The New Orleans Divide

Drew Brees hold many nfl records as a quarterback. He is over 40 years old so he definitely has the mental aspet of the game nailed down pretty tight. He only has one superbowl win and has seen some very tumolteous times in New Orleans. There was even a time he and Sean Payton almost split due to lack of wins in a stretch of 7-9 seasons. He and Payton’s chemistry has been huge for the success of the team in recent years. There are many that say without eachother, neither one would have succeeded this long in the league.

To most in New Orleans, Drew Brees is the savior of the town, and for some, even the state! He came to New Orleans in the earlier part of his career after a devastating injury and a young high capital draft pick (Phillip Rivers) ousted him from San Diego. (Who is laughing now?). He arrived shortly after Hurrican Katrina and did a ton of work with the community in an attempt to rebuild the crumbling state.

By now, many people are aware of where Drew Brees stands in both his personal and professional life. He is a great humanitarian who is always finding ways to give back; however, he does have ties with some questionable organizations. He shot a video for a church about bring your bible to school day a few years ago, which was backed by an anti-lgbtq church. He did, shortly after receiving backlash from it, release a video apologizing and adamently stating he is not anti-lgbtq. Of course that was all before his most recent involvement in the spotlight.

Just a short time ago, many in the United States were in agreement that kneeling before the flag during the national anthem was a disgrace and disrespectful to armed forces, previous civil rights activists, and the values of the country. The issue was, we were all missing the point. The peasceful protest was something we all should have listened with open hearts to, and maybe that would have prevented where we are today. Of course, everyone is allowed to have their opinion of what is right and wrong or what is politically correct, but at the end of the day, Drew Brees spoke with teammates, former teammates, friends, and family and realized where he went wrong.

It is more than okay for him to stand with his hand over his heart and listen to the anthem with his late grandfather in mind, but we can not force black players to do the same when they are scared to leave their house due to police brutality and oppresion. He now realizes that and has the whole team behind his back. Atleast, that is what they say. After his stance was released, social media had quite the frenzy. Even Jameis Winston, who has since stated he is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, was trending on twitter as the back up on New Orleans as many were joking he should now start because of Brees’ personal beliefs.

What many of us have come to realize is that we have quite the outspoken player in Michael Thomas. He has been known for his online trash talk, as well as his on the field talk. If he keeps up at the pace he has played at up to this point in his career, his is almost a lock for the hall of fame.

What he was not; however, was happy with how Drew Brees responded to the question posed to him on the anthem protests. Thomas tweeted shortly after “He don’t know better” along with some other comments. He was certainly not alone though, as stars all over the league chimed in as well as celebrities. He was hurt by the comments, but has since spoken to Brees and all seems to be well again in New Orleans. But the question remains as posed by many around the world, “Can things truly go back to normal after such a divisive offseason?”. I say they can, and there are good examples of this happening. Take a look at the Steelers during Ben Roethlisberger’s first superbowl run.

Drew Brees is a hall of fame lock and one of the greatest to strap up and play in the NFL, it is likely they will all come together as a team and ride it out this year, which is likely Brees final season before he moves on to Broadcasting. Will we see the team gel together or will it continue to be The New Orleans Divide?

Thank you for reading about my take on the New Orleans Divide! I currently run an online social media platform for sports talk and you can follow us on twitter @tacklerr_com as well as find this article at https://www.tacklerr.com. Find more articles by OTH at overtimeheroics.net!