Saints doing great without Drew Brees, who says he's progressing well from thumb surgery
Drew Brees is going to be a happy man when he returns to the New Orleans Saints.
Going through a stretch without Brees was new ground for the Saints. Brees had only missed one game due to injury in his Saints career before injuring his thumb in Week 2. He was supposed to miss about six games. It seemed the Saints would be fine with a 3-3 record if Brees missed six games. Instead, New Orleans is already 4-0 without him.
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And it seems Brees’ recovery is going pretty well.
Drew Brees happy with progress
Brees met with Mike Nabors of Cox Sports Television after the Saints’ win at Jacksonville and discussed his progress after thumb surgery. He said it is going well.
“Absolutely, absolutely,” Brees told Nabors. “Just the way that it feels, the way that it functions, the level of strength, level of flexibility and stability.”
Brees said he will “ramp up” his throwing this week. Brees said he felt he was ahead of schedule.
“I’m still ahead. My expectations are maybe a bit aggressive,” Brees told Nabors. “There’s certainly been those days when you didn’t quite make it as far as you had expected in your mind, in regards to progress. Then I’m reminded by those around me, this is still really, really good for all things considered.”
Saints have played well without Brees
The good news for Brees and the Saints is he doesn’t need to rush back. Brees is one of the best ever, but he’s still 40 years old coming off thumb surgery. It might not be the best idea to come back before he’s 100 percent.
Week 8 has been speculated as a possible return date for Brees, but the Saints have a Week 9 bye. It would make sense, if Brees is close to being ready for Week 8, to give Teddy Bridgewater one more game. That would buy Brees an extra week of recovery. The Saints play the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 10 after their bye week.
The Saints have shown they can win games without Brees. They’re 5-1. And they should get better once their quarterback is healthy.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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