Our O-Line is our Achilles Heel
He was drafted 13th overall as a LT prospect… he failed there.. failed even worse at RT, and only salvaged his injury-riddled career after he was moved inside to OG.
His colossal whiffs got Brees hurt on many occasions, and his pro bowls were a farce.
many... (from Merriam-Webster) consisting of or amounting to a large but indefinite number / being one of a large but indefinite number / a large number of persons or things
Shoulder, Sept. 2015
Brees suffered a second shoulder injury in the Saints' loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 20, 2015.
In that game, there were two hits that could have aggravated Brees' shoulder.
The first came in the first quarter when defensive end Jacquies Smith maneuvered past tackle
Zach Strief and ran into Brees' arm while he was winding up to throw.
The other came in the second quarter, when Smith came at Brees from the right side, hitting him while he was throwing. The ball came out and was ruled a fumble (the Saints recovered).
Thumb, Sept. 2019
The Saints were facing the Los Angeles Rams in a Week 2 game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum when Brees suffered his first injury that required him to miss multiple consecutive starts.
In the first quarter on Sept. 15, 2019, Brees' hand slammed into NFL defensive player of the year Aaron Donald — resulting in a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in the thumb on his throwing hand.
Donald rushed Brees from the right side, getting the edge on guard
Andrus Peat. Brees got the ball away in time to avoid the sack, but his hand collided with Donald.
Chest, Nov. 2020
Brees knew something felt off as soon as he tried standing up. Moments after San Francisco 49ers defensive end Kentavius Street sacked him in the second quarter of their mid-November contest, Brees reflexively touched his ribcage.
(This one was on Ruiz.)
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So Brees was injured once by a guy Peat was blocking. And he didn't even hit Brees on the play. He was just close enough to get his hand up and Brees' hand collided with his hand.
When we drafted Peat, we had a young Terron Armstead at LT. Armstead remained our LT for 7 more seasons after we drafted Peat.
While he may have played LT at Stanford, but considering we already had Armstead at LT, we drafted Peat to play OL, which he as done, taking over at LG during his rookie season where he's been an 8 year starter and a
farcical 3 time Pro Bowler.
He hasn't been an all-time great, but he hasn't been a bust... and deserves his credit.
Keep up the hot takes.