Marino Watch, Week 15: Things Are Taking a Positive Turn for Mr. Marino

Going Deep

The prospects for Brees and Warner grew grim this week. Though they each have one cakewalk pass defense left on the schedule (Detroit for Brees, Seattle for Warner), they each took steps back in Week 15, and will each need at least one Herculean effort to get back on track.

Brees, as has been the case the last two years, was harrassed in a late-season game in Soldier Field. While he and the team caught up in the second half, he was pressured often early on, only tossing 93 yards before halftime. Pressure gets to almost any quarterback, but the brave Brees suffers worse than most, as he's more reluctant than most to take a sack. This means he throws more interceptions and incompletions, as was the case in Chicago. Of course, that style put him in the position to take down the yardage record in the first place, so you have to take the good with the bad, and in recent weeks it's been more bad for Brees.

That Arizona game, meanwhile, was just a disaster all around. The Vikings got out to an early 21-0 lead before Warner really had any chance to get something going, putting him behind the eight ball immediately. When you're so far behind, you have to turn to the air to catch up, which is Arizona's specialty. However, it also makes your offense one-dimensional and predictable. And Minnesota was able to protect its leaky secondary with an innate number of blitzes, which kept Warner off balance all day. In fact, he wouldn't have posted nearly the day he had if the Vikes hadn't have backed off into prevent coverage late in the game -- Warner had 83 yards alone in only part of the fourth quarter before he was pulled for Matt Leinart.

Who's On Tap

Drew Brees: at Detroit (220.9 yards per game allowed -- 21st)
Kurt Warner: at New England (211.8 yards per game allowed -- 16th)