Brees: NFC South race 'just kicked up a notch' with addition of Brady

A division Drew Brees has owned for the past three seasons now includes Tom Brady.

Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will do battle with Brees and the New Orleans Saints twice during the upcoming regular season, and it should make the Saints' quest to win their fourth straight NFC South crown that much more difficult.

"Yeah, well, the division just got a little bit better, didn't it?" Brees said Wednesday on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," according to Nick Shook of NFL.com.

"And in addition to that, Teddy Bridgewater - who played so well for us with the Saints last year when I got hurt - he's now the starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers. So our division has Teddy Bridgewater, Tom Brady, (Atlanta Falcons quarterback) Matt Ryan, and myself with the Saints. It's always been a challenging division and it just kicked up a notch."

Brees and Brady sit first and second, respectively, in both career passing yards and touchdown passes. They'll soon be competing for much more than league records.