Is Drew Brees Still Hampered by a Knee Injury?

With forty seconds left in regulation time of the Saints week three loss to the Falcons, Drew Brees injured his left knee on a 4th down throw to Jeremy Shockey. MRI's after the game reportedly came back negative so other than some soreness, a knee brace and the occasional listing on the weekly injury report, everything has been business as usual for Brees and the Saints.  

Most fans would agree that Drew hasn't been his usually amazing self on the football field as of late. Some have blamed the distraction caused by the birth of his newborn son. But is it this knee injury that's causing the struggles and is it more serious than it appears on the surface? Largely ignored were early reports from WIST-AM that Drew actually strained his MCL, a bit more significant of an injury than just a sore knee.

Now our weekly podcast co-host, Kevin Held, believes those reports are probably closer to the truth. On our latest episode this past Thursday, which you can catch right here, Kevin revealed he had come across some information worth sharing. Since none of you actually listen to our podcast - shame on you! - here's what he said...

I have recently come into some information from a guy who knows a guy with close knowledge of the situation. The reason Drew's performance has suffered as of late is that he's playing in pain due to a knee injury...

...the injured knee has resulted in him either underthrowing or overthrowing his guys. And it's impacted his ability to be accurate. And he's been playing in pain. It wouldn't surprise me if he needed, like, shots or had to take something in order to play but I don't know that for sure. 

The way it was stressed to me is that Brees is hurt, it's not hurt to the point that it keeps him out, but he's playing in a lot of pain and it's having an impact on him.     

Whatever the real extent of Drew's injury, it hasn't been enough to keep him off the field thus far so unless it gets worse, I see no reason why he'd ever miss a snap. And if it actually is more serious than we're being lead to believe, we'll probably never know given Sean Payton's penchant for being less than forthcoming.

What do you guys think? Is there more to Drew's knee injury? And hypothetically, isn't an injured Drew Brees still better than a perfectly healthy Chase Daniel?