A Critical Assessment of Drew's Postseason Career (1 Viewer)

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Let me prelude this by saying that I love Drew Brees. Genuine love. I honestly feel like I would take a bullet for him and his family if it came down to it. Words cannot describe the amount of joy and happiness he's brought to my life by being the New Orleans Saints quarterback for almost 15 years now.

That said, he has brought me a lot of heartache as well. But that's a part of being a sports fan... you take the good with the bad. You just hope there's more good than bad. Unfortunately, for the Saints in the Brees era... it feels like there's been just as much bad as there has been good. Which is still better than what a lot of sports fans go through (especially us Saints fans before Brees got here), but I'll address that in a minute.

Anyway, for years I would get so offended by any criticism of Drew. I have so much love for the guy that it kept me blinded towards his flaws. Sunday's game though was the slap in the face I needed to wake up: Drew Brees has been a very good Quarterback in the NFL, but never a truly great one except for one season.

As much as I whined about it last week, the voters were right to leave Brees out of the NFL top 10 QB list. Drew does not deserve to be there. And his performances in the postseason are why.

Drew Brees has an NFL Playoff record of 8-8. If he returns, he'll most likely finish his career with his playoff record being below .500. That's as mediocre as it gets.

What really will baffle you though is when you look at the eight QBs Drew has lost to and has been outplayed by in the postseason.

Chad Pennington
Rex Grossman
Matt Hasselbeck
Alex Smith
Russell Wilson
Case Keenum
Jared Goff
Kirk Cousins


The only elite QB on that list is Russell Wilson, and Russell actually played pedestrian in that game. It's just Brees and the Saints played worse. You have to admit that losing to the other QBs on this list is just mind-numbing.

Can't score over 20 points against the original Carson Wence, Chad Pennington? Can't beat Rex Grossman? To be fair that game wasn't anywhere near being Drew's fault but if he played at an elite level, Saints could have won. Can't outscore Matt Hasselbeck on a Seahawks team that was 7-9 in the regular season? Getting dominated by Alex Smith in the first half? Getting dominated by Case Keenum in the first half? Can't overcome a horrific non-call and lead us to victory in OT (where we got the ball first) against proven hype job Jared Goff and a Los Angeles Rams defense we had zero issues lighting up in the regular season and in the first half of that game? Getting 100% outplayed by Kirk freakin' Cousins who was 0-9 in Primetime games beforehand?

That is unbelievably bad, guys.

Now, here are the seven QBs Brees has defeated in the playoffs.

37-year-old Jeff Garcia in a game where Deuce McAllister carried the Saints to victory.

39-year-old Kurt Warner. Great game by Drew.

40-year-old Brett Favre in a game where the Vikings had FIVE TURNOVERS and the Saints were STILL in a position to lose at the end if it wasn't for Favre throwing one of the most boneheaded INTs in history. The refs also helped us out in OT. If we can complain about the refs being against us (which the refs 100% have been against us since the NFC Championship game last year), then we should admit when they called games in our favor as well.

Peyton Manning in a game where Sean Payton had one of the greatest coaching displays in history. Brees was flawless here though, no doubt, but Sean Payton was the real MVP of the game and we honestly shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Matt Stafford in the only playoff game of Stafford's career. Great game by Drew here though.

Nick Foles in a game where Brees threw more interceptions than touchdowns and on the game winning drive, was carried by our running game. Brees literally didn't throw a single completion on the final drive that gave us the game winning FG.

Cam Newton in a game where Drew threw an INT with 2 minutes left in the 4th Quarter to give Carolina a shot to win the game. Thankfully our defense stepped up to bail Drew out.

Nick Foles again in a game where Brees played averaged at best (his first pass of the game was intercepted) and was decided by an Eagles blunder. Foles made a perfect throw to Alshon Jeffrey, who let it go through his hands and right into the hands of Marshon Lattimore. If Jeffrey catches that, Eagles are well into Saints territory with two minutes left to score the game winning TD, which we all know they most likely would have.

Listen guys, at the end of the day... I am VERY grateful for the one Super Bowl championship and to have such a GOOD quarterback for the last decade and a half. I know there are a bunch of other franchises who's dealt with bad QBs throughout that time and their fanbases are miserable, just like we once were. So please don't think I don't appreciate Drew Brees... I sincerely do with all my heart. I'm just done pretending that he's the GOAT and one of the greatest of all time. I'm not getting upset anymore when I hear someone criticize him.

When the Saints rip my heart out I tend to say I would take 2-14 seasons over losing in the playoffs like we do, but obviously I don't mean that... I'm just upset at the time. And I thought these criticisms of Brees going through my head were just me being upset after Sunday's dreadful performance, but over 48 hours later now... they're not going away. I promise I am have been completely level-headed as I typed all of this... facts just don't care about my feelings!

I used to complain and moan about Drew not having any MVPs. The fact is, the only year I can make an argument for Brees winning NFL MVP is 2009. And while I still feel he should have won over Peyton Manning that year, it was close enough where it's justified that Peyton won. Brees never had another year where he deserved to come close to sniffing an MVP trophy. How is that "GOAT" level when guys like Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, and now a 23-year-old Lamar Jackson have been able to win it during Brees' time in New Orleans? Aaron Rodgers winning it twice, Brady winning it at the age of 40...

As much as it NAUSEATES me to say this... Drew most reminds me of Matt Ryan now. Let's be honest, Matt Ryan should have a Super Bowl. Up 28-3, that loss isn't on his shoulders. Better playcalling in the 4th quarter, one more stop from the defense... ATL wins, simple as that. Ryan did enough to win that game.

Ryan's numbers in the Super Bowl: 17/23, 284 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 144.1 Rating.
Brees' numbers in the Super Bowl: 32/39, 288 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 114.5 Rating.

Very similar, no? Yet it's Ryan who gets labeled as a choke artist. Why not Drew? Because we love him and hate the Falcons like the rest of America!

I know this thread will get downvoted to hell and some will say some very harsh things about me for this post... that's fine. I would have done the same thing last week if I read someone daring to say that Drew Brees is on the same level as Matt Ryan. I just needed to vent my frustrations though and this was the place I chose to do it. Neg away my friends. I love all my fellow WhoDats even if you hate me for this!
 
Speaking of unbelievably bad, this is the cherry on top of 48 hours of ridiculous posts.

I applaud at least the length you went to prove your point. I would debate them point for point, but I think enough time has been wasted
 
Speaking of unbelievably bad, this is the cherry on top of 48 hours of ridiculous posts.

I applaud at least the length you went to prove your point. I would debate them point for point, but I think enough time has been wasted
I wish I could say it better, but I can’t. I stopped reading when I got to this gem:

“Drew Brees has been a very good Quarterback in the NFL, but never a truly great one except for one season.”

?
 
Ryan's numbers in the Super Bowl: 17/23, 284 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 144.1 Rating.
Brees' numbers in the Super Bowl: 32/39, 288 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 114.5 Rating.

Very similar, no? Yet it's Ryan who gets labeled as a choke artist. Why not Drew? Because we love him and hate the Falcons like the rest of America!

No it is not similar. Matt Ryan’s fumble in that SB led to that master choke job. Brees had 0 total turnovers in that entire playoff run in 2009.
 
Doesn't that say more about the defenses he's been saddled with though? I mean Sunday's game yeah... a lot of that was on him. But the Rams...nope. Vikings 2 years ago....nope. 49ers in 2011...nope.
 

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