Saints: Drew Brees Wants Regular Refs Back

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“I would be concerned if it went into the regular season, certainly,” Brees said.

Brees believes the familiarity with the regular officials is very important.

“It’s the level of experience that obviously the officials have,” Brees said. “They’ve become so recognizable. We have our officials’ reports throughout the week. We know these crews, and in a lot of cases these crews have officiated our games many, many times. So I think you know and respect and trust their level of expertise and the type of game they are going to call.

“It’s just like on a team if we say we are going to put five rookies in front of you and a bunch of first-year players catching the ball and running the football around you. You just don’t have that same level of trust and confidence.”

Brees was asked if the replacement officials could end up costing them a game this season.

“There is always that possibility,” he said. “But we are going to worry about the things that we can control. And that’s playing football and trying not to give them a reason to make it close.”

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