Question Why Can't Brees Throw Downfield? (1 Viewer)

[CowtownSaint]

Hi everyone,

I have a question: why can't Brees throw downfiled anymore? Does he not have the arm strength or was there an injurty? What is going on, surely he could fling a 40 yarder a couple times a game right?

My guess would be from week 2 Last season, he tore up his throwing hand, and this season he had: torn rotator cuff, 11 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and torn fascia in his foot.

I mean Hand, Shoulder, Ribs, and Foot are all pretty essential to being able to get enough torque to throw a strong ball.

but I guess the easy answer for people is that he’s just old

 

[CowtownSaint]

Yea its different when there's no defense or pressure worrying about getting hit.

It’s different when you tear your rotator cuff early on in the season too though. Knowing the timing on that would shed a lot of light into why he has trouble

 

[DerrickB]

Hi everyone,

I have a question: why can't Brees throw downfiled anymore? Does he not have the arm strength or was there an injurty? What is going on, surely he could fling a 40 yarder a couple times a game right?

Because he was freakin hurt!!

 

[saint_drago]

Same reason baseball pitchers can’t throw 100 mph fastballs when they’re over 40.

People talk about injuries but it's really this simple. Age takes things away. Just ask anyone who is old or in the process of becoming old. I'm about to be 40 and I can't do things I could do just 5 years ago. I don't have blazing speed anymore. I can only squat 800 lbs. My bench is down to just over 500. Hell I can barely dunk anymore.

 

[NewOrleansFan]

If I recall correctly I believe I read that Emmanuel Sanders said during his offseason workouts with Drew that he had no problem throwing the ball deep.

E. Sanders ain’t no MT.

 

[Saints 318]

also if u look when he throws now it seems like he has to put some much effort into now.

 

[Mississippi Saints Fan]

Pretty sure there's been a thousand threads on this over the past few years.

 

[Groovepro]

Brees talked about working to gain more strength in the offseason. I found when the season began, he had more zip on his ball than I had seen in a couple seasons. His placement was a bit off and I found the ball got away from him a tad, even on underneath throws...but they were zipping. When you add strength or work on different muscle groups, your throws, when using the same mechanics need to adjust. With no preseason, there was the fact of everyone "getting on the same page". We saw a lot of evidence of this throughout the season. The only real downfield threat has been Sanders and you just can't send him deep every play. Cook has had mental errors, young WR's in and out of the lineup due to other injuries and "next man up" in a complicated offense. There were MANY instances of WR's just running wrong route or miscommunication. Brees had one BAD throw in that TB game for an INT...that is on Brees. The others were more miscommunication than a horrible throw.

He had compression tape on his right shoulder later in season and if he injured his rotator cuff, that is significant. If had a "foot", that is significant.

If he gets back to healthy, I have no problem with him coming back. He can still toss the deep ball, but you need receivers open downfield to catch them. We don't have the freak athlete receivers like TB, who can just pluck "50/50" balls down field. It is tough to say if being injured and this Covid season will make him hungry for a fresh run again on his own terms or if he doesn't want to battle the possible injuries again.

 

[St. Pike]

My guess would be from week 2 Last season, he tore up his throwing hand, and this season he had: torn rotator cuff, 11 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and torn fascia in his foot.

I mean Hand, Shoulder, Ribs, and Foot are all pretty essential to being able to get enough torque to throw a strong ball.

but I guess the easy answer for people is that he’s just old

All of this is true... you state this as if they are mutually exclusive positions. Injuries linger and become more common. The fact of the matter is, if Brees wasn't as skilled as he is, he would already be out of football.


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[jeepman]

People talk about injuries but it's really this simple. Age takes things away. Just ask anyone who is old or in the process of becoming old. I'm about to be 40 and I can't do things I could do just 5 years ago. I don't have blazing speed anymore. I can only squat 800 lbs. My bench is down to just over 500. Hell I can barely dunk anymore.

Hmmm, not sure if you are joking or not, but an 800lb squat and 500 bench is damn good. How about your DL though, you pulling a lot of weight there? lol

 

[Noble Saint]

Too much wear and tear. He is lucky to even been able to throw at all after his injury. I know he hurt it again 4-5 years ago and struggled downfield midseason. I think at the beginning of the year when he is as close to 100% as he can get, he can still sling it. But as you get older and older you have to throw more with your body. The rib injury made it next to impossible to generate torque.

I’m just afraid he needs to be 100% to be the Drew we know and love, but the injuries just keep piling up.

 

[efil4stnias]

Brees talked about working to gain more strength in the offseason. I found when the season began, he had more zip on his ball than I had seen in a couple seasons. His placement was a bit off and I found the ball got away from him a tad, even on underneath throws...but they were zipping. When you add strength or work on different muscle groups, your throws, when using the same mechanics need to adjust. With no preseason, there was the fact of everyone "getting on the same page". We saw a lot of evidence of this throughout the season. The only real downfield threat has been Sanders and you just can't send him deep every play. Cook has had mental errors, young WR's in and out of the lineup due to other injuries and "next man up" in a complicated offense. There were MANY instances of WR's just running wrong route or miscommunication. Brees had one BAD throw in that TB game for an INT...that is on Brees. The others were more miscommunication than a horrible throw.

He had compression tape on his right shoulder later in season and if he injured his rotator cuff, that is significant. If had a "foot", that is significant.

If he gets back to healthy, I have no problem with him coming back. He can still toss the deep ball, but you need receivers open downfield to catch them. We don't have the freak athlete receivers like TB, who can just pluck "50/50" balls down field. It is tough to say if being injured and this Covid season will make him hungry for a fresh run again on his own terms or if he doesn't want to battle the possible injuries again.

It's just more than "him getting back to healthy".

After 40, your body repair system starts to slow down considerably. What took 1 week when you were 30 takes 3 weeks after 40.

 

[Quiet Storm]

Well, he had all those broken ribs this season. And his wife said something about a rotator cuff tear, but I don't know if that was on his throwing arm or not

Remember earlier in the season he was only practicing on Wednesday's cause of his shoulder. There was a game where there was tape noticeably showing.

About the shoulder he was quoted to saying it was nothing he couldn't deal with. Also, saying he is 41.

 

[Winter]

It's age declining but what's not talked about is

Drew can stil throw the ball down the field. He can put air underneath it and get it 30-40 yards no issue. What he's lost more than arm strength is his ability to place the ball where he wants deep. His Ball location on deep balls has declined. Interestingly enough madden gets it partially right...they have arm strength but they also have deep ball accuracy. That's going to be the biggest thing Drew has lost as he never had great arm strength to start out.

Spud right above me sums it up well. That's why we put so much effort into the Oline on the back side of Drew's career. Previously a lot of our high resources went to skill positions. Ingram, Meachem, Bush, Cooks were all 1st round picks. Then you saw a philosophy shift after 2016 that saw us draft 3 OL with 1st round picks. Peat, Ram, and Ruiz. Remember there was a time when Charles Brown was our highest draft pick on the Dline or Oline(besides Cam). Go back to about 2016 and you'll see we've spent a lot of resources in the trenches.

I think the change in draft philosophy also is a result of Ireland joining the club. We've had arguably the best drafts in team history the past couple years. Frankly I love the focus on the trenches and it should be the priority every draft. Especially if you can spot skill position talent in later rounds. I hope we stick with this approach after Drew.

 

[whodaresaydat]

Let's not forget brees coming back from broken ribs, torn rotator cuff, age 41 threw a 51 yard pass to emmanuel sanders vs the chiefs. I think he can still throw deep. Maybe just not as much. Maybe he's been playing hurt these last 3 years who knows.