New Orleans Saints: Three things we’ve learned so far without Drew Brees
The New Orleans Saints have now played three full games without Drew Brees and the results have been better than anticipated.
The New Orleans Saints suffered a huge blow in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams when Aaron Donald gave Drew Brees too aggressive of a high five and tore a ligament in Brees’ throwing thumb.
The result of such was surgery and an injury timetable of around six weeks, although it was unclear at the time how long it would really take. Right now, it appears as if Brees could come back a week earlier than expected.
However, it would not be surprising to see the Saints hold off on Brees until after the bye week to make sure that he is 100 percent ready for the end of the season and the playoffs. They have been afforded the luxury to do so by going 3-0 in Brees’ absence.
The Saints moved to 4-1 on the season with a 31-24 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and have the Jaguars, Bears and Cardinals before the bye week.
The Jaguars are a sneaky team, especially in Jacksonville, and you cannot discount the Bears’ defense. With Arizona being one of the worst teams in the league, it would not be all that surprising to see the Saints at 6-2 heading into the bye.
That is at least what they have shown us they are capable of without Brees. In fact, we have learned three things about the Saints during this three-game stretch. Let’s break them down.
1. When pressed, the defense has been far better than expected
One of the biggest reasons for concern when Brees went down with the thumb injury is how the team was going to be able to put up enough points to keep up with the defense. And while we will get to the points portion of this article later, the defense has stepped up for the team over these three games.
The numbers were not pretty in Seattle as Russell Wilson had a huge day in the box score but it was a very deceiving big yardage day for Wilson. Not only did the Saints defense record a touchdown in that game, but they held Seattle to just 14 points up until there were four minutes left in the game.
From there, the Seahawks were able to score two garbage-time touchdowns, one of which came at the very last second, which made the game appear much closer than it actually was.
The defense then put together it’s strongest showing of the year thus far the very next week. The defense held the Dallas Cowboys to just 10 points, helping an offense that only scored 12. The defense shut down both Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, which was huge.
Finally, the Saints maintained a Tampa Bay offense that scored 55 points the week prior. While Chris Godwin had a big week, the Bucs really were never in control in the game and it was another garbage-time touchdown that made the game look close.
You can’t just take points off the board but Tampa Bay had 17 points up until the final 13 seconds of the game. Without the garbage-time scores, which again, we cannot take away, the defense has allowed 41 points in three games when it mattered.
2. Teddy Bridgewater is not the heir to Drew Brees’ throne
This might sound completely contradictory considering the fact that Teddy Bridgewater is 3-0 under center for the New Orleans Saints but he has shown us in these three games that he should not be the Saints’ long-term plan to take over at the quarterback position for Drew Brees.
This is coming after Bridgewater’s best performance yet, so recency bias may impact some fans into thinking that Bridgewater is the real deal. Let’s not forget, Bridgewater, although impressive, had such a good game on Sunday against one of the league’s worst secondaries.
Bridgewater has not been bad whatsoever in these three games and I do not want this to come off as such. He has done a great job in managing the games and doing enough for the Saints to win.
You don’t want a game manager to end up as your franchise quarterback. Then you end up in a situation, like the Dallas Cowboys, where you have to overpay this quarterback that we all know isn’t an elite quarterback but he is your only option to contend for a Super Bowl.
The heir to Brees’ throne, whether it comes next season or in five years, has to be someone that the Saints fully commit to, build around and have full trust in.
Bridgewater, as impressive as he has been compared to his initial expectations, has not shown enough traits to warrant that kind of trust from the Saints.
3. The New Orleans Saints are the best team in the NFC, and it might not be close
There were legitimate signs that the New Orleans Saints could take a small step back in 2019. While nobody was denying that the team was a playoff team and could make a Super Bowl run, it felt like the dominant regular season that we have gotten used to the last two years could be less dominant this year.
Drew Brees is getting older (although that doesn’t matter in this case) and the Saints were coming off of a second-consecutive heartbreaking playoff. That kind of loss can absolutely stick with a team, just look at the Atlanta Falcons.
Unlike the Falcons, the Saints have overcome that loss, so far, and have enjoyed a hot start to the year. In the process of winning three in a row without Brees, the Saints have proven one thing, even with a loss to the Los Angeles Rams: they are the best team in the NFC, and it probably isn’t close.
What other team in the NFC could lose its starting quarterback, who is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time, nonetheless, and still win three games, two of which are against playoff teams and one being a team that just dropped 55 on the defending NFC Champs?
Sure, you could make a case for the Green Bay Packers, who had a fairly big win over the Dallas Cowboys. Maybe you stick with the Los Angeles Rams, although I would not advise that with Jared Goff under center.
The Saints still have work to do before we call them the best team in the NFL over the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs, but I think it is now safe to say that they are undoubtedly the best team in the NFC this season.
