Saints proving they are NFC’s best without Drew Brees

Although star quarterback Drew Brees is injured, the New Orleans Saints haven’t missed a beat with Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback.

Teddy Bridgewater may have struggled in relief of Drew Brees when the New Orleans Saints lost to the Los Angeles Rams, but he’s been excellent since. The former Minnesota Vikings starter has been regarded as the best backup quarterback in the league and a future franchise signal-caller – either for the Saints or a team willing to trade a king’s ransom for his services – and he’s certainly proved it after that hiccup against the Rams.

Since Week 2, Bridgewater’s had time to prepare for his opponents and work with his skill position players more closely. While Bridgewater had been more of a game manager in wins over two other NFC Super Bowl contenders in the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys, he racked up some more impressive numbers in Week 5 against the rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Bridgewater averaged 9.5 yards per pass attempt in the 31-17 win over Tampa Bay, completing 25-of-33 passes for 314 yards and four touchdowns, recovering from an interception earlier in the game. The Louisville Cardinals product lit up the Buccaneers suspect secondary after the first quarter, flexing his connection with Michael Thomas, who continued his brilliance with 10 receptions for over 180 yards and two touchdowns on 12 targets.

For the third straight game, Bridgewater completed over 70% of his passes, showing NFL defenses why he has always been regarded as one of the most accurate technicians at the quarterback position. Bridgewater’s accuracy, pocket presence, and ability to take care of the football helped make him a first-round pick by the Vikings years ago, and he’s now refined those skills to become a rising star for the Saints.

Clearly, Bridgewater has taken advantage of this opportunity to start in Brees’s place, and while Brees should be back in a few weeks, the Saints can thank Bridgewater for doing more than just keep the team afloat in his absence. Thanks to Bridgewater’s clean play at quarterback and some solid work from the defense, the Saints look like the best team in the NFC.

After losing to the Rams due to Brees’s injury, the Saints have been excellent. The wins over Seattle and Dallas are massive, as they give the Saints a leg up over two of the other elite teams in the conference. Offensively, the Saints have everything they could want in Thomas, Alvin Kamara, Jared Cook, solid depth at those positions, and a legitimately good starting quarterback in either Bridgewater or Brees.

The Saints offense will probably be even better with Brees at the helm, but they still looked mighty strong against the Buccaneers with Bridgewater starting. And the defense was also strong against Tampa Bay, forcing Jameis Winston into completing just half of his passes for fewer than 150 yards –before his garbage-time touchdown drive – while suffocating the Bucs running game.

Aside from that loss to the Rams, the Saints have been playing nearly perfect football, and their 4-1 record puts them right there with the best in the conference. Since four of those five games have come against playoff teams in the Houston Texans, Cowboys, Rams, and Seahawks, it’s safe to say that they are among the most battle-tested squads in the entire league. Given that they’ve won three of those four games and won two without Brees starting, it’s fair to say the Saints are still the scariest team in the NFC.