.

"When you can open up the toolbox and say, here, use whatever tool you want, put us in the best position, you felt comfortable that he was going to help Thomas Davis. You knew he was going to help Shaq (Thompson), he was going to work with Kurt Coleman in the back half, with those kind of players that communicated.

"We were going to always be in a position to be successful."

That doesn't mean it was easy, because on the other side, they knew they were facing a grandmaster.

Linebackers coach Al Holcomb could only laugh, almost helplessly, when discussing those games, because it was such a high-level operation that it became a high-wire act.

"Don't bite the cheese," Holcomb said of the strategy against the Saints, though that's really the mutual advice for both sides. "Don't bite the cheese because Drew's going to look this way and get you to move, but we know over the course of time and playing so many times that the ball's going over here. So obviously Drew understood our system. I think we understood New Orleans' system, so it was kind of cat and mouse in terms of him trying to manipulate the defense, us trying not to allow him to manipulate the defense even though that's what quarterbacks are trained to do, and some quarterbacks are not as experienced as others.

"Drew Brees obviously was a master at his craft and could get the defense to react a certain way and then go someplace else with the ball."

And of course, Luke Kuechly was a master at his, so Saints games were played at a higher level.

"Absolutely, absolutely," Holcomb said. "He took it as Drew Brees is the quarterback over there. I'm the quarterback right here, so we're going to battle, and that's how Luke was with experienced veteran quarterbacks, he just really, really dove into it, and wanted to play that game."

Meanwhile in Metairie, La., at the Saints headquarters, they were having the same kinds of conversations.

"The challenge in the division is that you played him obviously twice a year," Payton said. "And the amount of self-scout and the preparation in those games because he was going to know. There was nothing worse than being on the field and hearing him call out your plays. He and Thomas Davis together, holy cow.

"The other thing that people don't realize is how big he is, and how athletic he is. Not only was he great with his keys and diagnosis, instincts, but man he was a fantastic tackler."

And because of that, trying to "Luke-proof" one of the highest-octane offenses the NFL has ever known became a huge commitment of time and effort.

"Part of that whole week in preparation for that game would be looking at our self-scout, 'What's Luke looking at?' until midnight," Payton said. "Then, 'How do we give him what he thinks he's studying and make it something else?' So this went back and forth. Twice a season, home and away. Give him this information; he's seen it three times, three times we've run this play from it. Then run something different.

"I would say it was exhausting, the preparation, because just the amount of self-scout and study to try to see what he's seeing. Because not only is he going to see it, he's going to make sure the rest of the defense quickly knows what's coming. There were a ton of battles won, battles lost, plays won, plays lost, all with someone who had tremendous football I.Q. Then obviously with Drew, this gets back to the two of them with the dummy audibles, the dummy kills. They're staring at each other 5 yards apart for however many years. It was certainly a back-and-forth chess match between them."

And if you think that's hard being a coach, imagine what it's like being a teammate if you're a non-Luke Kuechly.

Former Panthers linebacker AJ Klein has perhaps as good a perspective as anyone. He was Kuechly's teammate in Carolina for four years, and then signed with the Saints as a free agent and spent three years there. So he's admired the meticulousness from both directions.

"That's the stuff that makes them so unique, both Drew and Luke, students of the game, never got bored of it," Klein said. "And they're just honed in their craft, and to be able to sit for them and to talk about that stuff after all the years of going to battle on the field against each other.

"It probably had to be a cool thing for them to see how the game plans for each of them changed and differed over the years."

When he was Kuechly's apprentice with the Panthers, Klein knew that Saints weeks were going to be longer nights, on top of the already long nights Kuechly put in, which other people naturally followed. In addition to the All-22 film that showed just the football plays, they'd watch the television copies of games to look for other clues, things that can be given away in the ambient noise between plays that you might not gather in the more clinical view.

And then once he signed with the Saints, Payton basically brought him in and tried to download all the data that had been entered into his head during those years.

"There are definitely things when I would sit down with Sean Payton, and he would be like, 'All right, in these defenses, what are you guys' keys? What's the check? What are you guys looking for?

