The New Orleans Saints have a difficult matchup ahead against the NFC South -leading Bucs when they look to end their skid in Week 8.
That can be spun in a few ways, but the way Saints legend Drew Brees chooses to look a it: An opportunity, as he broke down on WWL Radio this week.
"This would be a huge statement this week," Brees told WWL's Bobby Hebert and Mike Detillier. "I love the fact that we’re playing a great opponent. I wouldn’t want to be playing a team that was kind of down on their luck right now and us trying to squeak out a win against a team that we should beat."
Hear the full interview with Drew Brees in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
The Bucs come into the matchup at 5-2, but reeling a bit with a 17-man injury report and coming off a Monday Night Football loss to the Lions. They won't have star WRs Mike Evans or Chris Godwin, and they won't have starting RB Bucky Irving. Injuries haven't slowed down the Bucs and Baker Mayfield to this point, and Tampa has won their last three visits to the Superdome by a margin of 97-46.
All the better, Drew says, because taking down the best teams is the best way to fast-track a rebuild and build confidence for a young group of players.
"We’re sitting here playing an opponent that a lot of people are saying we shouldn’t beat, that is a lot better than us just based on record and where they sit in the division and all that other stuff," Brees continued. "So I think the fact that we’re flying under the radar and nobody is talking about us, I think we should use that as fuel to our fire, and we’ve got a chance this week to make a statement, and so to me this is a statement week."
Finding that statement win will require a more effective performance than the Saints brought to Chicago, where they turned the ball over four times and allowed 222 rushing yards in a 26-14 loss to the Bears. The Saints have played better football at home, and they did bounce back well in Week 4, albeit in a loss, after a blowout defeat in Seattle.
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"It starts with the prep. We’re not letting anything slide in practice," Brees said. "We’re going to go out here and play our absolute best game and show people what we’re all about.”
The Saints (1-6) host the Bucs (2-5) at 3:05 p.m. inside the Caesars Superdome, the Saints first home game so far this year that doesn't kick off at noon. Catch all the action on WWL and Audacy.
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More from Brees
Impact of Erik McCoy's injury
“Certainly I’m not going to discount the effects of a loss like that. You know, Erik McCoy has been a mainstay for a long time, since I was playing. Like, certainly one of the more respected centers in the league and truly that position is the quarterback of the O-line. They do set the protections, they’re communicating constantly up front. It seems like in our offense with young quarterbacks, [McCoy has] been responsible for a lot of the protection stuff. So how much of that now falls on Spencer [Rattler], I don’t know, I’m not sure how that’ll be handled going forward and maybe that’s an evolution, maybe Spencer is ready to take on more of that responsibility. Regardless that’s not an easy fix, but at the same time, man, this league is full of those moments where next man up, you’ve got to find a way, maybe shuffle guys around and figure out how to find kind of new continuity with the guys that you have.”
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On Spencer Rattler/when would you consider playing Tyler Shough
“I’ll say this, you never know what you have until you give him the opportunity. You know, early in the year, when the Giants decided to start Jaxson Dart, I actually was sitting there going, man, I don’t know if that’s a great idea, you know, start him against the Chargers, the Chargers were hot, you know, you kind of throw him out there to the wolves, the team really hadn’t played that well up to that point. I was of the opinion that, I believe it was, maybe it was the primetime game against the Chiefs where end of the game I felt like that was the appropriate time to try to get Jaxson Dart some snaps and just see if he could create a spark, but not necessarily thinking to myself, hey, they’re just gonna outright start him the next week. Sure enough they did and it ended up being a great result, you know, they got the win and obviously you’ve seen the last couple weeks with Jaxson Dart, I mean, he’s been a huge spark for that team.
"I think it’s one of two things, if you feel like, hey, we’re just not getting the job done and so it’s time to give another guy a shot, that’s one thing. If it’s hey, we just need to try to create a spark, create something different, you really have no idea what you have until you give the kid an opportunity.”