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NEW ORLEANS – Tom Brady and Drew Brees will actually be doing something next week that they’ve never accomplished in their rich NFL careers: face off in a playoff game.
The second-seeded New Orleans Saints will host the fifth-seeded Tampa Bay Buccaneers in next weekend’s divisional round final Sunday afternoon.
“I guess it was inevitable,” said Brees, who said he knew the Buccaneers would be a big rival once Brady decided to migrate to the NFC South in the final offseason. “Look, the minute he signed with the Bucs and walked into the division, you felt like it was going to be a team to go up against. It would be a team that had playoff aspirations and beyond, just like us. “
Brees, who turns 42 on Friday and is expected to consider retiring after this season, said: “I don’t take it for granted. I very much appreciate this opportunity.
The Saints, who became the first team to sweep the NFC South Division in the regular season, beat Brady and the Bucs in their first two clashes – a 34-23 win over New Orleans in Week 1 and a superb, 38-3 rout in Tampa in Week 9.
Brees and Brady, 43, became the first pair of quarterbacks to fight each other at 40 and over in an NFL game in those first two meetings. Now they will be the first to do so in a playoff game.
Their rivalry has actually lasted 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 NFL games – and Brees ranks No.1 in league history in terms of footage. However, Brady ranks # 1 in career touchdown passes and has the ultimate mic drop when it comes to Super Bowl rings (six-on-one).
Brady and the Buccaneers have been on a hot streak recently, scoring five straight wins, including the 31-23 wild card victory on Saturday night to the Washington football team.
But the Saints and Brees offense are hopeful they are close to peaking in the playoffs, after recovering receivers Michael Thomas and Deonte Harris from the injured reserve and running back Alvin Kamara from the reserve roster. / COVID-19 in It’s time for Sunday’s 21-9 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 played a total of just 10 quarterbacks together in the regular season, thanks to Brees missing four games of his own in Weeks 11-14 with a punctured lung and 11 broken ribs.
“It was great [to get Thomas back]. It was great to put him in 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 touchdowns on Sunday but recognized the offense could improve after going. scored just seven points in the first 40 minutes.
“Look, we have some work to do,” Brees said. “I think this is still the first time that everyone is together again. Hopefully we [wideout] Tre’Quan Smith is also back this week. There is so much timing and rhythm that goes into the passing game and so many little nuances of things like that. “
Kamara ran for 99 yards and a TD although he was not allowed to train with the team all week. But he said he felt like he “didn’t really miss a beat” after barely experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and following the Saints’ practices via live video with trainers microphone.
Kamara said he and Brees texted and talked throughout the week about the nuances of the game plan.
“I got off in the first round. I got a week off,” joked Kamara, who was unable to play in week 17 after testing positive for coronavirus last week. “So it helps, obviously, just to have that downtime. You have no choice but to sit down and recuperate and kinda like your body is getting back in order. So I felt well over there today.
“With me, it didn’t really affect me too much. Just the taste and smell rejected. No real side effects, no real symptoms. I felt good there today. My wind was not really affected. Thank God for the health. It was just something I had to contend with. “
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