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Has Drew Brees taken a step back in 2020? His New Orleans Saints teammates certainly don’t think so — both Cameron Jordan and Alvin Kamara spoke out against criticism of their quarterback’s performance this season, both noting that he’s playing against his own high standards while pointing to other issues (like penalties, which have baffled Emmanuel Sanders) as explanations of their 1-2 record.
And when asked if he’s seen any uncharacteristic signs of decline from Brees in preparing for their Week 4 game, Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia quickly shot the suggestion down.
“No, I would say absolutely not,” Patricia replied during a recent conference call with Detroit media. “I think you always look at the quarterbacks that have been in the [NFL] for a long time. Is there anything that shows up that’s different: arm strength, mobility, what they’re doing from a communication at the line of scrimmage standpoint – guys that are established like that.”
There isn’t much to be taken away statistically from the first three weeks, especially in such an unusual year. Brees rarely plays in preseason games even in a normal year, but he hasn’t had a summer full of organized team activities and practice sessions to work on chemistry with his receivers.
Still, it’s worth noting that his completion percentage (70.2%) and adjusted net yards per attempt (7.6) are Brees’ lowest since the 2016 season. He’s completing fewer passes and creating fewer big plays than usual, but that could change in a big way with a strong game against Patricia’s defense.
And for his part, the Lions coach isn’t taking anything for granted. He’s preparing for Brees to hit Detroit with everything he’s got.
Patricia continued: “I’ve played against Drew Brees for a long time. I have the utmost respect for him, and his arm talent and his arm strength is still phenomenal. I don’t really read into all that stuff.”
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