Will injury to Drew Brees keep the Saints out of Super Bowl contention?

The Saints-Rams game on Sunday turned out to be a disaster for New Orleans. New Orleans entered that game coming off a close Monday Night Football win over the Texans, but only had a handful of days to prepare for the Rams, who captured the NFC title last year on their way to a loss in the Super Bowl. Many football fans in the audience will remember that the Rams beat the Saints in the playoffs last season in a controversial game in New Orleans.

Sunday’s game started out pretty good for the Saints, but took a huge turn for the worse when Drew Brees injured his throwing hand in the first quarter. Brees went to the sidelines for the rest of the game and was replaced by backup Teddy Bridgewater. Brees had his hand wrapped in white athletic tape soon after the injury and at one point in the second half, the tape was removed, which made it appear that Brees could return for some late game theatrics. Fans were disappointed though when his hand got re-taped, and Brees remained on the sidelines.

On Monday, reports surfaced that Brees had injured a thumb ligament and would have to have surgery. Sources say that he could miss about six weeks while his thumb heals, which is bad news for the Saints. Barring an early return, Brees won’t be back until either the Oct. 27 game against the Arizona Cardinals or the Nov. 10 game against the Atlanta Falcons. The Saints have a bye week on Nov. 3.

Over the next six weeks, the Saints will play at Seattle, then the Cowboys and Bucs at home, before a pair of roads games at Jacksonville and Chicago. Many preseason publications, including Sports Illustrated, predicted New Orleans to win the Super Bowl this year, but without Brees in the mix, the question now is can the Saints remain in the playoff picture until Brees comes back.

In the end, only time will tell, but for Saints fans it’s sad that what was supposed to have been a great season might get totally derailed due to a torn thumb ligament in Week Two.

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The third week of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em contest wrapped up on Saturday night, and we had even more changes in the local contest standings.

Once the dust settled on Saturday night, Mark Cotten and Casey Grant were locked in a first-place tie. Clint Hyde and Blake Stringer were tied for third place. Jesse Jordan, Travis Presley and Brett Loftin were tied for fifth place.

Arthur Ingram III, Justin Chandler and Michael Bishop were tied for eighth place. Drew Skipper, Justin Mixon, Cody Thomas and myself were all tied for the No. 11 spot.

As the weeks go by, we’re starting to see more separation among the contestants. We’ve got 11 more weeks to go in the contest, and you can bet that there will be many more changes in the local standings. As always, if you didn’t do so hot this week, keep plugging along because it’s a marathon, not a sprint.