On Wednesday, I posted a lengthy look at New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees ahead of him playing the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at Heinz Field and the narrative of the post centered around why he won’t be a pushover in that game. In the comment section of that post, Runner1967 had an interesting reply that caught my eye.
I dont give a crap what stats say on deep throws, Brees on the road in November is a completely different Qb than at home. It isnt close and no he isnt as good as Luck on the road and he doesnt have the weapons Luck did. Even when Saints were at their peak they werent the same team on the road.
Being as I had some extra time on my hands Wednesday night, I thought I would research his comment and investigate his narrative.
First, let’s work backwards and take a look at his Brees versus Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck claim. As you can see by the stats below, Brees, during his time with the Saints, definitely has better road numbers than Luck does so far in his young career. I even listed Brees’ numbers during his early years with the San Diego Chargers in order to provide some context.
Road Passing Stats
| YEARS | PLAYER | TEAM | CMP | ATT | CMP% | YDS | TD | INT | SK | Y/A | RATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-2014 | Drew Brees | NOR | 1844 | 2794 | 66.0 | 20753 | 129 | 72 | 97 | 7.4 | 92.7 |
| 2001-2005 | Drew Brees | SND | 534 | 855 | 62.5 | 5907 | 32 | 25 | 47 | 6.9 | 83.2 |
| 2012-2014 | Andrew Luck | IND | 486 | 837 | 58.1 | 5952 | 38 | 21 | 44 | 7.1 | 84.8 |
Now, before we go any further, I thought you might like to know that Brees has the second-highest road completion percentage of all quarterbacks that have attempted at least 900 road passes dating back to 2006. He also has the sixth-best road quarterback rating when compared to that same group of players. On top of all of that, Brees also has the most road attempts during that span of time to boot. In other words, he’s been a damn good road quarterback during his time with the Saints.
Now, let’s take a look at Brees with the Saints on the road in the month of November dating back to 2006, his first season in New Orleans. I assume the commenter was implying Brees playing outdoors on the road and not in a dome or a stadium that had a roof closed, being as that will be what he is doing Sunday at Heinz Field against the Steelers. If so, Brees has played nine such games with the Saints dating back to 2006.
As you can tell in the table of stats below, Brees has actually been quite good outdoors in November dating back to 2006. In fact, the Saints averaged 30.3 points in those nine games and they won six of those games.
In case you’re curious, Luck has already played five games outdoors in the month of November during his career and he completed 56.1% of his passes in those games and had a combined 85.4 quarterback rating. The Colts averaged 29.6 points in those five games.
| YEAR | GM# | DATE | OPP | RESULT | CMP | ATT | CMP% | YDS | TD | INT | RATE | Y/A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 8 | 11/5/2006 | TAM | W 31-14 | 24 | 32 | 75.00 | 314 | 3 | 0 | 136.7 | 9.81 |
| 2006 | 9 | 11/12/2006 | PIT | L 31-38 | 31 | 47 | 65.96 | 398 | 1 | 0 | 99.4 | 8.47 |
| 2007 | 11 | 11/25/2007 | CAR | W 31-6 | 24 | 36 | 66.67 | 260 | 3 | 1 | 103.9 | 7.22 |
| 2008 | 10 | 11/16/2008 | KAN | W 30-20 | 25 | 36 | 69.44 | 266 | 1 | 1 | 88.4 | 7.39 |
| 2008 | 12 | 11/30/2008 | TAM | L 20-23 | 25 | 47 | 53.19 | 296 | 2 | 3 | 60.2 | 6.30 |
| 2009 | 10 | 11/22/2009 | TAM | W 38-7 | 19 | 29 | 65.52 | 187 | 3 | 0 | 118.0 | 6.45 |
| 2010 | 9 | 11/7/2010 | CAR | W 34-3 | 27 | 43 | 62.79 | 253 | 2 | 1 | 84.7 | 5.88 |
| 2012 | 10 | 11/18/2012 | OAK | W 38-17 | 20 | 27 | 74.07 | 219 | 3 | 0 | 134.6 | 8.11 |
| 2013 | 8 | 11/3/2013 | NYJ | L 20-26 | 30 | 51 | 58.82 | 382 | 2 | 2 | 79.0 | 7.49 |
| TOTALS | 6W-3L | 225 | 348 | 64.66 | 2575 | 20 | 8 | 96.4 | 7.40 | |||
November Outdoor Passing Stats For Drew Brees 2006-2014
Finally, while the commenter said he didn’t give a crap about the deep ball stats that I posted for Brees in my previous post, I was curious to see what they were for the Saints quarterback in those nine outdoor November road games that he’s played in with the Saints. You can see those numbers in the table below and they certainly aren’t bad at all. In five of those nine games, Brees completed 50% or more of the passes that he threw 15 or more yards down the field.
November Outdoor Deep Passing Stats For Drew Brees 2006-2014
| YEAR | GM# | DATE | OPP | CMP | ATT | CMP% | YDS | TD | INT | RATE | Y/A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 8 | 11/5/2006 | TAM | 4 | 6 | 66.7 | 140 | 2 | 0 | 149.3 | 23.3 |
| 2006 | 9 | 11/12/2006 | PIT | 5 | 9 | 55.6 | 147 | 0 | 0 | 100.5 | 16.3 |
| 2007 | 11 | 11/25/2007 | CAR | 3 | 5 | 60.0 | 97 | 0 | 0 | 104.2 | 19.4 |
| 2008 | 10 | 11/16/2008 | KAN | 1 | 5 | 20.0 | 47 | 1 | 0 | 105.8 | 9.4 |
| 2008 | 12 | 11/30/2008 | TAM | 3 | 8 | 37.5 | 78 | 0 | 1 | 34.4 | 9.8 |
| 2009 | 10 | 11/22/2009 | TAM | 1 | 2 | 50.0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 87.5 | 10.5 |
| 2010 | 9 | 11/7/2010 | CAR | 2 | 4 | 50.0 | 55 | 1 | 0 | 135.4 | 13.8 |
| 2012 | 10 | 11/18/2012 | OAK | 2 | 6 | 33.3 | 54 | 1 | 0 | 106.9 | 9.0 |
| 2013 | 8 | 11/3/2013 | NYJ | 4 | 10 | 40.0 | 155 | 1 | 0 | 120.8 | 15.5 |
| TOTALS | 25 | 55 | 45.5 | 794 | 6 | 1 | 120.8 | 14.4 | |||
I’m not sure where the commenter picked up his narrative from, but I have seen it floating around and I think you will agree that it’s way off base.
