Drew Brees Plans To Return This Sunday
After just 5 weeks removed from thumb surgery, quarterback and future hall-of-famer Drew Brees says that he is now ready to play. The next game on the schedule will be the Arizona Cardinals. They will be hosting the Cardinals on Sunday in New Orleans.
According to an article by Mike Triplett of ESPN (just published 3 hours ago), head coach Sean Payton has yet to announce the starting quarterback. However, Brees plans to make that decision easy for him.
According to Brees in a live interview he states...
"I will tell Sean (Payton) if I am ready to play, and he will believe me."
This statement is not at all surprising considering the amount of time Brees and Payton have been together. The combo has been together since 2006 when Payton went out of his way to claim Brees in free agency. This level of trust is what I already expected from the 2009 Super Bowl Champions.
Interestingly, Brees's injury will not fully heal for another 2 and a half months. He will be playing with a brace which was inserted into his hand during surgery. In addition, the quarteback will most likely be wearing an external splint when he returns to the field.
There are some sports pundits already saying that Brees should not return to the starting quarterback role until November 10th. The reason? Because after the Cardinals game this week, the Saints have their bye. Also, the Saints have now won 5 games in a row with their back-up quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Here are some of the arguments by the so called "experts" that I completely disagree with...
The reason I completely disagree with their opinions is for two reasons. One... Brees is the Saints leader. He has had that role for 13 years. Will he stuggle during the first half of the game (as he tries to get up to speed)? Most likely... but the second half will be ALL Brees.
The second reason... Brees needs to get back on the field ASAP. The sooner he gets back and gets on the same page with his wide-receivers, the better.
There is one downside to Brees returning early however...
The Arizona Cardinals are a team that have just won 3 games in a row. Will the Cardinals momentum finally come to an end? We shall see.
Saints have proved all the naysayers wrong after Brees went down by playing fantastic and beating good teams too while doing it. With how good the Saints are again this year, I just can't help but think of the Superbowl that should have been. Tom Brady vs Drew Brees. Patriots vs Saints. Man that would have been an epic epic Superbowl featuring lengendary QBs. Instead the universe delivered a booooring pile of poop Superbowl of Patriots vs Rams. Makes me sad to think about it.
I'm right there with ya... with the score of the Super Bowl last year being Patriots 13 and the Rams 3.
I was still pretty livid about the non-call (for the Saints) that I didn't even bother to watch the Super Bowl. Which was a first for me.
No doubt about Brees vs Brady. How awesome would that have been?!
Final score:
Saints 45
Patriots 42
Yeah, boyeee.... Old Breesy won me a matchup this week in fantasy. You can't doubt this guy. If he says he's ready, he's frickin' ready! 374 yds, 3 TDs... One teeder was even taken away from him... Don't matter! 30 fpts!