New Orleans Saints respond to story that says Drew Brees, team should part ways

The New Orleans Saints responded Thursday to an article that said the time had come for the team and quarterback Drew Brees to part ways.

The article, posted to data analytics website fivethirtyeight.com, said the talent level around Brees had dropped to a level to which the quarterback alone could not make up for those deficiencies.

The article said the average length of time it took for a team to return to contender status after a decline such as the Saints' was 4.1 years, by which time Brees, now 36, would likely be retired.

"NFL teams have generally recognized that it's better to break up with an aging quarterback a year too early than a year too late," the report said. "And almost none of those decisions look bad in retrospect."

The Saints' response was succinct.