NEW ORLEANS – Tom Brady and Drew Brees will actually do something next week that they have never accomplished in their legendary NFL careers: face off in a playoff game.
The second-seeded New Orleans Saints will host the fifth-seeded Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon in the finals of next weekend’s division round games.
“I think it was inevitable,” said Brees, who said he knew the Buccaneers would become a major rival once Brady decided to migrate to the NFC South in the past off-season. “Look, the moment he signed with the Bucs and got into the division, you felt like that was going to be a team to contend with. That was going to be a team with playoff ambitions and more, just like us.”
Brees, who turns 42 on Friday and is expected to retire after this season, said: “I don’t take it for granted. I really appreciate the opportunity.”
The Saints, who became the first team ever to beat the NFC South division in the regular season, won Brady and the Bucs in their first two matchups – a 34-23 win in New Orleans in week 1 and a stunning 38. -3 rout in Tampa at week 9.
Brees and 43-year-old Brady became the first pair of quarterbacks to ever start against each other at the age of 40 in an NFL game in those first two encounters. Now they will be the first to do this in a playoff game.
Their rivalry actually spans four decades now, dating back to when Brady’s Michigan Wolverines defeated Brees’ Purdue Boilermakers in 1999.
Brees has actually won five of their seven career games in the NFL – and Brees is No. 1 in league history in passing yardage. Brady is No. 1 in career touchdown passes, however, and has the ultimate mic drop when it comes to Super Bowl rings (six to one).
Brady and the Buccaneers have had a hot streak recently, winning five consecutive times, including Saturday night’s 31-23 wildcard win over the Washington Football Team.
But the attack from Brees and the Saints hope they are about to peak in the playoffs after getting wide receivers Michael Thomas and Deonte Harris back from the injured reserve and driving Alvin Kamara back from the reserve / COVID-19 list in time for Sunday’s 21-9 wildcard win over the visiting Chicago Bears.
Thomas caught five passes for 73 yards and his first touchdown of the season after being limited to just seven regular season games with a nagging ankle injury. Brees and Thomas had only played together for a total of 10 quarters in the regular season, thanks to Brees himself missing four games from weeks 11 to 14 with a punctured lung and 11 broken ribs.
“It was amazing [to get Thomas back]. It was great to get him into the end zone too. Hopefully we’ve broken the seal and there’s a lot more where that came from, ” said Brees, who threw for 265 yards and two TDs on Sunday, but acknowledged that the offense has room to improve after scoring just seven points in the first 40 minutes.
“Listen, we have some work to do,” said Brees. ‘I think it’s still the first time we’ve got everyone back together. Hopefully we get [wideout] Tre’Quan Smith is back this week too. There is so much timing and rhythm that goes into play and there are so many little nuances of that kind of thing. “
Kamara ran for 99 meters and a TD, despite not being allowed to practice with the team all week. But he said he felt he was “not really missing a beat” after experiencing barely any COVID-19 symptoms and being able to follow the Saints’ practices via live-stream video with coaches confused.
Kamara said he and Brees texted all week and talked about the nuances of the game plan.
“I got a first round bye. I got a day week,” joked Kamara, who was unable to play in week 17 after testing positive for the corona virus at the end of last week. So it helps, of course, just have that free time. You have no choice but to sit and recover and get your body back in order. So I felt good there today.
“For me it didn’t really affect me. Just taste and smell thrown away. No real side effects, no real symptoms. I felt fine there today. My wind wasn’t really affected. Thank goodness for the health. It was just true. I was dealing with. ‘