The Saints and Vikings are playing on Christmas day, but it's not certain the Vikings will have a player named Rudolph available to suit up for them. What is certain is that Drew Brees will be facing a lesser pass defense, that's struggled against most of the better quarterbacks its faced.
Brees looked pretty shaky for a lot of the game against Kansas City last week, especially so in the first half. He was coming back from something ridiculous like 11 broken ribs and a damaged lung, so needing to work off a little rust is understandable. But he got things going in the second half, throwing 3 touchdowns, and he has a nice matchup with the Vikings.
By my count, Minnesota has played eight games against better quarterbacks this season. I left out Philip Rivers, which maybe isn't fair, but that was back in Week 2 when Rivers looked like (in the eyes of some) he should be benched for Jacoby Brissett. Anyway, here's how those eight upper-level quarterbacks have fared against the Vikings this season.
| TOP QUARTERBACKS VERSUS THE VIKINGS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Yards | TDs | INTs | |
| Rodgers, G.B. | 365 | 4 | 0 | |
| Tannehill, Tenn. | 321 | 0 | 1 | |
| Watson, Hou. | 300 | 2 | 0 | |
| Wilson, Sea. | 217 | 3 | 1 | |
| Ryan, Atl. | 371 | 4 | 0 | |
| Rodgers, G.B. | 291 | 3 | 0 | |
| Stafford/Daniel, Det. | 305 | 2 | 3 | |
| Brady, T.B. | 196 | 2 | 0 | |
Six of those eight guys (Chase Daniel finished the Detroit game) passed for over 290 yards, and seven threw multiple touchdowns; half threw at least 3 against this defense.
I'm not sure yet where Brees will show up in the Week 16 rankings. He's not going to have Michael Thomas, and may be throwing to a couple of practice squad or special team type wideouts along with Emmanuel Sanders. But a nice week, I think, for Brees to maybe finish with 280-plus yards and 2-3 touchdowns.
--Andy Richardson