The Raiders upset the Saints on “Monday Night Football” in their inaugural game in Las Vegas, and the New Orleans offense looked surprisingly lifeless in the 34-24 defeat.
Without Michael Thomas, the Saints struggled to move the ball down the field, with many of Drew Brees’ 312 passing yards coming in garbage time or on screen passes to running back Alvin Kamara.
A troubling stat highlights just how much of a struggle it has been for the 13-time Pro Bowler thus far. Brees, who turned 41 this offseason, has averaged 4.82 air yards per pass attempt during the 2020 season, according to ESPN Stats & Info. That number is the lowest for any quarterback through two games since Brett Favre in 2009 — his age-40 season.
“My job is to execute the offense,” Brees said after the game. “My job’s not to have the most air yards or throw the ball down the field most or anything like that.”
Arm strength has never been Brees’ calling card, but he is clearly laboring over his throws more than he has in the past. The deep ball has not been a threat at all, and the offense seems catered entirely toward screens and short throws.
One has to wonder if his age has finally caught up to him, and if this is the Brees we will see going forward. He showed signs of decline in 2019, and had one of his worst showings in recent memory on Monday night.
Not only was he unable to stretch the field against the Raiders, he missed a number of short throws that used to be automatic and threw a bad interception at the end of the first half. It got to the point where benching the future Hall of Famer for Jameis Winston – the erratic but gunslinging former Buccaneers QB who signed with the Saints in the offseason – seemed like an actual possibility.
Favre recovered from the slow start in 2009 to have one of the best seasons of his career, finishing with 33 touchdowns and a 107.2 passer rating. The Vikings famously lost in the NFC Championship Game that season — to Brees’s Saints — after Favre threw a back-breaking interception.