The New Orleans Saints plan to play quarterback Drew Brees in Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys, head coach Sean Payton said on Friday afternoon.
Brees is dealing with a rotator cuff injury he sustained in Week 2. That injury forced him to miss the team's Week 3 game against the Carolina Panthers, a 27-22 loss. Luke McCown started that game, and actually played quite well for the most part. He completed 31-of-38 passes for 310 yards, but couldn't find the end zone and also had an interception.
The lack of scoring production is what hurt the Saints the most. Brees just happens to be one of the highest-scoring quarterbacks in the league, so the drop off in production was predictable.
Brees took practice reps on Wednesday and was throwing for the first time since sustaining the injury. At the time, Brees said he felt "pretty good" about his chances to play in the coming game.
"This is my first day throwing in practice, so we will see how the shoulder feels tomorrow, but the strength and range of motion is getting better every day," Brees said. "It's not a pain issue. I can get through that. It's a matter of being able to do the things that I need to be able to do in order to help us win games."
Brees said that it's not about pain at this stage, but whether or not he can make all the throws he needs to make in a game situation. Evidently, he and Sean Payton have decided that he can do just that, so he'll duel Brandon Weeden on Sunday.
The Saints host the Cowboys on NBC's Sunday Night Football this week. Kick off is at 8:30 p.m. ET.