BY ADAM GREENE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just about a week ago Drew Brees did his best to flush the New Orleans Saints season down the toilet<\/a> and follow it with what had been, previously, a pretty stellar personal reputation in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since then Brees has been on an<\/a> apology tour<\/a> and even delivered a modest body check to President Donald Trump<\/a> who tried to interject himself<\/a> into the NFL\u2019s kneeling \u201ccontroversy\u201d as he has nothing else going on deserving his attention. Trump\u2019s afternoons, when not accusing 75-year old retirees of being Antifa plants<\/a>, are apparently free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brees was obviously humbled by the strife he caused within his team and sports fandom and even his wife has chimed in<\/a>, offering her own apology. His responses and conversations since, and his rebuke of Trump, seems to have healed some of it on his own squad at least.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Others aren\u2019t buying it<\/a>, like the Philadelphia Eagles\u2019 Malik Jackson. How prevalent is that in the NFL? Or even on the Saints? As of right now, no one really knows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New Orleans, along with the rest of the NFL, is slated to start its training camp in late July, barring any huge change in COVID-19 policy. And since we, as a nation, seem content to make none even in the face of a sharp increase in numbers from Memorial Day outings<\/a> (no one has protest spike numbers yet, but logic dictates that they\u2019re coming), training camp will probably happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Universities of Alabama, Arkansas State, Auburn, Texas Tech, Iowa, Marshall and Oklahoma State have all reported positive coronavirus cases<\/a> as players return to begin preseason work. No one, as of this writing, has yet to propose a halt or postponement of the upcoming college football season. As far as I can tell, they haven\u2019t even stopped players from showing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s no question that NFL teams will experience the same thing once players return. So we\u2019ll have to wait and see what happens there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there\u2019s a full slate of games set for the second week of September<\/a> and the NFL is planning to play them. I think they will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So as the Saints take the field at the Mercedez-Benz Superdome when they host the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 13, Brees can shut down any and all criticism with a single move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He can take a knee during the anthem<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently the odds of Brees doing that are at +225, with standing at -350. I feel like Brees putting his hand on a teammate\u2019s shoulder (at -120) is about as safe a bet as you could put down in sports right now. That\u2019s happening. He\u2019ll have to find a willing participant, but Michael Thomas, at least, already seems like he\u2019s forgiven Brees and believes his apologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In spite of the self-inflicted wound, the Saints\u2019 NFC Championship odds didn\u2019t drop over the last week and still sit at +550<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brees could solve all his problem with a single move. He takes the knee, surrounded by his teammates, and shows definitively that he\u2019s backing up his words with actions. Sure, some would call it a crass attempt to regain public favor, but what can you do? The symbolism, and Trumpian condemnation, would put Brees publicly on the right side of history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And maybe heal any of the remaining rifts on his own team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow our BetOnline Twitter account<\/a> for the latest sports news and betting odds, and stay tuned on the Instagram feed<\/a> for more good information too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY ADAM GREENE Just about a week ago Drew Brees did his best to flush the New Orleans Saints season…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t