Tag: Drew Brees

Derek Carr could get closer to a rare feat by beating his former team

Only four quarterbacks have beaten all 32 teams. Derek Carr is closer than you’d think, and could get even closer by getting revenge against the Raiders:

Don’t be surprised if the New Orleans Saints play the Las Vegas Raiders in the season opener. Neither team’s cachet is particularly high, so the NFL likely won’t push them as a marquee matchup. Derek Carr playing his former team is enough to schedule it as a season opener, even if it’s a 12 p.m. game. Carr certainly has that game circled.

Toppling his former team would get Carr closer to a rare feat. In his decade-long career, Carr has defeated 27 of the 32 teams in the NFL. He’s played against 31 of them, and this year he will face the Raiders for the first time.

Only four quarterbacks have ever defeated all 32 teams: Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre. Carr is also winless against the Washington Commanders, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings. Out of that group, New Orleans plays every team other than the Vikings this season. Carr isn’t a future Hall of Famer, but he’s surprisingly sneaking up on a rare feat.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

B/R picks three very different Saints quarterbacks as comparisons for Bo Nix

Bleacher Report picked three very different New Orleans Saints quarterbacks as pro comparisons for Oregon draft prospect Bo Nix:

You won’t find Derek Carr, Andy Dalton, and Drew Brees mentioned in the same conversation too often, but that’s where we found ourselves here. Bleacher Report’s Derrick Klassen shared his scouting report on Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, a prospect in the 2024 NFL draft, and offered a couple of different pro comparisons for Nix: Carr, Dalton, and Brees.

Incidentally, all three of them have played for the New Orleans Saints. And that’s where this comparison falls apart. Brees of course accomplished a Pro Football Hall of Fame-worthy career in black and gold. Dalton spent a single year in New Orleans, having been signed to back up Jameis Winston before being given the starting job, and he ended that season with the worst offensive output the Saints had seen in decades. The jury is still out on Carr, but the early returns aren’t good.

Still, we’re missing the forest for the trees here. Klassen’s greater point is that Nix should be seen as a high-end backup who should probably be picked early in the second round of this year’s draft. That’s where Brees (drafted with the first pick of the second round), Dalton (the third pick in the second round), and Carr (the fourth pick in the second round) all went off the board. While Dalton and Carr both started as rookies, Brees didn’t, though it’s worth noting he played in a different era that took a more patient approach to young quarterbacks.

So does this mean Nix could end up wearing black and gold in New Orleans, too? Probably not this year. If he’s projected to be picked before the Saints go on the clock at No. 45 overall, he probably won’t make it to them. At the same time the Saints have been seen as a possibility to draft him. Quarterback is low on their list of needs but if they believe Nix has a chance at supplanting Carr in the next year or two, it shouldn’t shock anyone if they draft him.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Drew Brees says even retired quarterbacks are relieved by Aaron Donald’s retirement

Drew Brees says even retired quarterbacks are relieved by Aaron Donald’s big news. He wished his old rival well in retirement:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4jF67YSNsp/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Even retired quarterbacks are happy to see Aaron Donald hanging up his cleats. Or at least that’s how Drew Brees feels. The legendary New Orleans Saints quarterback congratulated his old rival “on an unbelievable career” with the Los Angeles Rams, where Donald spent a decade sacking passers like Brees.

They went head-to-head five times, including the playoffs, with Brees’ Saints winning twice (and the less said of that playoff debacle, the better). Donald sacked Brees twice but hit the quarterback 11 times, including the infamous play that broke Brees’ throwing hand early in the 2019 season. Talk about a worthy opponent.

Ten years and ten Pro Bowls, with a Super Bowl championship to his name. Donald was the best defender in the sport during his time in the league and should be an easy choice for enshrinement at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 202, just a few years after Brees will have earned a bronze bust in 2026.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Drew Brees announces scholarship in honor of retiring Eagles center Jason Kelce

Drew Brees announced a scholarship in honor of retiring Eagles center Jason Kelce aimed at supporting walk-on college athletes:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4OFVH2rcm_

Drew Brees continues to do great deeds off the field. The former New Orleans Saints great has announced a scholarship honoring Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, who started his college career as a walk-on at Cincinnati. Kelce announced his retirement last week after 13 seasons.

Brees shared the big news on social media, saying the scholarship will be awarded to 13 walk-on collegiate athletes. These scholarships will be given out on behalf of Walk-On’s Bistreaux, a restaurant chain of which Brees is the co-owner.

“These scholarships represent more than just financial aid. They’re a salute to the relentless spirit and unwavering dedication that drives athletes to excel, mirroring the qualities that Jason Kelce showcased throughout his career,” Brees said during his announcement.

