Mickles: Brees gets Faine’s vote for MVP

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 30, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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TAMPA, Fla. — After playing two seasons with the New Orleans Saints’ high-octane offense, Tampa Bay Bucs center Jeff Faine will go against his former team today for the second time this season.

Faine, an unrestricted free agent who signed with the Bucs in the winter, still has many good friends on the Saints’ roster whom he saw when they met in the season opener on Sept 7 in the Superdome. He’s watched from afar since that 24-20 loss, and has certainly not been surprised by how productive their offense has been.

Going into today’s rematch in Raymond James Stadium, the Saints lead the NFL in total yards (411.9) and passing yards (319.5) and quarterback Drew Brees has thrown for a league-best 3,574 yards in 11 games.

Those numbers make Brees, who is also completing 67.5 percent of his passes and has a passer rating of 99.9, the league’s MVP in Faine’s eyes.

“How can you deny him with the numbers he’s putting up?” Faine asked. “You really have to appreciate the things he’s doing. For a guy to come into this league and develop into the player he is, and to work like he did, I think it’s a great story. It’s a story that should be told about how good, hard work can pay off.”

So, what would Faine tell Bucs defensive guru Monte Kiffin, who has coached some of the league’s top defenses over the years, if he had come to him this week and asked for tips on how to slow down that Saints’ offense?

“I’d tell him to root for our offense,” he said with a chuckle. “I think that’s basically the best thing they can do. We have great playmakers and we have guys that can play for any offense in this league. But the best way is for us to be able to move the ball and for us to be able to put points on the board.”

Brees, who this week was voted by fans as the NFL FedEx Air Player of the Week for the second time this season, threw for 343 yards and three TDs in leading the Saints to 438 total yards in their first meeting this year.

With Buffalo (54) and the Saints (51) hanging half a hundred on the scoreboard and New England (48) and Atlanta (45) exploding as well, last weekend was a nightmare for NFL defenses — and scoreboard operators.

The 32 teams piled up 837 points with an average of 52.3 points for the 16 games, making it the highest-scoring weekend in NFL history. The previous scoring mark was 788 points, which was done three times —the latest in Week 17 of last season.