Brees' late-career playoff swoon is a big reason Saints' era ending with a thud... Mahomes may not have been concussed after all... NFL ratings drop in Canada... Bucs' Brown will have an MRI on his knee
It's a harsh but fair assessment that the New Orleans Saints' past four seasons have been nothing short of a massive disappointment.
The Sean Payton/Drew Brees era in New Orleans is reportedly over, with Brees expected to announce his retirement any time now, following a shoo-in hall-offame quarterbacking career that spanned 20 seasons. Head coach Payton and GM Mickey Loomis rebuilt the Saints around Brees last decade, with the intention of producing an on-field power worthy of another Super Bowl win or two.
Well, they did produce an on-field power. Only it didn't reach a Super Bowl.
In the regular season the Saints cruised to the last four NFC South division titles, only to follow it up with three post-season victories — against four ruinous, under-performing defeats. And the three teams the Saints beat in the post-season were all wild cards; they went 0-2 against division winners, and lost to two other wild cards.
Each year the
Saints' defence got better, while the Payton/Brees offensive struggles only worsened every January.
Brees' struggles in particular.
Why? Well, first understand that NFL football chews up and spits out quarterbacks at a disturbing rate. Young ones too, not just old farts like Brees. For most NFL passers, four months of accumulated hurts, pains and injuries tend to pile up by January.
Although ironmen Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay), Baker Mayfield (Cleveland) and Tom Brady (Tampa Bay) each barely got touched in this past weekend's playoff games, after having made it through the regular season more or less unscathed, look at the other five:
Jared Goff, 26, Los Angeles Rams: Had two screws inserted into his right throwing thumb a few weeks ago and still wasn't 100% in the loss at Green Bay, and his backup John Wolford wasn't available after suffering a neck injury the week before;
Lamar Jackson, 24, Baltimore: Knocked out Saturday night with a concussion late in the third quarter, just over a month after being afflicted with COVID-19;
Josh Allen, 24, Buffalo: Played with a wounded throwing shoulder in October;
Patrick Mahomes, 25, Kansas City: Hurt his left toe in the first half Sunday afternoon and limped around a bunch, before getting knocked out with an apparent concussion late in the third quarter.
Brees: Suffered about a dozen crack ribs and a deflated lung on a couple of crushing hits in November, and missed four games.
Brees, who turned 42 on Friday, never looked quite the same after his return, just before Christmas.
For whatever reasons, he wasn't his glistening regular-season self in any of the Saints' past four playoff losses. In each of the three before Sunday, he had a clunker half of play:
2017 playoffs, loss at Minnesota Vikings, divisional round. First half: 44% completions, 117 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions.
2018 playoffs, loss to the Rams, NFC title game. Second half and overtime: 60% completions, 117 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and he got outplayed by Goff.
2019 playoffs, loss to the Vikings, wild-card round. First half: 67% completions, 63 yards, no touchdowns, one interception.
Brees rarely has such ineffective 30-minute outputs during the regular season. For perspective, he led the
Yet in his last four post-seasons he was off in the deciding games, not just with accuracy but prolificacy; his annual post-season pergame yardage averages since 2017 have free-fallen: 335.0, 275.0, 208.0, 199.5.
In Sunday's 30-20 homefield loss to Tampa Bay in the divisional round, Brees had not one but two clunker halves: 59%, 63 yards, no touchdowns, one interception in the first … followed by 53%, 71 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions in the second.
Can it be a coincidence that the Saints following each of the past four regular seasons — in which they went 11-5, 13-3, 13-3 and 12-4 — couldn't put together two playoff wins, when Brees didn't put together two good playoff performances?
Maybe ... But probably not. And it might be he didn't because, physically, he couldn't.
MAHOMES NOT CONCUSSED?
It did not appear as though Mahomes got hit in the head on the play on which he was said by the Chiefs, during the game, to have been concussed. I wrote as much Sunday.
Now come a report from Kansas City claiming he wasn't concussed at all. Rather, he suffered a neck/ nerve injury.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid after the game did say, vaguely, that Mahomes had “passed all the tests.” Presumably meaning concussion tests. Which would then beg a couple of important questions.
One, then why was he announced as concussed, and unable to return?
Two, as neck tests are part of every proper concussion evaluation, how could Mahomes have passed “all” the tests?
Reid would not confirm the neck-injury report, nor add any other details Monday other than to say that Mahomes is in the NFL concussion protocol, and “we'll just follow that and see how he does here the next couple days.”
Former long-time NFL team doctor David Chao, who now writes a column for Outkick.com, diagnoses sports injuries via video with uncanny accuracy.
He wrote: “By video,
Mahomes received a direct hit to the shoulder, not the head,” on the tackle in question by Cleveland Browns linebacker Mack Wilson. “He then landed forcefully on his chest. He certainly was wobbly getting up, which necessitates a head-injury check.
