Criticized during the season for having a weak arm that prevented him from making the deep throws that he used to, Drew Brees was unable to push the downfield over the weekend in what was likely the final game of his career in the NFL.
Now, courtesy of a social media post by his wife Brittany, perhaps we know why the 42-year-old struggled so mightily with the long ball during the 2020 season and his team’s two-game playoff run.
According to his wife, the New Orleans Saints quarterback — who was 19-of-34 for 134 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions during Sunday’s upset home loss to Tampa Bay — played through serious injuries to his foot and shoulder that had not previously been reported.
“The fact that you played this entire year with a torn rotator cuff, torn fascia in your foot … then later 11 broken ribs and a collapsed lung … yet did not complain once … makes me think I should not have taken the epidural while giving birth to our kids,” she wrote on Instagram.
The Saints never disclosed any foot injury for Brees on any of the team’s injury reports, and the torn rotator cuff was never reported during the season.
Brees, who missed Weeks 11-14 after the 11 cracked ribs and collapsed lung were discovered when he was forced out of the second half of a Week 10 win over the 49ers, did appear on the Saints’ official injury report with a right shoulder injury in Weeks 8-10.
A torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder would go a long way to explaining why Brees was unable to throw deep this season. But, if the injury was really hindering him to that degree, should Brees even have been playing at all?
Based on how he looked in Sunday’s loss to Tampa Bay, probably not.
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston (regular backup QB Taysom Hill was unavailable due to injury) isn’t great, but he at least would have been able to throw deep and may have given New Orleans a better chance to win against a burnable Tampa secondary.
For proof, just see this trick play involving Winston from Sunday …
Benching Brees for Winston would have been controversial and it may not have worked, but leaving the future Hall of Famer in the game with a busted shoulder didn’t end well for New Orleans either.
Give Brees credit for playing through pain, but watching him play with that injury shoulder was painful.
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