As Drew Brees heads into his 17th NFL season, he's optimistic about the Saints' prospects for this upcoming campaign. He thinks one veteran offseason pickup and a few of the younger guys give the offense an edge it might not have had in the past.
"We're always looking for ways to evolve as an offense," Brees told NFL Network's Alex Flanagan on her podcast on ILOVETOWATCHYOUPLAY.com. "I think picking up Adrian Peterson was a huge add for us. We know the type of player he is and can be. The complement of him and Mark Ingram in the backfield is going to be really, really strong. I'm excited about our young wide receiving corps as well, they're all chomping at the bit to be great players."
The big questions with the Saints, as it is pretty much every season in the Brees era, is whether the defense can match the offense's firepower. Even though the unit struggled again last season, Brees suggested the team's playoff absence was because of another factor, not coming up big in crunch time.
"I look at our season last year, we were 7-9, but we had five games that were determined by the last possession of the game," Brees said. "If we just scored half of those, you're in the playoffs. There's plenty of scenarios like that where you just have to find ways to win. That's what the NFL game is all about, the teams that make it to the playoffs are the ones that found the way to win those tight games and at the same time they gained confidence, they got momentum."
The Saints have finished the regular season with a 7-9 record in each of the past three years. It will be interesting to see if they can get over the hump with all of the new talent acquired over the offseason.