New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was rewarded for his record-setting win over the Atlanta Falcons by being named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week.
Brees came up just shy of 400 yards passing, but more than made up for it by scoring two rushing touchdowns to send the game into overtime and ultimately clinch the win. The three touchdowns he put up through the air also helped.
What’s fascinating is Brees’ high 79.6-percent completion rate. It’s helped by the unprecedented catch percentage that wide receiver Michael Thomas is positing (having caught 38 of 40 targets, or 95-percent), but it’s still unusual to see a quarterback completing so many throws. 65-percent is closer to the NFL average. It’s even more odd to see so many quarterbacks around the league completing so many attempts: six different passers have achieved a completion rate of 70-percent or better.
That high completion percentage looks like the norm for Brees three weeks into the season. He’s completed 80.6-percent of his passes on the year so far and is already past 1,000 passing yards – but is fourth in the league in pass attempts, behind Ben Roethlisberger, Kirk Cousins, and Matthew Stafford. Brees is also fourth in adjust net yards per attempt (8.93), which is one of the best measurements of passing efficiency.
Brees has now been named Player of the Week 23 times, which is third-best among all players in NFL history and second-best among active players. Only Peyton Manning (27) and Tom Brady (30) have been named Player of the Week more often than Brees.
The AFC Offensive Player of the Week was Ben Roethlisberger, who now ties Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre in the all-time rankings with 16 Player of the Week nods. He’s got a ways to go before catching up to Brees.
