Drew Brees have been one of the main headlines of the start of the NFL season and not for good reasons. The New Orleans Saints are officially 0-2 on the season which is not how they saw this year panning out. The offense is lacking explosive plays after the loss of Jimmy Graham and Kenny Stills and now Brees has a shoulder injury putting his time in doubt. While rumors begin to fly this is the beginning of the end for Brees, the quarterback is making it clear he intends to be on the field in Week 3.
Losing Brees would lose the Saints their season. The quarterback suffered a bruised rotator cuff in his shoulder making him questionable for Sunday's game. After seeing Dr. James Andrews, it was determined there were no tears or structural damage to the shoulder, but suddenly everyone was predicting the end of Brees. The quarterback is making it clear he will be just fine.
"I have every intention of playing, but I do have to take it day to day. I have to be smart with this, so that's what I'm doing," Brees said, via ESPN.com. "I didn't throw today but just was limited, participated in some stuff, ran around. The idea is just to make progress every day."
Head coach Sean Payton echoed the idea that Brees would be healthy to play on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers in a key NFC South matchup. If Brees were unable to play, Luke McCown would be the starter. The journeyman veteran has very little experience on the field in recent years meaning the offense might look even worse than before, but Payton stressed he feels good about everyone's chances going forward.
"I think our thoughts -- and I feel like Drew's the same way -- our training staff feels like there's a real good chance he's playing for us, and we expect that to happen," Payton said, via ESPN.com. "But Luke [McCown] is an accomplished player, he's clearly on top of what we do offensively and would be ready if the time comes."
Regardless of whether Brees plays or not, the Saints' offense has a lot of work they need to put in. The run game might be the biggest issue for the team right now. CJ Spiller will get more involved in the offense in Week 3 while Mark Ingram will continue as the starter. They runners are simply not finding chances to explode out of the holes and it is stalling offensive drives. It also does not help that receiver Brandin Cooks is dealing with an ankle injury. That means Marques Colston and Willie Snead will be relied upon much more heavily against the Panthers.
