Reports have circulated for weeks that this would be New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ final season.

The future Hall-of-Famer was asked bluntly if Sunday’s 30-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Divisional Round would be his final game and declined to say whether or not it would be.

“I’m going to give myself an opportunity to think about the season, think about a lot of things, just like I did last year, and make a decision,” Brees said.

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NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Take one: Drew Brees farewell?

They say Father Time is undefeated. Though nothing is official, by the looks of Drew Brees, both during and after the game, it sure seems like he’s accepted that finality in his career.

Brees was pedestrian Sunday. Not the Superman he’d been for the vast majority of his 15 seasons in New Orleans. He threw three bad interceptions that proved costly. His second interception on a throw to Alvin Kamara in the fourth quarter essentially put the exclamation point on another playoff loss.

But it was the emotion after the game that made this ending feel different. He was in near tears on the sideline. When he jogged off the field, he blew kisses to his family. But as he was about to hit the tunnel, he walked back to take the moment all in. After the game, he shared a long hug and embrace with his wife on the field. He went on to play touch football with his sons. He ended up staying nearly two hours before actually exiting the dome.

It had all the makings of a man who knows his time is up.

Take Two: Turnover trouble

Sometimes it takes a little while to figure out what exactly went wrong in a game. Other times, the answer is blatantly obvious.

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In what was potentially Drew Brees’ final NFL game, Father Time arrived.

Brees’ Saints fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 30-20, in the Divisional Round on Sunday in New Orleans, ending a season some envisioned would culminate with Brees and Co. in the Super Bowl three weeks short of that destination.

In a matchup of two future Hall of Famers, Brees looked little like the legendary passer of old and instead just old, completing 19-of-34 passes for 134 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. His 38.1 passer rating told the tale of what hundreds of thousands of eyes had already seen: Brees’ age finally showed in a pivotal contest.

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What to watch for: You may have heard this game will feature a pair of future Hall of Fame quarterbacks named Tom Brady and Drew Brees. It’s their first-ever playoff meeting, and it might be their last since Brees is contemplating retirement after the season. Brady is trying to reach a conference championship game for a staggering 14th time, while Brees is seeking his fourth. They’re both flanked by top-six defenses, too. And while New Orleans dominated the regular-season series (winning 34-23 and 38-3), the Bucs have been one of the hottest teams in football during a current five-game win streak. — Mike Triplett
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The New Orleans Saints are unlikely to have quarterback Taysom Hill (knee) and running back Latavius Murray (quadricep) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in today’s Divisional Round playoff game, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Jane Slater. Both practiced only on Friday and were listed as questionable.

On the Bucs’ side, Tampa Bay will decide on running back Ronald Jones (quad/finger) when they arrive at the stadium. He participated in the walk-through on Saturday which is a sign he’s got a good shot to play, according to Rapoport. Officially, he’s listed as questionable against New Orleans.

The second-seeded Saints play host to the fifth-seeded Bucs at 6:40 p.m. ET. The winner advances to take on Green Bay in next weekend’s NFC Championship Game.

METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton was jogging back to the locker room for halftime at Atlanta in Week 13 when he decided to pick the brain of one of his most trusted offensive minds:

“It was just in casual conversation — he happened to be next to me walking to the locker room. And I said, ‘What do you like in the second half?’ Just getting his gut,” Payton said. “We talked about a few different runs. And then he said to me, ‘I really like that same play that we ran Taysom [Hill’s quarterback] keeper, but the run off of it.'”

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