Drew Brees will be back under center for the Saints on Sunday

The New Orleans Saints are undefeated with Teddy Bridgewater starting, but Drew Brees will be back as the starter on Sunday.

On Friday, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton declined to name a starting quarterback for Week 8 with Drew Brees working his way back from a thumb injury. According to Dianna Russini and Ed Werder of ESPN, Brees will get the nod Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.

Brees injured his right thumb early in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams, and that’s the last time the Saints lost. They are 5-0 with Teddy Bridgewater as the starting quarterback, including notable wins over the Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears. While Bridgewater has generally played well, the Saints’ defense has also been very good over the last five games.

With a bye coming in Week 9, there was a strong case for the Saints to sit Brees and have no questions about the condition of thumb come Week 10 and down the stretch. The Cardinals have won three games in a row to put their record at 3-3-1, but the Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants are hardly a murderer’s row. So there should be absolutely no doubt Brees is good to go, and if he’s not quite back to full strength, starting him Sunday has a chance to prove foolish.

But on the other hand, the Cardinals are a pretty soft landing for Brees’ return. They have the 25th-ranked pass defense in the league (263.3 yards per game), and while they have 22 sacks (fourth in the league), their other numbers related to putting overall pressure on quarterbacks are not top-notch.

There is a possibility of a pregame setback with his thumb that would render Brees inactive on Sunday, and give Bridgewater one more start. But the Saints’ franchise quarterback is healthy enough to play, he will, just as it was always expected once he was healthy.