Here's what many casual fans fail to realize (Drew Brees & Offense) (1 Viewer)

Breaking News Guys!

Drew Brees is still an elite QB and (even at his age) better than 90-95% of all starting QBs in the league. The numbers speak for themselves.

Now, that's out of the way, i want to talk a little bit about the position. The QB. As we all know, they are the team leaders, the superstars, usually the face of the organization, deservedly they get most of the credit (when they win) because they shoulder the lion share of the responsibility for the team's success on the field and they are the player liaison between the coaching staff and the rest of the team. So yeah, they make the big bucks and rightfully so...

But... I like to compare the QB position to a married man's performance at work. This married guy can be a great employee for several years at wherever he may work. He'll do whatever is asked. Team player. Well liked by colleagues and superiors. But if he is having problems at home, you may not see it today or tomorrow but eventually down the line it will show in his work. No matter how hard he may try to mask it. It will eat away at him and cause others to think there is something wrong with him physically that's not allowing him to perform at usual standards.

If you haven't guessed the married man's troubled home life circumstances is represented by our offensive line! Yes! The O-line is the perfect marriage to the QB and just like in the real world, if the wife (home life) is not happy or deficient then your life will show it. Big Time!
That's what we see from our offensive standpoint. Drew Brees has not had consistent O-line play since the Nicks/Evans days. Our interior line has been a mix bag of inconsistent play, injuries & overall neglect and lack of talent for several years.

We've managed to win games and be somewhat successful because of the schematic brilliance of Coach Payton and the elite play of Brees. But, too many times, in crucial situations & big games. Those blown assignments and 1 v 1/loss catch up to us. The O-line is a thankless job unfortunately but is absolutely the most essential part of a team. If those big guys up front kick a$$ and do their job a team can win despite having a very avg QB... Just ask the 2000 Ravens. Trent Dilfer couldn't spell the word quarterback but he is a champion. Go figure. Of course he had an all world defense but the bottom line is on offense they were able to be efficient and dictate their style of offense because of their o-line play.

Drew Brees can still dissect any team to shreds if he has the protection to do so. Period, end of story. He's proven it, time and time again. We all know that interior pressure effects him more than edge pressure so i cannot understand why our brass does not value the lunch pale guys more. :facts3:
For whatever reason we seem to rather take an OT and try to make him an OG. Why? I don't get it. O-line flexibility is important but in today's game against these Aaron Donald type of interior rushers, you either gotta have some manster players (like we had with Nicks/Evans) or a helluva interior blocking scheme. Right now we have neither....

Hopefully OG is high on the priority list in both free agency and in the draft. Our young center looks promising but Peat is a swing and a miss and Warford is only slightly above avg.

This %%%%100%%%%This You called it!

Btw....the saints went with converting T to G, because T are better athletes, have better feet and can pull and block. Elite guard play comes at a premium (high darft choice) these days. Ireland and Sean know how to get guards in the later rounds and getting them ready to play............very well. Moving forward we need to build our line to run the ball effectively, keep our Defense fresh. It would be best if we installed one guard at a time though. The line needs to gell over time.
 
Too long for a complete read but at the beginning you said Drew is still elite. 100% agree. Lets get a stud #2 WR and the guy is good to go for two more
 
Good points but his age still complicates the process. For the record, I'm not a Drew can't play anymore advocate. I just feel we are at a crossroads with an aging QB with 2 viable replacements behind Drew. I think it's better to move forward before there's an obvious decline than wait. We have several holes to fill, so can we fix the guard problem in one year?

Brady won a SB last year at the same age. . .I'd take one, it's not my money they are spending on Drew. Give him 30 mill, don't bother me. We need some insurance guys at WR, G and DE and we are set for another run next year.
 
Brady won a SB last year at the same age. . .I'd take one, it's not my money they are spending on Drew. Give him 30 mill, don't bother me. We need some insurance guys at WR, G and DE and we are set for another run next year.
Brady is the anamoly but he had won 5 other rings before last year. Drew hasn't been able to get back to the SB since 09. Even though it's not our money, there's no way I'm giving Drew 30 mil because of his age and how it will affect our abilty to sign other people.
 
