Is Drew Brees cooked? Phil Simms was ready to make that argument a few weeks ago, but after seeing the Saints maestro obliterate the Bucs Sunday night in Tampa, the former QB appears to have had a change of heart.
“I’ll shut up. I’m not going to talk about Drew Brees’ arm anymore. He’s as sharp as I’ve ever seen,” said Simms, noting Brees’ immaculate fit within the Saints’ offense. “He threw some over routes where he threw it over the linebackers in front of the safeties and corners. Those were terrific.”
Brees has attracted criticism from Simms and others for his perceived lack of arm strength, living almost exclusively off check-downs and screen passes. When it comes to hitting short and intermediate throws, Brees is as accurate as any quarterback to ever grip a pigskin, but his inability—or rather unwillingness—to challenge teams downfield is worrying to some. Detractors will point to Brees’ comically low 5.4 aDOT (average depth of target) as evidence of the veteran’s precipitous decline, though the 41-year-old’s reliance on dump-offs and slant patterns seems to be working just fine for the Saints, winners of five straight.
“Listen, his arm strength was never great,” Simms told Damon Amendolara of CBS Sports Radio. “When you look at the other night how many times did they really just rip it downfield? Not many, but it doesn’t matter because their offense doesn’t call for it. They built this offense. It fits Drew Brees perfectly.”
In addition to being back on the Brees bandwagon, Simms also thinks we may have overrated the Buccaneers, who lost their two matchups with New Orleans this year by a combined 72-26 margin. “They kind of got away from what they’re doing,” said Simms, doing his best to diagnose where the Bucs fell short Sunday night. “They did not blitz Drew Brees hardly at all the whole night. And Tom Brady has been having success with play-action passes. I don’t know if we saw but a couple the whole night. He said, ‘Oh, we’ve got these great wide receivers. We’re going to show them off.’ And it didn’t work.”
Back atop the NFC South, the division-leading Saints will look to improve their record to 7-2 when they host the Niners at the Superdome in Week 10. The 49ers won a 48-46 slugfest when these teams met in 2019, though injured stars George Kittle (foot) and Jimmy Garoppolo (ankle) won’t be in uniform for Sunday’s rematch.
Simms’ son, Chris Simms of NBC Sports, may also owe Brees an apology for listing him an insulting 16th in his preseason quarterback rankings.
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