"And, I mean, I can't lie. I divulged information, but I know that Steve Wilks (who followed McDermott as defensive coordinator in 2017 when McDermott went to Buffalo) on the flip side of that as well, was still in Rivera's defense. It was the same defense. It really didn't change. Wilks was there too.

"So I know they changed up things because they knew I was going to be giving secrets and talking about how we'd play certain defenses. But yeah, I mean, we had calls and checks and code words and keywords that are used to try to listen for. But, I mean, every time we played each other, it seemed like things would change just so there wasn't that bleed over, because both sides were doing it."

If you're this deep into this latest Luke Kuechly story, you've probably got a little football nerd in you too. Welcome.

So maybe the best thing to do is have them explain it, in their words, a couple of PhDs speaking a language the rest of us can only dream of understanding.

"It was every game, honestly, about 10 times a game where I could see his eyes," Brees said. "And I could see what he was looking at. He was looking at how deep the back would line up because that would tell you run or pass a lot of times. If we had a fullback, he would look at the offset back, and that would tell you a lot about the play. He would start looking at receivers and where they were lined up. Certain receivers are like, he's not supposed to be lined up there. You know, Mike Thomas is in at the number 3 slot inside. It's a pass. He would look at offensive linemen. Oh, that guard's light in the stance. He's going to pull this direction. They set the edge and scrape over the top. We're going to make this play.

"So he just, he saw things. There are little tips. I mean, the same thing I would be looking at on the other side, right? Like, who's tipping it off, right? I mean, that's basically what he was doing. He was, he was the quarterback on the other side."

When a quarterback walks to the line of scrimmage, the first thing he does is look for the Mike, or the middle linebacker. So every time the Saints and Panthers played during those years, Brees had a checklist he went through when he stared across the line of scrimmage and saw No. 59.

"I can still remember it in my mind; I can see it in my mind every time we would break the huddle," Brees began. "Typically, I had this routine of, OK, I'm looking at the front, I'm calling out the front, I'm looking at the next level of defenders, linebackers on my way up to the secondary, and I'm gathering information.

"The first thing I would do when playing the Panthers with Luke was I would break the huddle, and I would stare at him. Because I wanted to see his brain working, and I knew that we're breaking the huddle and it would be a play where, OK, we're trying to trick him with something, and I'm like, 'Is he going to figure it out?'​

"And sure enough, I could see his mind working and he's looking at the back depth, which will tell you, hey, run vs. pass. Is there a fullback in the game? Is he in line? Is he offset? If he is offset, is he really wide? OK, that might mean spread out. What receivers are lined up where? Oh, tight split with these fast guys. OK, that usually means hard play action, taking a shot. So he's going to warn the safeties, hey, get back, right? Hey, this guard is light in the stance; he's going to be pulling here. Usually the pulling guard takes you to where the ball's going. He's telling so and so over here to set the edge so they can turn it back inside, so he's there to make the tackle, or he's going to go ahead and sacrifice himself so that Thomas Davis can run around and make the tackle, right?

"So just his ability to key and diagnose and then his communication and leadership with everyone else because immediately once he had the information, he was marking instructions to teammates, defensive end, fellow linebackers, safeties, nickel. All of a sudden, they would have a pressure dialed up, and I would see it from a front indicator or just body language of the nickel or something, and I'm sending the protection over there, and then he's spinning into the other direction, and so it was this constant chess match with him.

"I mean, he was truly the the the the quarterback of the other side of the ball, but my eyes would immediately go to him and watch him process it and then watch him lead the other side of the ball and it made it highly stressful, but at the same time, those were the most fun games because they were so challenging and it was going to bring out the best of us."

That's a lot to think about in the 40 seconds between plays on an NFL clock, or 25 after a timeout or penalty.

And on the other side of the line, 59 was staring down 9 and doing the same thing.

"You look at formation, you look at situation, you look at down and distances, is Devery Henderson tight? Is Mike Thomas tight? Is Brandin Cooks, a little fast guy, is he tight?" Kuechly began reciting his own version of the litany.

"And what I would always think about is I've seen all this on tape. I've seen it over the course of however many years we've been playing against that offense. It usually means this, but then what Drew and Sean would do is they'd sit there and be like, we're going to show Luke this formation, this personnel grouping at this point in the field, this down and distance, the previous four weeks.

