Saints, Brees passing less but winning more
It is a different sort of season for Drew Brees. The passing yards are not piling up as rapidly. The fate of the New Orleans Saints does not depend entirely on his right arm. He actually has help.
It’s a nice feeling.
“I just do my job,” Brees said. “When I’m asked to (throw), I’m going to be as efficient as I possibly can. Completions are good. Convert third downs. Score touchdowns. Take care of the football. That’s my job. That’s always the quarterback’s job.”
Brees is 38, and his place as one of the most prolific passers in NFL history is secure. He possesses five of the nine 5,000-yard passing seasons in league history. No other quarterback has had more than one such season.
Therein lies the problem. Far too often, the Saints have been far too reliant on Brees’ passing. They haven’t been able to run the ball and they haven’t been able to play defense, and the wins have not come as frequently as they did early in the tenure of Brees and coach Sean Payton in New Orleans. The Saints posted identical 7-9 records in each of the previous three seasons.
Things are different this season. Brees is throwing well but not as often. The defense and running game have come together, and the Saints will take a 7-2 record and a seven-game winning streak into Sunday’s home game against the Washington Redskins. They are very much in the mix to be the NFC’S representative in the Super Bowl.
Brees is tied with Philadelphia’s Carson Wentz as the league’s third-rated passer, behind Kansas City’s Alex Smith and New England’s Tom Brady. He is completing an Nfl-best 71.7 percent and has 13 touchdown passes to go with four interceptions. He’s on pace to throw for 4,263 yards.
These Saints are different, though. They are third in the NFL in rushing offense. They’re eighth in total defense and tied for fifth in scoring defense.
They are more than The Drew Brees Show.
The Saints are reinvigorated just when the era of Brees and Payton perhaps had begun to feel a bit old and tired. It also has come at a time of career uncertainty for Brees. His contract expires after this season, leaving him eligible for unrestricted free agency. A clause in his deal reportedly prohibits the Saints from franchise-tagging him. He has vowed not to leave.
But that is a discussion for later. For now, it’s all about the Saints trying to get back to the sport’s biggest stage.
“Whenever you taste success and you’re able to do it time and again, it builds a level of confidence and belief in the process and the system and what we’re building,” Brees said. “And I think that obviously we went out and made some additions through free agency and made some additions with our rookie draft class, guys that have contributed quite a bit. Add all that stuff together and maybe catching some breaks along the way that we haven’t caught in a long time — a long time — and it’s resulting in wins.”