The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Secondarily we are getting to see what Bridgewater has to offer as a potential heir apparent.

But primarily there are other factors involved.

The hunger you see on the sideline from Drew just observing the game. It's awesome to see him rooting us on, acting a lot like a fan actually.

I think it will result in two things: him coming back with a vengeance to finish this season like what should have happened last year and possibly the last two seasons.

I also think he plays beyond this year as he has gotten a taste of what retirement will feel like and he clearly doesn't like it. At all.

Now convinced more than ever Brees plays for 3 more seasons and will retire at the age of 44.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Also a few weeks to save the arm for a long playoff run... could be a blessing in disguise if we keep winning!!

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Morale is a dangerous thing. Defense is giving extra effort for Teddy. All they want him to do is manage the game and let them strap on the burden which they are totally capable of doing. He's extracting that out of them.

They can't rely on Brees anymore to bail them out. It's really on them and they know it. Ideal for the RS but not the playoffs. It's a good situation to be in. It might even be better because they are not going to push it with Brees in there.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

By us winning these games it kind of takes the stress off to not rush Brees back also.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

And I'm hoping the edge our defense is developing with having to bail out a very limited offense continues once Brees gets back, making us unbeatable (minus officials) come playoff time.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

I'm pretty happy with Teddy's work. Nobody else is Brees.
I think he'll learn from some of his more egregious mistakes,
like getting sacked out of FG range at the end.
But I think he's better than some team's starters.

Its still exciting to watch Taysom.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Some of this stuff is on Payton.

The clock management at the end of the first half and the clock management leading up to the 2 minute warning in the 4th, we ran a play too fast and saved Dallas 40 seconds. And the play call that got your QB sacked and out of FG range. None of that acceptable on Payton's part.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Very true. We weren't supposed to win either of these games. Chicago is the only real test left on the schedule before Brees's said return. And they aren't anything to worry about on offense.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

the team scored 4 field goals.
put your penis back in your pants.
thats called sucking.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

I dunno I hate to say it, but Brees in the cowboys game may of bite us in the ass if he was playing, Brees will take shots down field and that may of been 1 game in which that wasnt going to work and turn into INTs. Bridgewater doing check downs and handing off to Kamara may of been best solution to this game.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Not having Drew forced the team to unite and step up their play as a team. You heard Cam Jordan talk about the team “bonding” on the road in Seattle.

We’ve also seen what a great leader Sean Payton is.

On display as well is the quality of depth on this roster. Ireland, Payton, Loomis. All deserve credit.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

The rest of the NFL is noticing. :bng:

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

What was the score of the game last year when Dallas "figured us out"? With Brees?

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Our defense closed out 2018 as the #1 rushing defense in the league. That has not been developed this season.

A defense doesn't play to bail out an offense, then play to get off the field regardless of who is under their center or how their offense is performing.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

True but a good scoring defense will make the job easier for an offense. Won’t work forever but so far so good. Not going to win a shootout like this but if the penalties are cleaned up our offense can produce points. With our D 21 points should be enough to win every game.
I expect our running defense to return to form. No small feat shutting down Zeke like that.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

It should work out for a while. Playoffs though no way. We gotta have Brees back. Rarely can a marginal QB survive in the playoffs. Only one I know of is Trent Dilfer that pulled it off but that D scorched earth. Ours is good but not that good.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Brees is not playing to 44 and neither is Brady. They're both going to decline hard as time goes on if they keep playing. We are starting to see it happen. Brady took a hard decline last year but it didn't matter since the Pats defense was carrying that team and they had adjusted their offensive scheme to not rely on a 41 year old QB to throw down field every game.

IMO the silver lining is that we can have a well rested Brees come back and make a deep playoff run. I have been convinced for a few years now if we can get one more SB win, he'll retire with that. It's not about records or longevity. He wants another ring.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Running a play too fast is not on Payton. That is solely upon the QB. And the play that ended in the sack was not on Payton, either. That came from Teddy's inexperience in the pocket. The play was designed to get a first down and lock up the game. That's being aggressive. I have no problem with that at all.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Crawled back out of your hole again, huh?

