Article: Is Drew Brees done? USA Today - Really Interesting (1 Viewer)

[Witness]

If Drew continue to struggle through the mid point of the season, I can totally see a phantom injury happening to get him off the field and not let him finish the season and his career on a bad note.

 

[NeverGiveUP2]

What he needs to find is strength in that shoulder. He won't find it week 4 or5... In fact it will get worse.

Drew is 41 but with the shoulder surgery he had, that shoulder is probably closer to 50.

That's the issue. Nothing more. And now he is doubting himself on simple throws and not even attempting 30 yr seam passes.

I love Drew to death. I admire the player he developed to be. I would admire him even more if he were honest with himself and his team.

If the team and fans are ok with a mediocre season to give Drew final lap, then OK. Tell us that's the plan. Don't sell us SB aspirations though.

It's just very hard to watch and see the decline knowing how it limits our offense.

As a previous poster said. Hold onto that thought. We will see where you are in a few weeks

 

[sfidc3]

In my gut (nothing more...or less) i feel that Drew will bounce back, I just hope SP commits to the run game more as well....

 

[msusaintsfan]

I am really thinking since Drew worked on developing the long ball this summer it messed up his mechanics.

Its like someone who can hit a golf ball straight then goes and gets lessons and is taught the "proper way" of swinging/hitting and it messes them up and never hits it straight again.

 

[Gumbo's Dad]

There is a pretty obvious limitation with his ability as a passer, the deep balls has always been a part of this offense and as of late the deep balls has all but disappeared in this offense so much so that when we do attempt a deep pass it's a play designed for Taysom Hill to throw.

At 1:59 though?

 

[syracuse saint]

One thing that I have been focusing on is that Drew hasn't been attempting the kinds of throws that made him great. What I am referring to is that when Brees is on, he puts passes in places before the receiver finishes his routes. He was the best at throwing the ball to spots and his receiver would turn around and the ball would already be there.

How many of those types of passes have you seen this year? 0.0 is the answer. Now, I admit that I haven't watched the Raiders game a second time (I need time to heal), but I know that in the Bucs game, he had opportunities to throw these types of passes, but he didn't attempt the throw. In the first 2 games, Drew has relied on passes that average QB's usually attempt. Short comeback routes, crossing routes and screens are all I recall, except for the underthrown pass to Cook and the 2 completions to Smith on Monday. In fact, not only is he relying on average QB throws, but he is even missing on them.

So, the question is, why is Drew not attempting these kind of passes that lead his receivers, or back shoulder throws on out routes? The WR's are running these routes, but the throws aren't being made. In my opinion, DB feels like he can't make the throw. Only he knows if it's in his head or in his arm. We won't know the answer until he actually attempts some of the throws that used to separate Drew Brees from the rest of the NFL.

 

[oodank]

Wrong. Fourth quarter drives:
1) He misplaced two balls. This is the problem, not that they were short passes. Punt.
2) Very good drive, all of short passes. TD.
3) Got the ball with 1 minute left, no timeouts, 24-34. The game was lost.

Count 4 ugly drops as well: the offense was bad in the second half because lack of execution (both by Brees and the receivers), not because the passes were “too short”. We won tons of games this way in the last three years, just executing, scoring 30-40 points. We could have easily scored 31 if not for penalties, drops and a couple (just a couple) of bad throws. Also, Kamara was our WR1 (!!), the mediocre Trequan was 2, and Sanders (who probably needs time) was 3.

Stop making sense on this board, they all want to overthrow Brees you hear it...Nevermind we havent had a deep ball threat that can get open since Ted Ginn Jr was healthy 2yrs ago...Ginn Jr...fix the protection please and get Mike back. Youre not gonna beat many teams giving up 34pts im sorry.

 

[Mississippi Saints Fan]

One thing about Brees. Whenever he’s faced with extreme criticism, he usually responds with an incredible performance. When that no longer happens, I think we’ll have our answer.