Kelce steps away from the game as one of the most decorated offensive linemen of his generation. He earned seven Pro Bowl nominations, six first-team All-Pro selections and a Super Bowl championship. To say the least, a very accomplished career for the former walk-on.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Sean Payton starting the same rebuild in Denver he tried to dodge in New Orleans

The Broncos will be cutting Russell Wilson, meaning Sean Payton has entered the same rebuild in Denver he dodged in leaving New Orleans:

The Denver Broncos will be cutting Russell Wilson at the start of the new league year on March 13, meaning Sean Payton has entered the same rebuild situation he tried to avoid in leaving the New Orleans Saints: a team without a starting quarterback fans can believe in that’s saddled with more dead money than any of its peers.

Good luck to him. Payton without Drew Brees is beginning to look a lot like Bill Belichick without Tom Brady. Belichick’s record as a head coach without Brady was 82-98, a winning percentage of .455. By comparison, Payton has gone 25-21 (.543) in games he’s coached without Brees under center. So he’s not quite there, but he’s trending in the wrong direction after limping to an 8-9 finish with the Broncos last year.

Now, we should be honest: all reporting has said Payton was open to returning to the Saints after his one-year sabbatical in 2022, having felt burnt out after two very difficult seasons at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. If he’d returned, maybe he would have brought Teddy Bridgewater in to compete with Jameis Winston for the starting job, or taken things in another direction. But the Saints had moved on and felt there was no going back.

Either way, Payton must now tackle the challenge he avoided in splitting with New Orleans. He needs to find a real quarterback who can execute his offense and compete for a division title in the AFC West, where Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs have won it eight years in a row. And he’ll be attempting it under very real salary cap restraints. It’s a similar situation to where he left the Saints after Brees hung up his cleats but he’s facing a steeper degree of difficulty with a powerhouse rival in the division.

So, again: good luck to him. He’s going to need it. Meanwhile, the Saints have their own problems with a head coach who has won fewer games in his career than Payton won in games without Brees — Dennis Allen, who is 24-46 during his time with the Saints and Raiders. The two coaches will go head-to-head when the Broncos visit the Caesars Superdome during the 2024 season.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Jac Collinsworth one of top sports broadcasting flops of past decade

Who thought it would have turned out this badly?

Now that Jac Collinsworth is out as Notre Dame play-by-play announcer for NBC, the postmortem on his tenure can begin. In two seasons calling the Irish, Collinsworth was widely panned by viewers both within and outside the fan base. It was almost like NBC had planned him to fail in this role.

In any case, Awful Announcing has pulled no punches regarding Collinsworth. With his dismissal from Irish broadcasts, the sports media site has named his time doing them one of the biggest sports broadcasting flops of the past decade. The list also includes Drew Brees, who lasted only one season as the Notre Dame color commentator before leaving NBC and sports broadcasting altogether.

The good news for Irish fans is that a familiar voice in Dan Hicks will be back on the broadcasts, and he at least has plenty of experience on his resume. Maybe with a little more seasoning, Collinsworth can work his way back into his now-former role in the distant future. For now though, Irish home broadcasts can be enjoyable again.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Ranking the 11 best Super Bowl starting quarterbacks of the 21st century

Here are our rankings of the best Super Bowl QBs this century, especially the obvious name at the top.

There is no bigger stage for a quarterback than the Super Bowl. Sure, it is also a moment of awe and wonder for everyone else on an NFL team, but the fame and recognition that comes with being a Super Bowl quarterback is unmatched in the American sports landscape.

First and foremost, it is this position’s time to shine. Provided you don’t completely come apart at the seams, if you’re a starting quarterback in a Super Bowl, you likely become a legend for life. Full stop.

This got me thinking, as the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers get ready to square off at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday…

Who are the most memorable Super Bowl starting quarterbacks this century? Who are the game’s titans who introduced themselves to roughly 100 million people every February?

Let’s break down the top Super Bowl quarterbacks of the 21st century, with an obvious selection at the top.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=146952]

Look: Las Vegas Sphere displays Saints’ Super Bowl XLIV championship ring

Look: Las Vegas Sphere displays Saints’ Super Bowl XLIV championship ring

Now this is cool: there are few marvels of modern engineering that can compare to the Sphere in Las Vegas, an entertainment venue that offers immersive visuals inside and a massive light show on its exterior. Often used for promoting events in Las Vegas, this week the Sphere carried visuals celebrating Super Bowl LVIII matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers — while celebrating all 57 championship games which preceded it.

