Maybe the most anticipated matchup of Week 1 of the regular season will come on Monday night, when the Houston Texans visit the New Orleans Saints. The game isn't just a meeting between two teams with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, but also one between two of the league's best quarterbacks on opposite ends of their careers.
DeShaun Watson is still just 23, looking to further establish himself as one of the new generation's elite signal-callers. Drew Brees, meanwhile, is entering his 19th season at age 40, and coming off arguably the best season of his legendary career – a combination of longevity and effectiveness that his Texans counterpart finds difficult to fathom.
“It’s amazing — 18, 19, 20 years. That’s crazy,” Watson said of Brees' career on Tuesday, per Pro Football Talk's Charean Williams. “I’ve only been alive for 23 years, so it’s amazing to see what he’s done. Actually this summer I was looking at his stats and seeing the amount of years he’s had 5,000 yards, 5,000 yards, 5,000 yards, 4,000 yards and just constantly doing it repeatedly every year.”
Watson lauded Brees' leadership, philanthropy, and status as a proud family man, too. He even pondered why the Saints superstar, who finished second in the voting last year to Kansas City Chiefs wunderkind Patrick Mahomes, still has yet to win an MVP despite enjoying so much historic success.
The NFL is experiencing a changing of the guard at quarterback. As the careers of Brees, Tom Brady, and Aaron Rodgers finally come to a close, guys like Watson, Mahomes, and Baker Mayfield are picking up their mantle as football's next group of championship-winning quarterbacks.
Thankfully, we”ll get the chance see that dynamic play out in real time come Monday night.
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