 

[Cincy Saint]

There's some excellent insights. But one point being made fairly frequently is that defenses are taking away the long ball from Brees. From what I see, and Zimmer perfected the blueprint developed over the last few years by top defensive coordinators with players athletic enough to implement to stop Brees, I don't think they are defending the long pass. The top defenses are stacking everybody within 10-yards of the LOS daring Brees to beat them over the top while doubling CGM and Kamara, interrupting the dink and dunk all the way down the field.

I think this is an important point especially when you link it to Drew's air yard stats. So far in 2020, he's about where he has been for the last few years.





So is Drew the reason the Saints' haven't played well? I don't think we can blame it all on him. The defense can't get off the field so there are fewer series for the O to run. The Saints have committed WAY too many penalties on both sides of the ball. Let's see the whole team play better before we tear Drew down.

 

[Cincy Saint]

And to underscore my point about the defense not being able to get off the field and penalties, here are some notes from the folks at Football Outsiders about the Saints in week 2.

So what are the New Orleans Saints doing at No. 7 [in DVOA the FO stat for team efficiency]? How did they move up two spots after they lost to Las Vegas? And even stranger, how did Las Vegas drop 12 spots after a win to rank 20th, the lowest of the 2-0 teams?

In some ways, this result is similar to the weird results of Week 1....the team with the higher DVOA for the game ran fewer plays. Las Vegas had 76 total plays while New Orleans had just 57. But the Saints gained more net yardage than the Raiders, 424-375. Even if you eliminate the meaningless 48-yard final Saints drive, the teams were nearly tied, 376-375.

How did the Saints match the Raiders in total yardage and beat them in DVOA? Well, we're talking efficiency stats here, and when you look at official plays, the Saints were better by pretty much any efficiency metric. The Saints gained 7.4 yards per play compared to just 4.9 yards per play for the Raiders. The Saints had a 60% success rate while the Raiders were at 47%. Each team had two turnovers, with the Saints' one interception balancing out two Raiders fumbles (one recovered by each team).

There's a big difference in this game, however, that we didn't see in the games we discussed in Week 1: penalties. Oh man, there were a lot of penalties on the Saints in this game. The Saints took 10 penalties for 129 yards. The Raiders took only 3 penalties for 13 yards.

BTW, Football Outsiders still has the Saints as the team with the best odds in the NFC to make the Super Bowl. Let's not panic yet.

 

[OneBigEasy!!]

Kamara looks great, Murray looks great. Run the ball, repeat run the ball and not just in the first half of the game. Drew Brees will be fine if we Commit to the run!!! JMHO

 

[buckeyesaint]

here is every long pass ( 70 plus - well total yards not air yards ) by Drew.



watch til the end. Pay attention to the dates. The last 70 yd plus TD was 2016.

And you are telling me we havent had a deep threat or player with ability to take a 40 yd pass and run another 30 or more to endzone since 2016?

Lol... that video was made in June 2017.

 

[natedog]

I think it has a lot to do with CSPs ego then people think, this is CSPs offfense, he calls the plays that he wants to exhibit. All the short passes, crossing routes etc set up his screen game. Again, CSP is playing for a 20 game schedule, he's never going to have Drew "air" it out 6-7 times a game like a look of fans want. If the defense steps up more then all these short passes will work and it sets up the run. Review the last 15 years, it's always been this way.

Now, that being said I expect to see more Tasom Hill against Green Bay to provide a little confusion and spark.

 

[Swimmer]

I am really thinking since Drew worked on developing the long ball this summer it messed up his mechanics.

Its like someone who can hit a golf ball straight then goes and gets lessons and is taught the "proper way" of swinging/hitting and it messes them up and never hits it straight again.

lmao - I am in the middle of that golf dilemma you just described. I am trying to hit it a little further while increasing accuracy. Right now, I am in No Man's land - lol

 

[efil4stnias]

Lol... that video was made in June 2017.

well that would explain why it has nothing past 2016 ....im a derp. lololol.