At times, Brees looked like his old self; other times he just looked old
NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans
Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ return from injury got off to a rough start with no completions and one interception on his first six passes.
The 41-year-old Brees had moments where he looked like his old, record-setting self. But there were too many others when he didn’t, contributing to a 32-29 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
“I can tell you the first four drives were not what we wanted with four three and outs,” said Brees, who completed just 15 of 34 passes after connecting on 73.5% of his previous passes this season. “We didn’t really find our rhythm until the second quarter and fourth quarter. Unfortunately there were quite a few instances when we couldn’t get that first first down.”
By game’s end, Brees had passed for 234 yards and three touchdowns, which wasn’t quite enough to knock off the Afc-leading Chiefs.
When the 2020 NFL schedule first came out, Sunday’s matchup had the makings of a showdown between two dynamic offensive units led by two prolific quarterbacks, Brees and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes.
Brees and the Saints offense didn’t live up to that billing.
Brees often was off target on those critical downs, underthrowing or overthrowing receivers, and miscommunicating teammates.
Symbolic of the struggles was a play late in the third quarter when it looked like Brees was expecting his receiver to run a deep route along the sideline. Instead, the receiver cut short and Brees was called for intentional grounding after throwing deep.
“They brought an all-out pressure,” Brees said, explaining the Saints didn’t have enough blockers on the play. “We had talked about various things during the week and unfortunately got signals crossed.”
With New Orleans trailing 32-22 in the fourth, Brees finally found his rhythm, going 6-for-8 to lead the Saints on an eight play, 75-yard drive that cut the Chiefs’ lead to 32-29.
But Brees conceded afterward he wasn’t 100%, though he said he was “on his way.”