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Brees and Brady both want to keep playing as long as they can perform at a high level and enjoy the preparation. Both of them are several years away the lack of either. Brees has said fairly recently that he would not retire after a Super Bowl win as long as those to earlier factors are still present. I have no doubt he can still be playing at 44.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Please elaborate. What is that? Examples?

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

It certainly looks like this has put the other units on notice. The D know that Brees isnt there to bail them out, so they gotta take pride in what they are doing.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

don't take anyone lightly in the NFL

especially lacking your QB

especially our division rival Bucs who just laid a 40 burger on the Rams
Their defense has been quite stellar at times

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Brady has declined pretty hard since he turned 41.

Last year, he ranked in the mids and lower on advanced stats and efficiency. Largely because he rarely ever throws down field beyond 10 yards, the numbers didn't look as bad as they could've. The Pats offense last year was all about short passes, dinking and dunking down field while punishing their opponents with the run game. When he was throwing the ball down field last year, he was basically throwing it up for grabs cause his accuracy was severely off and his arm strength has declined. it helps when you're throwing to guys like Edleman, Gronk and Gordon (a luxury Brees didn't have last year outside of MT). Brady's decline is easier to see so far this season. Go back to Sunday and he had one of the worst games ever as a pro, not unlike some of Peyton Manning's 2015 games where Manning was arguably the worst QB in the league that year. This won't get talked about much though cause Brady is the GOAT according to RINGZ RINGZ RINGZ.

Brees also hit a decline last year going into December and beginning with the Cowboys game. This was widely covered, how bad he played in the final stretch of the season and playoffs. I don't think us fans want to accept it, but the reality is starring us right in the face.

Brees' deep ball accuracy came down hard in the final month of the year and prior to his injury against the Rams, he only threw 1 deep ball against the Texans. It's questionable if Brees will be performing at a high level when he gets back, based on how bad he has looked since December of last year and the fact he's now 40 years old.

Here's Brees' splits from last year. This was my greatest concern going into the 2019 season, knowing he's 40 years old and this was how our season ended.

https://i.imgur.com/yeYaLHU.png

These guys are not going to play into their mid 40s at a high level and if they're still playing trying to get to 45, it's going to get ugly. They will be bad eventually, sooner than later. Brett Favre and Tom Brady are the only 2 QBs to put up MVP caliber seasons at 40 and both of them declined hard the next year. Warren Moon had a pro bowl year at 40 but he also declined and became a shell of his former self. I know we don't want to accept it, but it will happen. See Brett Favre in 2010 and Peyton Manning in 2015 as examples for when a great HoF QB eventually falls off a cliff.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Tampa Bay gotta a W and put up 55+ to a team we recently lost to.

Defeating divisional opponents will be the hardest.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

MWAH?

Got a "W" - thats called winning! :bng:

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Just look at the Saints defense in 2009 for an example.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Malcolm Brown
Sheldon Rankins
David Onyemata
Cam Jordan
Marcus Davenport
Trey Hendrickson

There's too many good lineman to double team

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

I know what Turnovers are but Defensive Scoring isn't even a tracked stat lol

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

No disrespect intended but those stats are incorrect for weeks 12-17. Drew didn't even play in week 17 so he would have been 4-1 and 107 for 155 with 7 TD's vs 4 INTs. Also, people want to talk about the QB decline but who were the healthy receivers down the stretch last year? Can't place it all on the QB.

Re: The real silver lining in this Drew Brees injury
 

Not buying into a lot of what you're saying.

Those last 5 games for Brees of 2018 had all to do with injuries on the line (Armstead primarily and Unger being so terrible that he decided to retire), receiver play being unacceptable outside of Thomas and the inability to run the ball like we had up until that point (again, the line was putrid).

And what happened when Armstead came back against Pittsburgh? The offense and Brees looked a whole lot closer to those first 11 games than the terrible 4 game stretch when he was out.

Brees is fine, we won't see a decline for at least 2 more years. We saw how great he was in the first game of the season, throwing for nearly 400 yards after a really slow start to the game.