AsylumGuido

Drew Brees Almost Never Throws Deep Anymore. Is That A Problem For The Saints?

It hasn’t been so far.

Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints is having one of the most interesting quarterback seasons in recent memory. Criticized harshly for a weak arm, the 41-year-old almost never throws the ball deep anymore, instead tossing short passes to running back Alvin Kamara and various receivers not named Michael Thomas. (The All-Pro has been injured since Week 1.)

Because they pose minimal danger over the top to keep defenses honest, you might think that Brees and the Saints would be struggling. And yet, New Orleans has started the season with at least four wins in its first six games for a fourth consecutive year, and Brees is seventh in the NFL in Total QBR.1 Brees has been trending in this direction for a while, but he is now pushing the absolute limits of how much a quarterback can accomplish without having the arm to back it up.

Going back to 2006, the earliest season for which ESPN has data on air yards, only one QB threw a shorter average pass than Brees’s 5.80 mark this year: Alex Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014, whose average pass traveled just 5.58 yards through the air. And no QB in the entire sample had a season in which he threw a smaller share of passes 20 or more yards downfield than Brees’s 3.3 percent rate so far in 2020. (Even for Smith in 2014, 5.4 percent of his passes traveled at least 20 yards.)

Read the rest here ... it's an interesting read.

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

Rugby Saint II

Sean Payton will design the plays to make Drew perform at his best. We have players who get YAC and we have a great O-line that gets upfield to throw blocks to free up the runner. Payton is a genius and Drew is now still better than a game manager. Our offense won the Lombardi with trickery and solid play.

The problem isn't Drew. The problem is when Drew is on the bench then that means our secondary is out there playing hide and seek with their offense.

st thomas

Probably just hurts as hell to throw deep with his past shoulder injury. Old wounds will always come back to bite u as u age Brees is no different .scar tissue is a major issue with pain.


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AsylumGuido

I never heard nor read that he has experienced any pain from that shoulder since the successful surgery. It is a fairly minor procedure to clean up scar tissue these days if it indeed an issue. I tend to doubt it is.

Danno

He's now Chad Pennington.

Short and intermediate throws are all he really has. If he wasn't so freakishly exceptional at those we'd be getting killed.

MatthewT

If things go right then it is no big deal if Brees does not throw deep. When defenses start pressing up on receivers, stacking the box, etc. it's a major issue when there is not a deep passing game to push the defense back.

bobdog86

As long as his accuracy is running at an optimum level, probably be okay. Yeah, may not look too sexy but still works. When you can accurately throw a ball to a receiver in full stride, regardless of who it is, that's the difference in success between someone like Brees versus many if not most of the competition. And he is arguably one of the best of all time.....imo. Now, what you are starting to see are more exotic defenses versus the pass.more people in coverage, more people in deeper coverage. As long as he can slip/avoid the pressure he will be fine.

st thomas

This is my opinion and not a reason. The guy really never had a gun anyway. But could throw deep to keep defenses (honest) per say. He’s toast on the deep ball imo. Look I’m a drew believer, we have our best shot with him, but when he’s gone this offense will open up even more. And AG what happened in the playoffs when MT little button hooks and crossing routes were nonexistent, not MTs fault it was part oline and Drew’s that can’t outrun a three legged tortoise . It would have been a different outcome if drew could sprint right or left with pressure up the middle ala russel Wilson . Just saying my friend.


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thats the fact jack!!!!!

st thomas

Damm AG, waiting on that response is like waiting on a prison sentence 🤣

AsylumGuido

What makes you think the offense will open up even more? I expect a step back and possibly years to have a chance at the firepower we have had and still have today. Currently there are 21 NFL teams lagging behind the Saints in total offense per game. QB's of Brees' abilities do not grow on trees.