Brady is the anamoly but he had won 5 other rings before last year. Drew hasn't been able to get back to the SB since 09. Even though it's not our money, there's no way I'm giving Drew 30 mil because of his age and how it will affect our abilty to sign other people.

True, but if he goes to another team, or retires you already have to pay him 21 million and it counts against your cap. So why not keep him one more year. And maybe like Brady, he might get even a little more help from his defense next year. . .
 
True, but if he goes to another team, or retires you already have to pay him 21 million and it counts against your cap. So why not keep him one more year. And maybe like Brady, he might get even a little more help from his defense next year. . .
Valid point. My concern is that eventually we are going have to bite the cap bullet because of the way his cap is structured. The D helped us this year but injuries hit us at the wrong time. I just not a fan of the 1 more year dance with an aging QB because we keep trying to ignore the inevitable. I just don't think it's in the team's best interest and its time follow GB and the niners move although it not going to be easy.
 
The current incarnation of the OL has done a pretty good job overall minus the Vikings game and that was on the fact Zimmer had a great wrinkle that Payton was slow to adjust to, plus the fact they stuck too long with Andrus Peat who was too shaky coming off the long hiatus. You could argue that Peat shouldn't even have played at that point. At a minimum probably should have been pulled.

Last few years also when we've decided to run they do a good job of opening holes.

I think they are light years ahead of where we were right after Carl Nicks and Jonathan Goodwin left when they were trotting out the likes of Brian De Le Puente and Tim Lelito. Early on in Ingram's career he was dodging defenders in the backfield and the OL couldn't hold the LOS very well. You no longer really see that kind of disruption even when we play really stout defenses. There was a point Payton had so little faith in picking up a yard that he was running exotic sweeps and reverses on 3rd and 1 with the likes of Josh Hill.

Anyway, it was a bad game for the interior OL but for the last 3 years as a whole it's kind of an outlier and a function of getting out coached on scheme. This is a very good run blocking OL if anyone would ever think of emphasizing that.

They do need to look at moving on from Peat because he's always hurt and inconsistent. Any team is built from the inside out or should be and you can never have enough flexible talent on the OL. Everything else will flow from it so I would have no problem if they spend some capital there this off season. It's never a bad idea, though you can quibble about trade offs on needs.

And, of course, once Peat leaves he'll probably suddenly be a consistent and healthy 16 game player.


Absolutely my friend

If you notice

Ever since Drew and Sean has been here they have always invested a ton of money on the interior line.

Why do you think that is?

Its bc that is the one way to disrupt this offense and Drew brees.

Obviously Drew isn't a track athlete, so when the pocket collapses from the inside. There is not much he can do after that but either tuck the ball and take a sack or try to throw it away in time.

When you look back at our history, especially the years we had good teams. Every time we lost, it was typically bc the opposing defenses were getting interior pressure.

See Dallas Cowboys 2009 week 15
See Atlanta Game this year
Obviously the Vikings playoff game this year

You could look at every successful year, and in the games we lost 9/10 it was because of interior pressure.

The C,LG, and RG positions are arguably the most valuable positions on this team.
 
"Consistency" is not the right word JohnnyCash.

Everything in football is relative. Against average D-Lines, they are more than adequate. Against quick, top-notch D-lines, not so good. So even if they play very consistently, an elite D-Line can beat them.

If your OL is inferior to the DL, there must be adjustments. Rolling out, quick routes, draws, and shotgun, can all help. So can a good defense of your own.
 
Good points but his age still complicates the process. For the record, I'm not a Drew can't play anymore advocate. I just feel we are at a crossroads with an aging QB with 2 viable replacements behind Drew. I think it's better to move forward before there's an obvious decline than wait. We have several holes to fill, so can we fix the guard problem in one year?
This. No one questions his ability and everyone loves him but its getting close to have to pay the rest of the guys from our great drafts... and I dont think we should let 4-5 years of the younger cheaper options walk out the door for 1 year of elite QB play that is bound to fade at some point.

To be honest seeing the team go 5-0 without Drew made me feel like the team would be in good hands without Drew. Still appreciate everything he's done. His legacy is secure
 

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