We’ve been wondering where the Saints offense has been for most of the season. Drew Brees hasn’t been the same machine he was last year and New Orleans’ offense is putting up the Arena numbers we’re used to seeing from them. In some senses Brees was so good last year it would have been hard for him to replicate the performance, but he hasn’t even been coming close. Part of the problem is that running backs Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush have both been hurt most of the year, taking away some of the Saints’ key weapons. Another issue that seems to make a lot more sense is that the knee injury Drew Brees sustained earlier in the season is much worse than the team let on.
I kind of believed that was the case to begin with because teams constantly hide their players’ injuries. It happened with Tom Brady last year and it’s likely the same thing is going on with Brees. After getting hurt against the Falcons, he began wearing a brace on his knee. Brees hasn’t had the same accuracy since then, throwing nine interceptions to give him 11 for the season. Now, Pro Football Talk has passed along a report from WIST radio in New Orleans that Brees has been playing with a torn meniscus and fracture in his knee. That seems to make a lot of sense and I think most people would believe that Brees is playing with a busted knee. It’s just another example of how beat up these players are and the types of injuries they play through each week. Oh yeah, and Doc Brown is still taking the Saints this week in his picks.
UPDATE: Just as I was about to hit publish, Saints reporter Jeff Duncan said Sean Payton completely denied the report. He denied it for the same reason nobody reported it or talked about it before — they don’t want it being public.
