Brees dismisses concerns about arm, says he feels 'borderline great'

Drew Brees hasn't played up to his Hall of Fame standards through two weeks, but the New Orleans Saints quarterback insisted Wednesday that he isn't worried about his lackluster play.

"I feel good, I feel good. Borderline great," Brees said, according to ESPN's Mike Triplett.

Brees, 41, averaged just 5.3 yards per attempt and completed only 60% of his passes in the Saints' season-opening win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, leading to concerns that his arm strength has waned significantly.

His numbers improved in Monday night's loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, as he recorded a 68% completion percentage and 8.2 yards per attempt. However, Brees' average of 4.82 air yards is the lowest mark of any quarterback through two games since Brett Favre in 2009, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

But the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns said he doesn't care how his offense puts points on the board as long as New Orleans comes out on top.

"You know, one of the statistics that was thrown out after the game was the yards per attempt, or something like that. There are many statistics I do not pay one bit of attention to, and that would be one of them," Brees said. "At the end of the day, I am focused on putting us in (a) position to succeed, making great decisions, both in the run game or pass game, whatever is predicated on my ability to get us in the best play."

Brees added: "Those are the things I'm focused on, and I don't care how we do it. I honestly don't. I just want to win football games."

The Saints made it a priority to get insurance for Brees this offseason, retaining do-it-all weapon Taysom Hill and bringing in former Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston.

Brees will get his chance to prove his doubters wrong Sunday in a showdown with Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.