Drew Brees Crushes Fantasy Owners Souls in Week 13 Letdown
Did Drew Brees just cost you your fantasy season?
The New Orleans Saints’ playoff hopes are probably over after a crushing defeat by the NFC South divisional rival Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football, by the score of 23-13. But what’s arguably even worse in the eye’s of many, is that the always reliable Drew Brees came up painfully short at a crucial time during the fantasy football season.
For some oddball leagues this was week one of the fantasy playoffs, and for most, it was your final chance to sneak into the playoffs or put the finishing touches on a great season. And if you were a Brees owner, you were booming with confidence entering Thursday’s game.
Then all hell broke loose, and Brees laid an egg for all the world to see. Well, all of the world that subscribes to the NFL Network channel, at least. Brees somewhat salvaged a terrible night with 340+ passing yards, but needed over 50 passing attempts to get there, while throwing an incredible five interceptions (a career high, mind you), and zero touchdowns. No, you read that right - zero touchdowns. Not only did Brees turn up lame for fantasy owners down the stretch, but his goose egg performance just happened to be his first game without a passing touchdown in a crazy 54 games.
That means you could fully count on Brees to produce for you for nearly four full seasons. But not last night. The streak ended, and so did many’s faith in Brees as an elite fantasy option.
Ultimately, Brees’ terrible night ended up getting most fantasy owners under 10 total points. I, for one, faced Brees in a league where I absolutely have to win, and couldn’t be happier. In that particular league Brees registered barely five fantasy points, and in others (thanks to knowledge handed out by Twitter folk), he had negative points. That’ll happen in those quarterback-heavy leagues that burn you for picks, incompletions, sacks and put a ton of stock in passing scores.
Regardless of the final score you got if you had Brees against the Falcons, you weren’t happy. He didn’t log the 20-30+ you’re accustomed to, and it could very easily lead to a bad loss at the worst possible time.
As much as that feeling is alive in a lot of fantasy owners’ minds right now after a bad night on epic proportions, it shouldn’t sit for long, however. After all, Brees entered last night’s game with 31 touchdown passes on the year.
He’s still a top-five fantasy quarterback most weeks, and should be a coveted play yet again in week 14. Let’s just hope your fantasy team survives another week to see him redeem himself.
