Brees to face Mahomes in battle of elite passers
Sunday clash pits ageless Saints star against Mahomes in battle of elite passers
Drew Brees vs. Patrick Mahomes is on for Sunday afternoon.
New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton confirmed on Friday that Brees — the 41-year-old future Hall of Fame quarterback — has practised all week with first teamers, and that he'll start against Mahomes and the visiting Kansas City Chiefs (4:25 p.m. EST, CTV via CBS).
It's an epic late-season battle of teams with the best records in each conference, or at least tied for the best mark: New Orleans sits atop the NFC with Green Bay at 10-3, while Kansas City is 12-1, alone atop the AFC.
Super Bowl preview, anyone? It would surprise no one.
Brees has missed the Saints' past four games while recovering from up to a dozen cracked ribs and a collapsed lung suffered in early November. Taysom Hill led the Saints to three victories in four starts during Brees' absence.
“He's looked good. He feels good,” Payton said of Brees, per ESPN.COM.
“We were encouraged at the start of the week. We wanted to see how it felt as he went through a full practice week, and he's done a good job.”
NFL Network said Brees “took the majority of first-team reps in practice this week” and did not “feel any pain.”
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and Payton are two of the pro game's greatest offensive minds. That Brees is playing came as no surprise to Reid.
“I figured he would,” Reid said. “I mean, I read somewhere that Taysom was in the special teams meetings, so I figured that Drew was probably healthy and ready to go.”
Nfl.com says Mahomes and Brees rank 1-2 in NFL career passing yards per game — at 309.5 and 280.3, respectively.
The Saints won't have their No. 1 wide receiver for this game. Michael Thomas is out with an ankle injury.
The Chiefs' top wideout, Tyreek Hill, tweaked a hamstring last Sunday but practised fully all week.
Pass the popcorn.
STAFFORD QUESTIONABLE
Speaking of veteran NFL quarterbacks battling painful ribs, Detroit's Matthew Stafford wasn't expected to practice on Friday, yet did on a limited basis. He also has a right thumb injury.
The Lions officially listed Stafford as questionable for Sunday's game at Tennessee.
A decision on whether to play Stafford could go right up until pre-game workouts.
Lions wideout Kenny Golladay (hip) didn't practice all week, again, and is out for Sunday.
BUCS LEFT TACKLE OUT
Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady won't have starting left tackle Donovan Smith to protect him on Sunday at Atlanta.
The Bucs placed Smith on Covid-19/reserve of Friday, so he faces minimum of five days in quarantine.
Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said Smith is a high-risk close contact only.
“He doesn't have any symptoms or anything,” Arians said. “It's a wrinkle in the plan, but we've got people who are capable of jumping in and playing.”
Meantime, Tampa Bay's threeman kicking unit — placekicker Ryan Succop, punter/ holder Bradley Pinion and long snapper Zach Triner — all came off the Covid-19/reserve list on Friday. Hours later, the Bucs signed greybeard punter Dustin Colquitt and long-tooth long snapper Garrison Sanborn to the practice squad.
HASKINS AT PIVOT AGAIN
Dwayne Haskins will start at QB for Washington against Seattle, as Alex Smith was ruled out with a calf injury.
CARR OUT A WHILE
Las Vegas Raiders QB Derek Carr suffered a significant groin injury in Thursday night's 30-27 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, reports say. His recovery timeline is 10-14 days.
EXTRA POINTS
Buffalo QB Josh Allen (knee and ankle) was listed on the injury report all week, but practised fully and will play Saturday in Denver. Safety Jaquan Johnson (ankle) is out. For the Broncos, RBS Melvin Gordon (shoulder) and Phillip Lindsay (hip) are questionable … Carolina RB Chris Mccaffrey (thigh) is doubtful on Saturday night at Green Bay. WR Curtis Samuel (hamstring) is questionable. Uh-oh … Philadelphia has placed CB Avonte Maddox and OL Jack Driscoll on IR, while both CB Darius Slay and DT Malik Jackson are questionable at Arizona with concussions.