NEW ORLEANS – Tom Brady and Drew Brees will actually be doing something next week that they never achieved in their NFL careers: facing each other in a playoff game.
The second-ranked New Orleans Saints will host the five Tampa Bay Buccaneers players on Sunday afternoon in next weekend’s divisional finals.
“I think it was inevitable,” said Brees, who said he knows the Buccaneers will be a significant rival once Brady decides to migrate to NFC South this past off-season. “Listen, the minute he signed with the Bucs and entered the division, you felt he was going to be a team to fight with. He was going to be a team that had aspirations in the playoffs and beyond, just like us.”
Brees, who will turn 42 on Friday and expects to retire after this season, said: “I don’t take it for granted. I am very appreciated for the opportunity “.
Saints, who became the first team to ever beat the NFC South Division in the regular season, managed to beat Brady and the Bucs in the first two games – a 34-23 victory in New Orleans in Week 1 and a stunning one. 38-3 route to Tampa in week 9.
Brees and Brady, 43, became the first pair of defenders to ever play against each other at age 40 in an NFL game in the first two games. Now, they will be the first to do so in a playoff game.
Their rivalry actually spanned four decades ago, when Brady’s Michigan Wolverines truncated Brees’ Pufue Boilermakers in 1999.
Brees has actually won five of his seven NFL career games – and Brees is No. 1 in league history on the field. However, Brady ranks 1st in career-time subscriptions and has the lowest microphone level when it comes to Super Bowl rings (six to one).
Brady and the Buccaneers were in a recent series, winning five in a row, including Saturday night’s 31-23 wild-card victory over the Washington Football Team.
Brees and Saints’ offense, however, hopes to reach the playoffs after recovering receivers Michael Thomas and Deonte Harris from the injured reserve and Alvin Kamara back from the reserve list / COVID-19 in the east. time for Sunday’s 21-9 wild-card victory over the Chicago Bears visitors.
Thomas caught five passes for 73 yards and his first touchdown of the season after being limited to just seven games in the regular season, with a painful ankle injury. Brees and Thomas played a total of just 10 quarters together in the regular season, due to Brees missing four of his own games in weeks 11-14, with a perforated lung and 11 broken ribs.
“Was awesome [to get Thomas back]. It was great to take him to the final area. We hope we broke the seal and there is a lot more to where that came from, “said Brees, who threw 265 yards and two TDs on Sunday, but acknowledged the offense needs to be improved after he scored just seven. points in the first 40 minutes.
“Listen, we have something to do,” Brees said. “I think we gathered everyone again for the first time. We hope to get there [wideout] Tre’Quan Smith is back this week. There’s just so much time and pace going into the passing game and so many little nuances of things like that. “
Kamara ran 99 meters and a TD, despite not being allowed to practice with the team all week. But he said he felt like he “didn’t really get away with it” after barely experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and came to follow the Saints’ practices through a live-stream video with microphone coaches.
Kamara said he and Brees texted and talked throughout the week about the nuances of the game plan.
“I got a goodbye in the first round. I got a goodbye week,” joked Kamara, who failed to play in week 17 after testing positive for coronavirus late last week. “So, obviously, it only helps to have that rest time. All you have to do is sit back and recover your body. So I felt good there today.
“With me, it didn’t affect me too much. Just the taste and smell thrown away. No real side effects, no real symptoms. I felt good there today. My wind wasn’t really affected. Thank God It was just something. that I was dealing with. “