New Orleans Saints: 3 Vital statistics for 2019 season

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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JANUARY 20: Drew Brees #9 of the New Orleans Saints reacts after a dropped pass by Dan Arnold #85 against the Los Angeles Rams during the first quarter in the NFC Championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 20, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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It was a year in which he became the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards (74,437) and completions (6,586), but it was the way that New Orleans Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees performed down the stretch and in the playoffs that raised an eyebrow or two.

The prolific signal-caller would finish the regular season with 3,992 yards through the air, an NFL single-season record for completion percentage (74.4), 32 touchdown passes and just five interceptions in 15 regular-season outings. The team won the NFC South for the second straight year. And the Saints would host the NFC title game after disposing of the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round.

But take a look at the splits when it came to the veteran hurler. In the team’s first 10 games of 2018, Brees threw an astounding 25 touchdown passes while being picked off just once. On Thanksgiving night against the Atlanta Falcons, he served up four more scores but also threw one interception. It was the start of a stretch in which the 18-year veteran threw a pick in four straight outings and six of his last seven contests — including one each in the playoff split with the Eagles and Rams.

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So after totaling just one interception in 10 contests, Brees was picked off six times in his final seven overall appearances in 2018, including the postseason. Was he 100 percent? Forcing the football? Signs of age? It’s hard to tell. But that interception in overtime of the conference title game proved to be costly indeed.

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