Back in the 2015 season I thought the saddest thing was how Peyton Manning finally had an all-world defense that could FINALLY help Manning win games, only to have Manning succumb to father time and become a burden to the team. Talk about irony. Peyton Manning dragged teams throughout his entire career to make them relevant. I can name the good defensive players Manning had on the Colts throughout his entire career on one hand. Bob Sanders, Dwight Freeney, and… yea.
I am getting the same 2015 Peyton Manning vibe from 2017 Drew Brees. This years Saints have been amazing. After really bad showings to the Vikings and Patriots the Saints defense have been allowing 12 points per game. A lot of this has to do with the fact that Marshon Lattimore has blossomed as a leader in the secondary. I can name all the good Saints corners throughout Drew Brees’ career on one hand but to be honest I don’t think I need any hands for that. Is that to mean?
The offense has changed as well. Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara have been carrying the team and also they have been carrying the ball a lot. This is the least Brees has ever had to do in his career and the Saints are blowing their opponents out the water. No longer does Brees need to throw for 5000 yards only to finish 6-10 year after year. If you compare this team to the 2009 Super Bowl team there are actually some similarities. Mike Bell, Pierre Thomas, and Reggie Bush didn’t take up as much of a load as Brees did that year but people forget that team was extremely effective running the ball. Still, Brees had to have 32 completions to win that game while last week in the shellacking the Saints put on the Bills, Brees threw the ball only 25 times.
All of these changes lead me to believe that perhaps this is the start of the twilight phase of Brees career. I didn’t think that the 5000 yards a season Brees would end this year but I have got to believe the coaching staff collectively thought that something had to change to fit around Brees’ diminishing skills. Still, if all Drew Brees has to be is a game managing quarterback then he is the most overqualified for that.
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