When thinking about the Saints’ offense, it’s natural to tab Drew Brees as the straw that stirs the drink. Brees is a deadly accurate thrower with outstanding arm strength, anticipation and touch. He hits his open receivers with aplomb, and is patient enough to take the check-down when defenders fly out of their zones to stop the deep ball. Brees has connected on 68 percent of his passes for 3,855 yards with 28 touchdowns. Although he inexplicably leads the league with 18 interceptions, his 93.6 passer rating ranks ninth in the league.
In taking a closer look at Brees’ high interception totals, it is apparent that the loss of key personnel led to some of his questionable decisions. He has forced the ball into tight windows in an attempt to produce big plays, but the risky throws repeatedly landed in the hands of swarming defenders. Part of Brees’ problems can be attributed to feeling the need to take on a bigger burden with several of his pivotal playmakers on the sideline. However, the return of Pierre Thomas and Jeremy Shockey should alleviate that pressure.
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Steve Smith, the New York Giants’ Pro Bowl wide receiver, is out for the relax of the season with an injury to his left knee.
The Giants said Wednesday that Smith will require season-ending surgery on the knee he hurt during Monday night’s victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
Smith was examined by Dr. Russell Warren at the Sanatorium for Special Surgery on Tuesday and had an MRI exam. Smith harmed the articular cartilage in his knee when he was tackled from behind in the 21-3 win in Detroit on Monday.
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The game was Smith’s first behind he missed the preceding 4 with a partial tear of his pectoral muscle. He had forty eight catches this season for 529 yards. The fourth-year pro set a team record with 107 catches last season.
Injuries have thinned the Giants’ receiving corps considerably this season. The Giants got leading receiver Hakeem Nicks back in the lineup Monday night, but they as well lost wideout Mario Manningham to a hip injury. He had an MRI exam Tuesday, and his status for this Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles also is in question.
Three Giants receivers — Ramses Barden, Victor Cruz and Domenik Hixon — already have been placed on injured reserve.
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Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, with 981,687 votes, prospects all NFL all-stars, and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, with 947,194 votes, prospects all AFC players in balloting for the 2011 Pro Bowl, NFL.com introduced Wednesday.
2011 Pro Bowl voting will continue online and on web-enabled mobile phones by going to NFL.com/probowl through Monday, Dec. 20. For the first time, fans may take part in an election on Facebook by visiting NFL and clicking on the “Pro Bowl” tab.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (806,025 votes), Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (736,603 votes) and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (690,619 votes) round out the top five players on NFL.com.
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Balloting will conclude on Monday, Dec. 20 behind Monday Night Football (Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings, ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET). The groups will be announced at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Dec. 28 on a particular NFL Total Access 2011 Pro Bowl Selection Show on NFL Network.
The 2011 Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011 and televised live on FOX at 7 p.m. ET at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.
The AFC and NFC All-Star squads are dependent on the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group’s vote counts one-third toward formative the 43-man rosters that represent the American Football Conference and National Football Conference in the Pro Bowl. NFL players and coaches will cast their votes on Dec. 22 and 23.
The NFL is the only sports league that combines voting by fans, coaches and players to decide its all-star teams. It was the first professional sports league to offer online all-star voting in 1995.
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“The NFL supports the plan to play Monday night’s game at TCF Bank Stadium but is presently ensuring viability of this plan,” the Vikings said in a statement released Wednesday. “At the same time, the Vikings and the University of Minnesota are diligently working through all of the issues associated with moving a game such as tickets, parking, and operations. The organization is working to accommodate our fans’ inquiries, and we will continue to inform them on this fluid situation as soon as more information is available.”
The Vikings immediately turned their “full notice to the College of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Arena,” the team said in a declaration. Vice president for public affairs Lester Bagley told The Associated Press that the NFL has agreed to allow the game to be played at the roofless Gophers’ football stadium.
The Vikings say NFL officials are touring TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota to make sure the facility is safe for fans and that the stadium meets technical requirements for NFL games.
There are 20-inch-deep snow drifts throughout the facility, and much of it will have to be removed by workers with shovels rather than plows that might damage the stadium’s floors, said Garry Bowman, the university’s director of athletic communications.
The Vikings have agreed to pick up all preliminary expenses, including plowing, as well as all expenses involved in holding the game, said Scott Ellison, the college’s assistant athletic director for facilities. He didn’t know how much it would cost to remove the snow, but he said he believed it would be considerable. The normal sport-day budget at the arena is $250,000, he said.
Workers at the university, meanwhile, began the daunting task of clearing tons of freshly fallen snow from inside the arena, which opened in 2009 and never has staged a professional football sport. The college released a declaration asking for volunteers to help shovel snow beginning Thursday. The school will even provide the shovels if necessary.
The snow-removal plan is to have groups of 100 workers, working four-hour shifts, for 16 hours per day. Right now, most of those workers are coming from temp agencies.
Officials also have to get the building ready, including concessions, which are designed to withstand mid-November temps. Ellison said officials would have to put Plexiglass covers over concession stands to trap heat inside.
Monday night’s game will fall 29 years to the day from the last time the Vikings played outdoors in Minnesota: Dec. 20, 1981, their final sport at the since-demolished Metropolitan Arena in Bloomington, which the Metrodome replaced. The Vikings lost that game to the Kansas City Chiefs, 10-6.
It promises to be a memorable experience on a night in which long-term forecasts predict temps in the single digits or colder.
“I think they’ll love outdoor football in Minnesota. I think it’ll be a great experience for the fans,” Ellison said.
TCF Bank Stadium has a seating capacity of about 50,000 — about 13,000 fewer seats than are available at the Metrodome for football games. College spokesman Dan Wolter said lawyers also were exploring whether beer will be sold at the arena. There are no beer sales for college games.
In the Metrodome on Tuesday, work crews laid sheets of plywood on the field to keep it dry and used several hydraulic lifts as they began tearing down pieces of the tattered roof.
Inspectors from Birdair Inc., the Amherst, N.Y.-based contractor that built the roof, found that the snow and ice in roof panels that didn’t collapse was so deep, it posed a safety hazard to workers — and would have to be dealt with in a slow and thorough manner.
“We have to go this way, to be on the safe side,” Terwilliger said.
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