There have been a lot of short-term quarterback injuries recently, and we’ve got a batch of updates to pass along. We heard earlier Monday that Drew Brees is dealing with several cracked ribs as well as a collapsed lung, and now we have a better idea how long he’ll be sidelined. 2-3 weeks is apparently the “most optimistic recovery time” for the veteran, a source told Dan Graziano of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Graziano said there’s emphasis on the optimistic part there, indicating it could be quite a bit longer than that.
He also added “there is hope he’s back in time for playoffs,” which doesn’t paint the prettiest picture. It sounds like it’ll be Jameis Winston and/or Taysom Hill for the foreseeable future. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported earlier the Saints weren’t immediately planning on placing Brees on injured reserve, confirming there is some hope he won’t even have to miss three full games. Graziano says it’ll all come down to when they feel like he can take a hit without risk of re-injury. New Orleans will take on the Falcons this weekend, and head coach Sean Payton has already said he won’t name a starting quarterback until closer to kickoff.
Here’s more on the health status of various passers:
- The Jets will be looking for their first win of the season with Joe Flacco yet again. Sam Darnold will not be able to return this week, they announced Monday. This will be Flacco’s fourth start of the season after Darnold briefly returned before re-injuring his shoulder and hitting the shelf again. Head coach Adam Gase said he could possibly play in Week 12, but that doesn’t sound overly likely at the moment. Darnold himself spoke to the media, and made it sound like the team is going to be very cautious and not play him until he’s 100 percent. He did say he was “very confident” he would play again this season, but we could be looking at another couple of games at least with Flacco under center.
- Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew also won’t be ready to return this week, head coach Doug Marrone said Monday, meaning sixth-round rookie Jake Luton will get his third-straight start. It does sound like Minshew is getting closer though, as Marrone said he’ll start throwing routes again in practice this week, via Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- Drew Lock melted down against the Raiders on Sunday with four interceptions, but he apparently wasn’t 100 percent healthy. Lock has a muscle strain around his ribs, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). Head coach Vic Fangio acknowledged that his status for this weekend’s game against the Dolphins is in doubt. He also reiterated that he’s not considering benching the second-year pro assuming he’s healthy, even though he’s been struggling mightily recently. If he isn’t able to suit up Brett Rypien is currently the number two, although the team also has veteran Blake Bortles on the practice squad.
- In better news, it looks like the Cowboys won’t have quite as chaotic a situation any more under center. Coach Mike McCarthy announced Monday that Andy Dalton had been cleared to fully return to practice, and he should start this Sunday against the Vikings. Dalton has missed the past two games after suffering a concussion and then testing positive for COVID-19. Seventh-round rookie Ben DiNucci and former undrafted AAF star Garrett Gilbert started in his place.
I pray that if Winston is named the starter and gets some wins, someone in NO will make a gumbo w/ W’s in it!
The sad part is trying to blame a strain for throwing in 4 defenders, lock is garbage. Said it in his rookie year and I’ll say it now, dudes trash!!!!
I don’t understand why the NFL just can’t take your word for it!
Lock keeps making terrible decisions with ball placement. He has a great arm and incredible enthusiasm, but it’s just appalling how much he just tosses up the ball and prays for a receiver to come down with it. Denver’s wideouts actually look terrific this year-their QB play has been the most significant problem by far.
Is it worth it to try and coach the schoolyard “chuck it and pray” style out of Lock in the hopes of having him learn how to take what the defense gives him? If so, is Shurmur the veteran coach the Broncos have been missing to teach Lock those skills? I’m not sure either way, and I’m not sure that Denver is either. The only thing I do know for sure is that the defense and receivers have been much better than anticipated, and have the Broncos in some close games. Lock needs to read the defense, be patient, step into his throws, and quit forcing plays so we can focus on his positive qualities. Otherwise, Denver is better off looking at QB prospects again, because Lock is still having trouble progressing.
Jameis will light it up in NO. It will again demonstrate how coaching and scheme fitting (and having a good defense) play the most important role in how much a young player succeeds. I always thought if Jameis had ended up playing for Reid, Payton, Bellicheck, Shanahan, etc that he would’ve been a Pro Bowl QB. The Saints shouldn’t miss Brees all that much. I expect Payton to find ways to play to Jameis’ strengths. Jameis will still turn it over more than Brees does of course but I doubt he will to the degree he did for the Bucs the last few seasons.
The problem for Jamieis in New Orleans is more personnel related than coaching related, I think. I agree with you that I believe that he should have turned out better in the league had he better coaching, but New Orleans right now is not built for a downfield vertical passing attack.
That said, I think Winston can succeed, it’ll just take much more patience from him to play an opposite style of football predicated on timing and shorter passes. Bridgewater was different, considering the fact that his game was never built on going vertical in the first place, so comparing the two is not exactly an apples-to-apples scenario (not saying that you did, but others may).
Here’s the thing I would expect, however: look for Jared Cook to be targeted more in the Winston offense. He’s really the only large downfield vertical threat that the Saints have, and Winston is accustomed to throwing to both tight ends and big receivers.