Head coach Sean Payton has elected to start Mark Brunell and have Chase Daniels back up Brunell. In order to have Daniels up on the active roster, the team waived cornerback Mike McKenzie on Friday.
Payton obviously felt that risking injury over having a rusty Brees wasn’t worth it, and the signal caller this week felt that if he did sit, the offense would be fine with him having two weeks off.
“I’m not worried about that. I feel like my preparation doesn’t change regardless,” said Saints quarterback Drew Brees this week. “Whatever decision is made I’m fine with because I know it’s the best interest of the team.”
“I think our players understand. You know there’s really only one way to play a game, and so you can’t go in half in. Now it may vary who goes in, but there’s only one way to approach playing this game,” said head coach Sean Payton when discussing how his team will approach the regular season finale. “The team we’re playing is physical. The challenge and focus this week is getting our guys prepared with the best plan and going on the road and playing Carolina who’s playing real well.”
“You always go in with the mentality of, you can’t worry about that. It’s not even a thought,” Brees added when asked if he thought playing may risk injury.
“We’d like to have some momentum. We’d like to play well. We’d like to get a win. Regardless of whether you’re second, third string, whoever is out there you know your job is to win, to produce, and play well for your teammates. So we would like nothing more than to be playing well going into these playoff,” said Brunell this week. “Hopefully we’ll be able to move the ball and score some points.”
The Saints offense has been held to 17 points the last two games, but you have to go back to the New England game when the offense looked dominant or even confident. The Redskins, Falcons, Cowboys and Bucs all kept that horsepower in check.
Brees reminds everyone however that they are still the top ranked offense in the NFL and that getting back to high outputs are not far off. “We pride ourselves on obviously being able to move the football, convert on third down, make big plays, convert in the red zone, all of those things. We’re in the tops in all those, I think it’s just a matter of getting back to some of the details and execution.”
Players this week talked about ending the year off on a good note. Obviously offensively, getting points on the board would be a good sign, but it’s on the defensive side that improvement must be seen, now. In particular the Saints run defense. “Teams seem like they’ve game planned us well. We haven’t been able to get off blocks and make tackles like we needed to. We’ve got to be able to get these running backs down before they get to full speed and downhill, says safety Roman Harper. “That’s the biggest thing, we got to be able to fit our gaps, get off blocks and be able to get these guys down.”
Don’t expect to see many starters rested on defense unless you have injuries, say like a Jonathan Vilma who has a sore knee. Everyone else will be looking to erase porous play the last few weeks. “We got something to prove to, as a defensive line, as a defense over all we got something to prove. So I wouldn’t know why we wouldn’t play,” said defensive end Charles Grant when asked about playing time.
Sunday also expect to see a little bit of a player that’s apparently meant a whole lot to this team defensively, as a cornerback will look to shake off some rust before the playoffs. “I believe that you need those game reps. I believe that you need to get yourself in there, and be able to work on your tackling, work on your vision,” said cornerback Jabari Greer whose missed 7 weeks of action thanks to a groin and recovery from sports hernia surgery. “If given the opportunity to play, I’ll play. Hopefully I’ll be able to be an asset to the guys.”
HOW I SEE IT
The Panthers are playing solid football and let’s be honest the Saints have a game in two weeks to worry about. That said, the guys on the field will be looking to put in good work. No one at Saints Camp wants to head into the playoffs on a three game losing streak. Carolina is playing well and I think against the full complement of starters the Saints would have a very tough game on their hands. Panthers win this one, but I’m hoping that the Saints put in a good effort, 27-13 Panthers.
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