marked the 10-year anniversary of the immaculate AMC drama Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad is one of my favorite shows of all time http://www.saintscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-ted-ginn-jr-jersey , so much so that in addition to having watched the series through at least twice, I even bought Alan Sepinwell’s companion book, Breaking Bad 101: The Complete Critical Companion.To put it simply, Vince Gilligan and Bryan Cranston put on one of the greatest achievements in television and the show was chock-full of wonderful moments throughout its five-year run.Disclaimer: If you haven’t watched Breaking Bad, then consider this a spoiler alert.There’s one moment in the show specifically I think relates to Saints quarterback Drew Brees and where he stands at this very point in his career. In “Buyout”, the sixth episode of season five, Jesse and Mike want out of the meth business. This isn’t like previous instances where someone wants out of the business, this time they both mean it. Mike is too old for the DEA to be tailing him all day and night, and Jesse’s soul is shaken after Todd shoots and kills a kid that just so happened to see some of their illegal shenanigans. Jesse comes to Walt with a proposed buyout offer from a competing meth dealer to the sum of $5 million each. Walt staunchly refuses because the amount of money he’s sitting on is pushing $300 million and he’s refusing to sell out and take pennies on the dollar. We come to find out that Walt as a younger man was in a similar situation and he’s not making the same mistake twice. A company he helped found is worth a little over $2.5 billion “with a ‘B’” as Walt says, but Walter sold his share in the early stages for a mere five grand. Jesse asked Walter earlier in the episode if the two of them are in the meth business or the money business and Walt responds in kind: “Neither. I’m in the empire business.” This is all a long ways of saying that Drew Brees is undoubtedly a Hall of Fame quarterback, five years to the second he decides to hang up the cleats. Brees will almost definitely retire with every major passing record to his claim, a Super Bowl MVP and numerous time All-Pro/Pro Bowl quarterback. But as Brees heads into year 19 in the league and year 12 in New Orleans, Brees isn’t in the money making business or the passing record business. Brees is trying to expand upon his own empire. Brees has absolutely nothing to prove career wise. That said, consider what a second Super Bowl would do for his immortality. There’s just something about having multiple titles on a resume. Brett Favre was great but hardly anyone would put him above guys like Joe Montana, John Elway, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. Even today, Brees is always at least the third guy mentioned in the “best quarterback today” debate behind Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Recently, Sunday Night Football put out a Twitter poll asking who was the best in the game, and the choices were Brady, Rodgers, Russell Wilson or Carson Wentz. For some reason or another, Brees is always overlooked. But if he can win a second Super Bowl? One Super Bowl makes a player immortal. A second makes him invincible. Think of it this way, with the way the game is played and the rules being geared more toward offense, the passing statistics seem a bit inflated. And years from now, someone will almost definitely remember Drew Brees and say he was the product of an era that allowed for passing numbers like that. As for his one and only Super Bowl? Well...I mean Joe Flacco and Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson have also won a Super Bowl too Cheap Alex Anzalone Jersey , you know? And the #actually crowd could say that anyone can be lucky one. But there’s no denying winning titles, plural. Again, there is nothing Brees needs to do in whatever years remain in his career. A second title would be the definition of lagniappe. Brees’ place in history will not be harmed at all if he never gets that second Super Bowl. But a second Super Bowl puts him on a tier away from Favre or *ahem* options B, C and D on SNF’s twitter poll. We are in the twilight of Brees’ career. This 2018 season might be Brees’ best chance left to build upon his empire. In one sense, if Brees retires only as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns and the owner of a Super Bowl title, that’s as good as any career any player’s ever had. But Brees’ story is in the waning chapters, not the final paragraph. And a second Super Bowl would secure Brees’ empire. Tampa Bay's best start in eight years has dissolved into a .500 record that raises more questions than it answers about whether this finally will be the year the Buccaneers end their long playoff drought.The Bucs (2-2) weathered Jameis Winston's suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy better than reasonably could have been expected, thanks to Ryan Fitzpatrick becoming the first player in league history to top 400 yards passing in three consecutive games.A porous defense, however, is threatening to undermine a season that looked so promising after Fitzpatrick led the team to wins over New Orleans and Super Bowl champion Philadelphia to start the season.Last Sunday's 48-10 loss to the Chicago Bears sent the Bucs into their bye week amid questions about whether coach Dirk Koetter might fire defensive coordinator Mike Smith during a break that couldn't arrive soon enough.Despite being throttled by a Bears defense led by Khalil Mack. Tampa Bay has the NFL's top-ranked passing attack and is No. 3 in total offense.The flip side is the Bucs have allowed a league-high 139 points through four games and have given up more yardage than every team except the Kansas City Chiefs, who are 4-0 despite their shortcomings on defense."We've got to own it and we have to fix it," coach Dirk Koetter said in the wake of what the coach described as a "horrific" performance against the Bears.Koetter is adamant, though, that firing Smith, the former Atlanta Falcons head coach, is not the answer.Not even after the Bucs were shredded by Chicago's Mitchell Trubisky, the No. 2 pick in the 2017 draft, for 354 yards passing and six touchdowns."Sure, any play-callers on both sides of the ball would love to have calls back ... anything that doesn't work," Koetter said. "But we have to figure that out, and the nice thing about having a bye right now is we've four games of our own to look at."Since firing former coach Lovie Smith after the 2015 season, in part because Tampa Bay was having problems stopping opponents, the Bucs have invested heavily in the defense through free agency and the draft.Injuries have tested depth on the defensive line, as well as in a secondary missing cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III and safety Chris Conte.The absence of a consistent running game http://www.thesaintsfootballauthentic.com/tyeler-davison-jersey-authentic , capable of keeping opposing quarterbacks on the sideline for extended stretches, has hurt, too, considering the Bucs faced Drew Brees, Nick Foles and Ben Roethlisberger in the first three games."It was easy for me to stand up here and say we faced two Hall of Famers and a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. That wasn't the case (last Sunday)," Koetter said. "Tip your hat to Trubisky for doing what he had to do. We need to focus on what we need to do better."Lovie Smith was let go after a season in which the Bucs finished 10th in total defense, allowing 340.4 yards per game.Through the first month of the season, the current Bucs are allowing 358 yards per game through the air, 445.8 yards overall.Opposing quarterbacks completed 70 percent of their passes in 2015. It's 77.1 percent after four games this year.Koetter has a longtime relationship with Smith. They worked together as assistants under Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville, and Smith later hired Koetter as his offensive coordinator when Smith became the head coach in Atlanta."First, let's get one thing straight. It has zero to do with relationships, OK? None of this is about relationships," Koetter said."This is business," the coach added. "This is how I make my living, and it's how every guy in this building makes his living, so we can put that one to rest."One change that is occurring, though, is Winston regaining the starting quarterback job. He sat out the first three games while serving his suspension and replaced Fitzpatrick in the second half against Chicago with the Bucs trailing 38-3."Fitz's combination of experience, talent and leadership is valued at a very high level here," Koetter said in announcing the decision to bench the 35-year-old journeyman backup and play the No. 1 overall pick from the 2015 draft."At the same time, Jameis Winston is the guy that's going to be here way longer than I am," Koetter added. "He needs to be playing, and he will be unless he gets hurt."The Bucs return to action on Oct. 14 at Atlanta.
