silverbullet
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- Oct 5, 2017
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You've really got to wonder at this point if he's regretting coming back.
We've all talked endlessly about his physical limitations but I'm just as concerned about where his head is.
It's been widely documented that Brees was planning to retire after last season. I've heard it said that as a pro athlete, once your first thought is that you want to retire, you're mentally checked out.
I think Brees came back for a few reasons. One last run to win a SB. To continue to maintain his records vs Brady. I do wonder if Brees would have retired if Brady did.
But since his decision to come back, the world has gone to complete crap.
First of all, there was no offseason workouts, which you know for a perfectionist like Brees hurt.
Then you have him raked over the coals by his teammates. That had to hurt and you wonder, although they say publicly, that everything is fine, how they all really feel. And did it do permanent damage to his status as leader of the team? Normally, I would say no because he was the best player on the team. He's clearly not anymore. It's harder to overlook resentments when you're not performing also.
Unjustly, imo, there is a significant portion of fans who are angry at him for "bending the knee" to SJWs. So you have one segment of fans mad because of what he said and another mad because he changed his opinion. He can't win.
And I really doubt he wanted his swan song to be in front of an empty stadium. Even if things were going well, that's pretty anticlimactic for a HOF career.
Finally, I worry the criticism is getting to him. He has a vacant look in his eyes and his comments about "air yards" clearly show he's reading the critiques about him not being able to get the ball down field. We already knew this based on his specialized arm workout in the offseason.
I truly hope these first two games are an aberration. My gut tells me they aren't.
Best case scenario, he can at least get back to last year's form. It's not good enough to go deep in the playoffs but he can still go out with his head held high.
My nightmare scenario is that we limp to 8-8 and he looks bad the whole way.
We've all talked endlessly about his physical limitations but I'm just as concerned about where his head is.
It's been widely documented that Brees was planning to retire after last season. I've heard it said that as a pro athlete, once your first thought is that you want to retire, you're mentally checked out.
I think Brees came back for a few reasons. One last run to win a SB. To continue to maintain his records vs Brady. I do wonder if Brees would have retired if Brady did.
But since his decision to come back, the world has gone to complete crap.
First of all, there was no offseason workouts, which you know for a perfectionist like Brees hurt.
Then you have him raked over the coals by his teammates. That had to hurt and you wonder, although they say publicly, that everything is fine, how they all really feel. And did it do permanent damage to his status as leader of the team? Normally, I would say no because he was the best player on the team. He's clearly not anymore. It's harder to overlook resentments when you're not performing also.
Unjustly, imo, there is a significant portion of fans who are angry at him for "bending the knee" to SJWs. So you have one segment of fans mad because of what he said and another mad because he changed his opinion. He can't win.
And I really doubt he wanted his swan song to be in front of an empty stadium. Even if things were going well, that's pretty anticlimactic for a HOF career.
Finally, I worry the criticism is getting to him. He has a vacant look in his eyes and his comments about "air yards" clearly show he's reading the critiques about him not being able to get the ball down field. We already knew this based on his specialized arm workout in the offseason.
I truly hope these first two games are an aberration. My gut tells me they aren't.
Best case scenario, he can at least get back to last year's form. It's not good enough to go deep in the playoffs but he can still go out with his head held high.
My nightmare scenario is that we limp to 8-8 and he looks bad the whole way.