Vikings on scheming for Saints: ‘You can’t sleep on Drew Brees’

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Sure, the 38-year-old future Hall of Fame quarterback threw for 4,334 yards and 23 touchdowns this season, while completing passes at a career-high 72 percent clip.
That said, New Orleans’ Drew Brees seemed to willingly take a step back over the course of 16 games, allowing the 1-2 punch of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara to shoulder more of the load offensively. Brees’ 536 pass attempts were his fewest since 2009, oddly enough the last time the Saints won the Super Bowl.
Brees, however, proved last week against the Carolina Panthers that when the lights shine brightest, he’s still capable of picking a team apart. With the Carolina defense selling out to stop the running game, Brees torched an overmatched secondary for 376 yards and two touchdowns.
Yes, the Vikings noticed.
“You’d be a fool to think Drew Brees is flying under the radar,” defensive tackle Tom Johnson said. “Nobody is sleeping on Drew Brees. He’s still one of the top guys throwing the ball. We are definitely conscious about him. Those guys do make things easier for him. … You can’t sleep on Drew Brees at any time, though.”
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“They found their swag,” Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes said. “We are definitley looking forward to playing those guys.”
How do the Vikings plan to scheme for both the Saints’ running and passing games? Well, that’s what’s keeping Mike Zimmer up at night.
“They are very explosive offensively,” the Vikings head coach said. “Obviously, they got a great quarterback that knows where to go with the football, gets the ball out in the right place. And the running game is much improved. … We will have to be on point.”
Zimmer credited Ingram with being “a strong, physical runner that gains yards after contact” and Kamara of doing “a great job making guys miss” in the open field.
“They have been running well together, and it opens it up for Drew to do his thing,” Johnson said. “You saw last week, Drew was dropping dimes, hitting (his wide receivers) in the numbers, and being on target.”
“He was just playing his game,” Rhodes added. “He’s definitely confident with himself because he’s been in the game for so long.”
So although the Vikings are well aware of the dynamic backfield they’re going to face, they haven’t forgotten about the man under center.
“Not at all,” defensive tackle Linval Joseph said. “We know Drew Brees is still the man of the team.”
And perhaps the man standing between the Vikings and the NFC championship game.