That includes the New Orleans Saints’ win in Super Bowl XLIV. On Thursday night the Sphere displayed blown-up images of all 57 Super Bowl rings, but none looked as good as the Saints’ diamond-gilded fleur-de-lis. See for yourself:

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Jahri Evans passed over for Hall of Fame induction in the Class of 2024

Jahri Evans was passed over for Hall of Fame induction in the Class of 2024. Having to wait longer is disappointing, but the payoff could make it easier to accept:

We’ll start with the bad news. The Pro Football Hall of Fame will not induct Jahri Evans in its Class of 2024 — the New Orleans Saints legend was passed over in favor of other deserving players, including several who had to wait longer than they should have for enshrinement. Evans will have to wait at least one more year to earn his bronze bust and gold jacket in Canton.

Now the good news. It’s disappointing that Evans has to wait a while longer for such powerful recognition, but the payoff might be worth it. If he’s inducted in the Class of 2025 (which seems likely; he was a semifinalist in his first year of eligibility before progressing to the finalist stage in his second turn) then Evans will earn the nod in the same year, and a few days before, Super Bowl LIX is played at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. That would be a fine occasion.

And if not? If Evans’ case lingers in discussion another year, drawing out into 2026, he could go into the Hall of Fame with his legendary quarterback. Drew Brees will be eligible to enter the Hall of Fame for the first time in 2026 which would be Evans’ fourth year of eligibility. He’s a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer, and getting him and his best blocker in together would be awful special.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Where ESPN ranked the 2009 Saints among 57 Super Bowl-winning teams

Did ESPN get it right? Where they ranked the 2009 Saints among 57 Super Bowl-winning teams:

Where do you rank the New Orleans Saints’ Super Bowl XLIV-winning squad among the greatest teams of all time? Or at least, among the NFL’s other 57 champions?

That’s a question that ESPN writer Aaron Schatz set out to answer. Using his advanced-stat DVOA ratings (which you can read more about here), Schatz estimated the play-by-play efficiency for every team to win a Super Bowl.

And his findings have the 2009 Saints at No. 32. New Orleans fielded a high-powered offense and an opportunistic defense that year, outscoring the next-best team by 40 points (at 510, far above the second-place Minnesota Vikings at 470) and nearly tying the league lead with 39 takeaways (the Green Bay Packers had 40).

The Saints achieved a level of dominance that season that’s only rarely seen. We’ll let Schatz explain it further:

The Saints led the NFL in DVOA after a 13-0 start but fell to sixth because of a three-game losing streak to finish off the regular season. (Their starters played in the first two of those three losses, but not the third.) The Saints were second on offense, narrowly behind the Patriots, but 13th on defense and 28th on special teams.

Their DVOA moves up nicely thanks to some big playoff victories. They dominated Arizona 45-14 in the divisional round. The NFC championship required overtime and a Brett Favre interception for a 31-28 victory over the Vikings. But then the Saints beat the Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV, capped off by a Tracy Porter pick-six off Peyton Manning.

It’s disappointing that the 2009 Saints were not ranked higher, but the numbers back it u p. They allowed the 12th-most yards per play that season on defense. No team gave up more yards per punt return (14.3) and they were fourth-worst in yards per kick return (24.5). But they made up for it with an offense that few teams could match and, critically, key stops on defense with sacks and turnovers.

That may have been a difficult strategy to sustain, but it took the Saints all the way to the Super Bowl. And when the chips were down, that same hungry defense sealed the win with one of the most memorable plays in franchise history. And we shouldn’t overlook the benefits of having a Hall of Fame quarterback in the prime of his career leading the way, either.

Now, what’s frustrating — and we’re twisting the knife here, so stop reading if you are not in the right headspace to receive information that could possibly hurt you — is how low Schatz ranked some of the teams that won the Super Bowl in years that got away from New Orleans. The 2011 New York Giants, who advanced on a miracle overtime run over the San Francisco 49ers (and who lost to the Saints in a regular season blowout) clocked in at No. 56 out of 57 Super Bowl winners. If Gregg Williams’ defense had held up against the 49ers in the final minutes of their divisional round classic, Drew Brees might have two Super Bowl rings.

Heck, he could have had three. The 2018 Patriots knocked out the Los Angeles Rams to win a championship after L.A. got through with a lot of help from a botched officiating decision in New Orleans in the conference title game. New England won that title in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in the history of the sport. Schatz ranked them all the way down at No. 48 in this list. That’s a matchup they could have handled better than the Rams, who lost in a pathetic effort 13-3. Ah well.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]