Looking at the careers of Drew Brees and Philip Rivers
The New Orleans Saints will visit the San Diego Chargers this Sunday. It’s another intriguing storyline for Drew Brees, who visits his former team after they decided back in 2006 that Philip Rivers was their quarterback of the future.
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And as we all know, Brees and Rivers are two of the purest NFL passers of their generation. They were one and two in passing yards last season, respectively. Brees still has a shot of beating Peyton Manning’s career touchdowns and passing yards records, so no one will doubt he’s the better quarterback.
What also helps Brees out more is the fact he has a Super Bowl, but the Saints have failed to build around him over the last few years. Rivers has played on a number of underachieving Chargers teams that have only won four playoff games under his watch.
Since Brees joined the Saints in 2006, he has faced off against Rivers twice. In a showdown at London, the Saints won 37-32. Back in 2012, Brees led the Saints to a thrilling 31-24 victory, though both teams went 7-9 that year.
Nobody can say for sure if the Chargers made the right call moving on from Brees. Rivers has been almost as impressive but hasn’t enjoyed having a great head coach like Sean Payton. Antonio Gates is the one pass-catcher he’s consistently had for years. Brees had Joe Horn, Marques Colston, Jimmy Graham and now Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead.
Rivers and Brees have both played for the Chargers. Both are pure passers that haven’t had the supporting cast of other elite quarterbacks. With Brees now 37, there’s a good chance it’s the last match between these two signal callers.
And that means Brees’ last time to show the Chargers they should have stayed with him.
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