"So then he looks at it and says, all right, they've run this the last four times and they're going to have a completely separate play off of it. So Drew said he would be stressed? I would be stressed because I have really good information. I've known they've done this the last four weeks. Are they going to do it again, or are they going to have some crazy play off of that?

"And sometimes you're right, sometimes you're wrong, but the indecision that was created by what those guys did was unbelievable and put a ton of stress on us. And then, you know, you always talk about what can you learn throughout the whole game day from guys, whether it's how they play, the toughness, how they lead."

One of the things Kuechly learned over the years going against Brees was to watch his warmup before the game, which he began doing in 2014.

"At that point, I've never really watched Drew warm up before we put pads on," Kuechly said. "Most of the time, you get out there, and guys are throwing pat-and-go, and it's easy. I walked out there, I was in a sweatshirt, a hat. Drew was in his cleats, sweats, the hoodie, and a hat. And he was going through all of his routes with his receivers. And most guys, most quarterbacks when they go through pregame, if they're throwing, Mike Thomas is here, he's going to run like a deep out route, and he's going to look. And then once the timing hits, Drew's going to throw the ball. That's what 95 percent of guys do.

"And then there's Drew, and Drew would take it. He would take his drop perfectly. He'd look down on the middle of the field because that's how he played every pass snap ever. I'm going to look down on the middle of the field. I'm going to take my footwork. I'm going to gather all my information pre-snap, and then I'm going to get a new picture post-snap. I'm going to see what these guys are doing, and it's going to tell me exactly what's going on over here.

"This is all pregame before we have any equipment on. So the drop comes, boom, hitches, throws, opens up, footwork's perfect, shoulders closed, and he throws a beautiful ball on time to Mike Thomas on the sideline like perfect. So that's awesome. But then what he does after that, down the middle of the field, footwork's perfect, opens up, shoulders in, throws a beautiful ball, and then he goes to this dude, and then the guy that was the pain in my back forever, Alvin Kamara. And it would go 1-2-3, and he didn't have a ball, but all of his footwork, all of his eyes, all of his shoulders did exactly what he would do in a game.

"And what I learned from that is all right, well, that's what Drew Brees is doing, and he's Drew Brees."

So he took that level of detail to his own work.

"Then when I'm in practice, and I'm taking a Cover 3 drop and I'm supposed to be 10 or 12 yards, 2 yards outside the hash, I should do it right every time because Drew's doing it and he's killing us, so I should do that every time too.

"So playing against Drew during the games was unbelievable. His eyes were, . . . I would always wonder, 'What is he looking at? Why is he looking there? Why is he showing that to us? Why is he pulling his shoulder pads like this, and why is he licking his hands, and he's pushing his helmet up like this? It's like we all have our little tics, and I loved watching Drew because I got a lot of them from him.

"And watching Drew go through those progressions was really cool to me because it wasn't that one time in 2014. It was every time pregame Drew was on the field; it was like I'm doing this, my process. I'm doing this for a reason, and my reason works, and I'm going to continue to do it, not because it looks cool, not because I want people to see me, because it works and I want to be really good and I owe it to the guys on my team to do it."

That's a lot, and it's very football-y.

But neither Luke Kuechly nor Drew Brees will apologize for it, nor should they. Because that's what brought them together here again this weekend, and where they'll stay forever.

Both are supremely talented. Both work ridiculously hard.

But perhaps more than anything, they love football so much that they'll go to these ridiculous lengths to try to get the edge on the other.

"Playing against Drew was awesome," Kuechly said, recalling those pregame warmups. "And I think it's all the things that you learn, not in the game, not on the field, but before that. I thought that was really cool."

So when Brees and Kuechly put their busts on the wall Saturday afternoon following the enshrinement ceremony, the Saints quarterback will be atop a row of three on the left, and Kuechly will be offset atop a row of two on the right.

And Kuechly's will be right across the hall from his former teammate Julius Peppers, who gave him the news this winter that he was joining this club, so Luke will be all geeked up and ready to go.

And just a few feet to Kuechly's right on his side of the wall is Sam Mills, a man he never met but has so much in common with, and feels a bond with because they have shared meaning. So Kuechly will definitely be fired up, and in the mood to talk ball.

Good luck to the other 385 of you.