This is the $10 million question on the minds of all Chargers fans. We have argued this question among ourselves to the death; blood has been spilled on the Chargers fan boards over this very question.

I personally like Drew Brees and think he is a winner. For example, Chargers fans have an inferiority complex when it comes to the Raiders, because the Raiders have had their heels on our throats for most of the past four decades. But Brees was money against the Raiders: 6-2 as a starter vs the Silver and Black; including a 3-1 record in Oakland and five consecutive victories dating back to 2003.

I personally hated to see him leave, for that reason. If the Chargers lose their opening game to the Raiders because of poor play by Philip Rivers, I will be be pizzed at Chargers' G.M. for letting Brees go.

That said, Brees has obvious limitations. He is listed at 6', but I am not sure he's even that tall. Some say Brees lacks arm strength. Brees supporters say this is bull bleep; Brees is a hard worker and a gym rat. However, there is no denying that he consistently under-threw WRs on long routes. His detractors would write furious diatribes on the fan boards about how Eric Parker and Keenan McCardell had to stop and wait for a Brees pass, and that Brees weak arm cost his WRs YAC.

My personal analysis is that Brees is a very good system QB. He is very smart. He is super dedicated. He will never disappoint you in his ethic. His teammates love him. Surround him with talent on offense and design a solid system that plays to his strengths and protects his weaknesses, and he will produce for you. He will not make bonehead decisions, which I knew Saints fans came to expect from their QB over the past few seasons.

Brees was inconsistent last season. He does tend to hang onto the ball too long and if your O-line is not good (the Chargers' O-line sucked the back half of last season), he will take sacks and turn the ball over. If you can find video of his last play as a Charger when he was injured, you will see what I mean. Some say Brees emerged because of the presence of Antonio Gates; our Pro Bowl tight end provided Brees a huge target and he didn't have to be that accurate with his throws because Gates is so good at screening off defenders. I think this is a valid assessment.

Well, I have tried to be candid and objective in this analysis, which is far from complete. I hope it is helpful.

Peace,

Access pretty much hit the nail on the head.....He's an excellent leader, but physically.....He has alot of limitations when it comes to playing the position of QB in the NFL.....

I think his teammates respected him because he was always very professional, never complained about much, etc....but I think some of the receivers on the team weren't always as forthcoming about Brees as they could have been. Watch the Pitt/SD game from last year. Brees' flutterballs almost single-handedly got Antonio Gates killed that night. More times than not, the ball was never thrown near the WRs numbers.....and was often too high on intermediate routes, or thrown short on "go" routes. Parker, McCardell and Gates all have outstanding hands and that helped out Drew alot....

Alot of Brees supporters always bring up the point that Brees tried to underthrow the WRs on those "go" routes on purpose so the WR can come back to the ball, but that's a weak excuse for an underthrown ball.

All in all, he'll make much better decisions than you were accustomed to seeing from Brooks, and he's uber-dedicated to his job. It'll be interesting to see how much velocity he can put on his passes this season, with the torn up shoulder recuperation.....

I think it was a decision they had to make. They didn't want to gamble on his shoulder and they didn't want to continue to dump 10mil a year in cap space on two QB's that could potentialy start anywhere. Brees will do OK in NO if he isn't forced into an offense where they live and die by the long pass. Rivers in S.D. will take his licks and look lost at first but will pick it up as the season goes. I'm hoping we get our win on 9/11 because of an inexperienced Rivers. I'm hoping we get our #2 win to complete the sweep because our team gels at the right time of year and makes a push into the playoffs. JMHO..