Drew Brees was critical of playing on Thursday nights after the New Orleans Saints lost six players to injury in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

"It's 100 percent a product of playing on Thursday night," the quarterback said. "Do you understand what guys' bodies go through in a game? And then to have to turn around four days later and to play? Look at the injury studies, they're off the charts. They're off the charts. So is this smart as it pertains to guys' health and safety? No, absolutely not."

Players have railed against the Thursday schedule for years. Last month, Doug Baldwin said the games should be "illegal" after the Seattle Seahawks suffered a series of injuries, including Richard Sherman's torn Achilles.

This Thursday, Alvin Kamara and Senio Kelemete left the game with concussions; A.J. Klein and Kenny Vaccaro left early with groin injuries; Trey Hendrickson left with an ankle injury and Ted Ginn, Jr. left with an unspecified injury late in the game.

Four other Saints players left briefly with injuries but returned to the game.

"I can sit here and tell you that no player likes putting himself at risk on four days' rest to come and put their bodies through what they put them through in a game," Brees said. "So you hope that it's addressed [this offseason], you hope that it's talked about, and you hope that something is done about it.

"When you see guys go down, when you lose guys for what you think is unnecessary just because you put 'em at a much higher risk in such a quick turnaround, that gets you upset."