Drew Brees Is The Latest Media Villain In Philly Sports

A motto among Philly Sports fans is "No One Likes Us, We Don't Care." It started as a Philadelphia Union chant, but after Jason Kelce sang it at the first Super Bowl parade, it became an oft-cited line by fans. But it is a complete lie. No one likes us, and Philly fans care a lot. We as a fanbase live to be disrespected or hated on, and when we find someone who can be a target of our ire, we love it. And lately, Drew Brees has found himself as the target of that ire.

Now several years into his retirement from the game, Brees has fully launched his media career. Part of that is weekly hits on First Take. And he immediately put himself in the crosshairs of Eagles fans by calling them a boring team.

Eagles fans, as we are known to do, did not take that comment sitting down. We rightfully called him out for it, and there may have been some shots at Brees own career.

People might have mentioned that Jalen Hurts has already done as much winning as Brees did. We might have taken some shots at how the end of Drew Brees career went. And 97.5 The Fanatic might have contributed to that backlash against him. But that did not dissuade Brees from coming back for more.

One week later, and the future Hall of Famer once again has angered Eagles fans. In his second hit with First Take, the crew asked him if the Eagles deserve to be the number 1 team. He said no, called the Eagles out for their poor numbers on offense, and suggested the Eagles got lucky with a couple of their wins.

Apparently, not many Eagles fans watched live because there was not much reaction as the show aired. But when Eagles Nation shared the quote later that day, it became open season again for hating on Drew Brees.

But I am going to do something I don't really want to do. I am going to defend Drew Brees. Because while the above quote is something Brees said, it is not his full opinion on the Eagles. He expanded his thoughts later in his segment with First Take. And putting the comments on the blocked FG aside, I think Eagles fans might find his expanded thoughts much more reasonable.

"I do not think the Eagles are playing the best ball. They have a formula for winning. Despite them statistically being at the bottom of the league in a lot of offensive statistics, they are playing great defense and are taking care of the football. That is a formula for winning.

Look, they are not running the ball well, and they are last in the league in yards passing. And yet, they take care of the football. They're taking advantage of the opportunities that their defense gives them. They have gotten 2 special teams TDs in 4 games. That is the scary part. How good can this team be if they start running the football like they are used to running the football, and their defense continues to be who they have been? That is pretty scary."

He is not saying anything that Eagles fans themselves are not saying. The offense needs to be better. But they are capable of being much better, and it will be scary if the offense improves and the defense keeps playing like this.

I would love to sit here and rip Drew Brees. I am bias and was never a big fan of him when he played. But when you listen to the full segment, he is not as unreasonable as the Tweeted quote makes him look.

He recognizes the Eagles are the defending champs and are capable of being the scariest team in the league. He just does not think they are the best team through 4 games. And by the way, even though he said they are not number 1, he did say they are number 2 behind the Bills (also undefeated).

I think we can let Drew Brees go on this one. There are plenty of Talking Heads out there saying outrageous things about the Eagles; we don't need to force Brees to become one for saying things a lot of Eagles fans actually agree with.

There are people in the city who are far more critical than Brees is. In a way, his comments were a compliment to the potential the Eagles have.