“There was speculation that he was `getting choked,' given the neck tackle and the way he appeared `faint.' Concussions can certainly happen without direct blows to the head, and manifestation of symptoms is always unpredictable.”
That said, Chao wrote that occasionally what is diagnosed as a concussion “in the name of safety” during a game is altered later, based on “subsequent examinations.”
“If Mahomes has no symptoms (Sunday night or Monday) he can begin concussion clearance protocol and, barring setback, could be cleared by next Sunday.”
Or days earlier. New Orleans gadget QB Taysom Hill was concussed in the regular season finale on Sunday Jan. 3, but was cleared to practise fully on Thursday, Jan. 7 — only four days later — and played in the Saints' Sunday, Jan. 10 playoff game against Chicago.
“Normally, the chances that a player would clear (within seven days) are not good,” Chao wrote. “Given the indirect mechanism of the injury, though, I think
there is a good chance Mahomes will clear if he has no symptoms.”
The Chiefs play host to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC championship game this Sunday at 6:40 p.m. EST.
CANADIAN TV RATINGS DROP
Don't go reading too much into it, but Canadian network TV viewership of NFL games during the 2020 regular season was down, year over year, in three of five time slots.
According to Numeris and
Total Canada numbers provided to Postmedia by Bell
Media, viewership rose only in the
Sunday late-afternoon time slot, by 5%, from 875,000 in 2019, to 921,000 this past season.
Thursday nights were flat year-overyear: 608,000.
Drops came in the early Sunday afternoon window
(1%, 888,000 to 876,000, Sunday night (9%, 759,000 to 692,000) and Monday night (560,000 to 520,000).
A big reason might be that early in the season, NFL games were competing for eyeballs for the first time with later-round NHL playoff games (through September) and NBA playoff games (deep into October), both of which were delayed for months by the pandemic. The NFL season kicked off Sept. 10.
But those distractions don't account for a 15% overall drop in Canadian viewership — on CTV and TSN — for NFL wild-card playoff games, Jan. 9-10. The most watched of those six games were played in the afternoon: Sunday's Chicago at New Orleans (1.45 million) and Saturday's Indianapolis at Buffalo (1.43 million). Least watched of those was the Sunday night Cleveland at Pittsburgh
game (942,000). It was the only one not aired on CTV as well as TSN.
STATE OF COACH SEARCHES Late Sunday the Los Angeles Chargers announced they have hired a replacement for fired head coach Anthony Lynn: Brandon Staley, the Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator. He'll be introduced Thursday.
The Detroit Lions have settled on New Orleans assistant head coach Dan Campbell to be their new head coach, according to numerous reports. But he still must be formally interviewed, and that won't happen before Wednesday, reports say.
The Houston Texans, still in disarray and still searching for a new head coach since firing Bill O'Brien fully a quarter of a year ago, were to interview Baltimore assistant head coach David Culley on Monday. Also, the Texans were granted special permission Monday by the NFL to remotely interview Eric Bieniemy, Kansas City's offensive coordinator, and Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay's defensive coordinator.
Previously, the Texans interviewed former Detroit and Indy head coach Jim Caldwell, former Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis, Carolina offensive coordinator Joe Brady, Indianapolis defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus and Buffalo defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier.
The Philadelphia Eagles, a week into their hunt to replace fired head coach Doug Pederson, on Sunday interviewed New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. The Eagles also lined up interviews with Bieniemy and Bowles, per reports.
RECORD COHORT FOR DRAFT?
On the deadline day for U.S. college players three years removed from high school (but with remaining eligibility) to declare for the NFL Draft, quarterback Justin Fields on Monday announced he's leaving Ohio State to become a pro.
If you're thinking newly named Jacksonville head coach Meyer might want his former Buckeye pupil, know that Meyer retired as OSU head coach in January 2019, and Fields didn't transfer there from Georgia until a couple months later; Meyer never coached him.
Fields joins Clemson's Trevor Lawrence and Alabama's Mac Jones as previous top QB underclassmen declarants.
According to websites that track underclassmen departures, at least 130 eligible players in recent months have indicated they would file. The record is 106 in 2018.
EXTRA POINTS
Tampa Bay WR Antonio Brown was to undergo an MRI on an injured knee, head coach Bruce Arians said Monday … K.C. safety
Daniel Sorensen reportedly won't be fined for his unflagged helmet-to-helmet hit on Cleveland WR Rashard Higgins … Tampa Bay has designated NT Vita Vea for return from IR. He broke a leg in October but could now play Sunday … San Francisco promoted linebackers coach DeMeco Ryans to defensive coordinator, and run-game coordinator Mike McDaniel to offensive coordinator. The latter replaces Mike LaFleur, now the new New York Jets offensive coordinator under new head coach Saleh, whom Ryans replaces … Jacksonville let go John Idzik, assistant to the GM and former Jets GM … If you missed it on the weekend,
Matt Canada is Pittsburgh's new offensive coordinator. Right, Canada will call plays for Canada's Chase Claypool. There will be confusion.