Saints’ Brees expects to start at Carolina

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said he did not throw Wednesday at practice, but that he has every intention of playing Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.

This week, Brees is in danger of missing his second start since he’s been with the Saints, but this would be his first due to an injury.

The Saints average just 79 yards on the ground in the first two games of the season – 25th in the NFL.

McCown completed 24 of 35 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns, without an interception, in preseason. We’ll see what the light’s real source is, and soon. We were a younger team.

“I think we have the opportunity to do a lot of great things here in the near future”.

AP Sports Writer Brett Martel in New Orleans, Louisiana contributed to this report.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrew examined MRI scans of Brees’ injured shoulder and determined that he has a bruised rotator cuff, according to ESPN.com’s Ed Werder.

“I fully expect to see Drew Brees, just knowing the competitor he is and the type of guy he is”, linebacker Thomas Davis said.

While Brees is tending to his right shoulder, he and the rest of the offense are also trying to pinpoint what they can do to be more productive than they’ve been during their 0-2 start. Receiver Willie Snead said he noticed the quarterback’s arm was hurting and he was having trouble passing deep. Brees, 36, has never missed a regular-season game with injury in his 15-year career.

“Drew’s a warrior”, Snead said. We’re going to prepare as if everything’s status quo. And I’m confident that he’ll be up to speed come game time.

Last offseason, Brees suffered an oblique injury that caused him to miss two weeks of training camp, which possibly affected his performance in the 2014 season. Jonathan Stewart rushed for 62 yards in 17 attempts. I think they’ll keep it close before Eli Manning, Odell Beckham Jr. and New York flip the script from the first two games and finish strongly. Brees is now dealing with a shoulder injury that likely occurred on the hit after throwing that aforementioned pick.

“We knew what they liked to do, and they ran a route that we expected”.

“Luke is an accomplished player, he’s clearly on top of what we do offensively and would be ready if the time comes”.

New Orleans is 0-2 on the season, 0-2 against the spread and 1-1 with the over/under total.

Other systems more concerned with data and facts rather than opinions have the Panthers rated higher.

Still, Newton’s decision making and turnovers need to be much better in this game.

A similar effort by the Saints defense Sunday, and it might be appropriate to paraphrase the words of the late Yogi Berra, who said of the challenges of playing left-field in the encroaching shadows of Yankee Stadium, “it gets dark early out there”.