Awaiting “Lethal” Drew Brees
December 22nd, 2016
“I’m waiting for you, Smitty.”
Yes, Joe brought word today that Saints quarterback and future Hall of Famer Drew Brees is some kinda PO’ed about not making the Pro Bowl.
And while Joe disputes Brees will bring extra energy to Saturday’s game — the dude always has a chip on his shoulder and is always wired to win — the fact he is playing at home has Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith’s full attention.
Dating back to his years coaching the Dixie Chicks, Smith is all too familiar with how Brees raises his game inside the dark confines of the Superdome. Smith explained some of this in his weekly presser yesterday.
“At home, he’s lethal and he was in a dome this past week and he was lethal again out there in Arizona,” Smith said. The Saints “Looked like a different offense, so it’s going to be a big challenge for us and I know that [Brees is] going to remember the game that we played two weeks ago and it’s going to be a completely different dynamic, for him and for us.
“We’re going to have a little different game plan than what we went at with them last time because I know he and [Head Coach] Sean [Payton], just like we have, are going to study what was done and how we tried to defend them.”
Joe hopes it is not too different than two weeks ago because that was some kind of job Smith and his defense did against Brees.
Joe isn’t a big believer in fixing something that is not broken. Sure, Sean Payton and Brees will be ready to combat what was not working against the Bucs in Tampa. Joe just hopes Smith and company have a chess move to combat that.
December 22nd, 2016 at 1:14 pm
Hopefully it involves a discussion with either Monken or Koetter to ask what exactly they would have changed to combat what we threw at them last time. That way, we can get an offensive perspective on what kinds of alterations may be made and we can course correct to account for those adjustments being made.
December 22nd, 2016 at 1:16 pm
Koetter said previously they didn’t show them several things during the 1st game so there is still an element of surprise the 2nd time around.
December 22nd, 2016 at 1:18 pm
@unbelievable – I don’t recall reading/hearing that, but that makes a lot of sense and it’s encouraging that we were able to get that level of production without throwing our whole playbook at them.
December 22nd, 2016 at 1:42 pm
victory for Brees Saturday will be #100 as a saint
this will be the best most potent offense we play this year. nfl best rac yards team
3 recievers all want to get 1000k yards
ingram and hightower is running mad
rankins, thomas,bell is handsdown the best draft by a gm
alot of mock drafts had them getting dalvin cook but they moving out of position to get him by winning
December 22nd, 2016 at 1:48 pm
a big part of their success last time was confusing Drew Brees. Well, you probably don’t confuse him with the same stuff in two different games, so i hope Mike has some fresh disguises that contradict some of the tendencies they got to study from Week 14
December 22nd, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Yea, well they were fighting for their playoff lives last time we played and it didn’t help ’em. They can’t have any more of a reason to win than that. . Unless they’ve gotten a lot better since, we should have just as good a chance to win. They did drop a td pass that would’ve helped, but who’s to say we wouldn’t of responded. I like our chances.
December 22nd, 2016 at 1:53 pm
F*ck Drew Brees
He’s a players union rep but sat out over $500k-$1 mill more he wanted for his rich as all hell contract he signed that put the team in cap hell.
When players push for their position to get paid at an insane premium it f*cks over all other position groups because it’s less % of the cap allocated to that position. Guy acts like he’s all for the players union but if he really cared about the regular typical NFL average player he wouldn’t have pushed for more $$ in a contract that was already the highest for any QB.
I’m not sure enough NFL people realize that. I remember some guy on Denver radio saying how Von Miller pushing for as much $$ as possible was somehow good for the players in general. It’s not. There is only so much cap. The more you push to take; the less there is for everyone else. If you set the DE market at $18 million vs like $12-15 like it used to be; it just means that other positions are going to suffer; and more people will get paid less while fewer people get paid more
December 22nd, 2016 at 1:58 pm
@Lord – I’m not sure that I agree with that. Yes, players pushing for more money makes the cap tighter. But, what is the cap? It’s an imaginary line that the owners draw where they say that this is the most we can pay the players because we want to make sure that the rest of the money is for us. If they push for higher contracts and they find that they can’t put together good teams, then they raise the cap. Just like they did this year. They can do whatever they want. The cap is merely a mechanism to keep the players at a certain level. If they continue to push for higher salaries, they’ll get them.
December 22nd, 2016 at 2:41 pm
From a fan’s perspective, I agree with Lord C. However, as we fans have seen, this is business as usual for the NFL as a whole.
We complain about players’ salary yet owners are still making money hand-over-fist. It’s millionaires working for billionaires. Both sides are always trying to make more money and often do.
When whispered that TNF was having an adverse effect on the product, what did they do? Nothing. They essentially said, “We’re making money, f@ck ’em!”
It’s a bottom-line business and the fans are the suckers!
December 22nd, 2016 at 2:52 pm
Open up the offense with some quick throws. Running Doug into a wall isn’t working. Go up tempo and catch the Saints off guard.
December 22nd, 2016 at 2:54 pm
@lord says, “F*ck Drew Brees”…..LOL
that’s the smartest thing you’ve said all year!!!!…..GO BUCS!!!!
December 22nd, 2016 at 3:49 pm
The cap isn’t set at the owners discretion. It’s a revenue sharing model defined in the CBA and Drew Brees is a selfish as5hole
December 22nd, 2016 at 3:49 pm
he going to light our ass up if we don’t pressure him and our offense can’t move the chains to keep em off the field
December 22nd, 2016 at 5:07 pm
“that’s the smartest thing you’ve said all year!!!!…..GO BUCS!!!!”
Says the guy who bet me that we wouldn’t win more than 5 games… not to mention a million other failed predictions & flawed analysis… whether it was claims that Koetter lost the locker room; or ridiculous assertions about the talent being insanely better this year; despite regression of the entire O-line, RB corps, and lack of any #2 WR.
I also see you jumped on the Super Sam bandwagon of lost minds that are saying it’ll be a “tough pill to swallow for the Glazers” if we finish 8-8.
The Glazers are happy as f*ck right now. Their team is relevant in December for the first time since 2010. 8 wins is already better than anything we’ve done in 5 years. Only the dumbest child on earth would think the Glazers are going to be upset and considering a coaching change or regretting the move they made.
December 22nd, 2016 at 5:09 pm
Sorry i was a bit inflammatory there. No need to name call – and I apologize.
I duno why it triggers me when fans spew negativity that is not rooted in logic or reasoning. I need a safe space lol
December 22nd, 2016 at 5:28 pm
Chess move? how about bringing gmc from the edge a few times, they would never expect it. They got no run game to worry about, I say bring gmc from the edge (either side) , see if they double team him there if they do somebody’s gonna get to brees
December 22nd, 2016 at 10:10 pm
Last I checked the Saints record at home this year is 3-4 and they’ve only played one away game in a dome, and that was last week–they are 4-4 in domes. Brees is dangerous no doubt, but he’s hot and cold, inconsistent like old QBs get. So we just have to see which Brees we have and take care of him. More importantly, Jameis usually bounces back from a clunker with a good game…