Bucs Drama Continues in Bye Week, Brees Wins NFC Honor

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-4) continue to self destruct with the latest news that the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) is investigating how the leak of quarterback Josh Freeman’s inclusion in the NFL’s substance-abuse program came out. On Tuesday, the league’s executive director DeMaurice Smith confirmed the union’s review.

Josh Freeman

This comes as a story came out on Monday about Freeman being in Stage 1 of the program after it had it been disclosed that he tested positively for Ritalin in 2012. The player does have a prescription for Adderall as a treatment for ADHD. Fingers pointed at the team for the leaks, notably coach Greg Schiano.

On Tuesday in a team press conference, Schiano said he absolutely was not the one to leak it and added via USA Today, “I know what I’ve done, and I’m 100% comfortable with my behavior.”

Meanwhile, the Bucs are trying to get rid of Freeman and on Tuesday, they aggressively hit the phones and called teams to see if they had any interest in a trade. Around a dozen NFL teams had been contacted and ESPN’s Ed Werder tweeted early in the day that all 32 teams would get a call by day’s end.

As for Freeman, he’s said he’d like to be traded but having a team express interest in him may be a challenge. First one has to have quarterback need and second, they have to be open to picking up Freeman’s 2013 salary of $6 million-plus. After this season, he is a free agent and the team that gets him essentially has a lease on him.

Should the Bucs trade Freeman, what they will get in return is another question. The quarterback’s value was higher last week and CBS Sports opines the team could get a fifth-rounder–if they’re lucky–more likely to be a seventh rounder.

Lucky for them, the Bucs have their bye week.  When they return to action, they’ll play the Philadelphia Eagles (1-3). There’s no odds out on whether or not the Bucs will go winless this season but they sit at +6600 to win the NFC South Division this year.

Saints Brees Wins Weekly NFC Honor

Drew Brees

At the top of the NFC South, the New Orleans Saints sit at 4-0 and some of this can be attributed to its veteran quarterback Drew Brees. This week Brees received the NFC Offensive Player of the Week honor after his 413-yard, four-touchdown game in Monday’s 38-17 win against the Miami Dolphins (3-1).

He also had his highest completion percentage for the season as he went 30-of-39 for his passes and didn’t throw a pick–a first for this year. For his last nine games, Brees has passed for a minimum of 300 yards; this streak represents an NFL record but the previous one was already held by the quarterback.

But wait, there’s more records from Monday’s game. Bree passed Fran Tarkenton’s career total of 47,003 passing yards. He now sits at No. 6 of all time and at No. 5 is Warren Moon with a 2,000-plus yards at 49,325. The rate Brees is going–barring no injuries come his way–he could pass by Moon in 2013.

What’s after that? Brees could pass No. 4, John Elway at 51,475 total yards and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning sits in the third spot with a career total of 60,957  passing yards.

As for his NFC honor, this is nothing new for Brees. Since 2006 when he joined the Saints, he’s won this 15 times, reported ESPN.com. In this previous week, his tight end Jimmy Graham got the honor.

This week, the Saints will look to extend their perfect record against the Chicago Bears (3-1). The Bears are coming off an ugly loss to the Detroit Lions and will look to rebound. It will be nice for the Bears to be on the home field but the game is at even, 48.5 o/u.