CBS – 32 It's all about the draft for this team, but it is playing hard. That's a good sign for Kellen Moore. They just lack talent.
ESPN – 32 – Biggest QB takeaway: Spencer Rattler is trending up
Rattler's 0-8 record as a starter doesn't reflect it, but his first two games have already shown improvement after a difficult rookie season as a temporary starter. Coach Kellen Moore assessed Rattler's performance against the 49ers and noted it took him a bit to settle in. But when he did, he had a lot of good moments, throwing a career-high three TD passes. That doesn't mean things will be easy for Rattler or the Saints in the coming weeks, but it is a positive sign to see week-to-week growth.
Athletic – 28 Overreaction: Alvin Kamara is aging backward
Derrick Henry is the only running back in the NFL defying Father Time more effectively. The 30-year-old Kamara is seventh in the league in touches this year (40), and he totaled 99 rushing yards and 21 receiving yards against the Niners. Since 2018, Henry is the only player to touch the ball more (2,249 to 1,955).
SI – 28 – I know this is going to be something of an unpopular opinion, but I am planting it now in fertile ground and seeing what happens: What if…Spencer Rattler is still the Saints starting quarterback at this point next year? Respond how you will, but he threw one of the three best balls I’ve seen each of the past two weekends.
Ringer – 31 – Hold your nose and hope Spencer Rattler continues to play like he did in Week 2.
Don’t get me wrong, quarterback Spencer Rattler was generally not good against the 49ers on Sunday, but having a quarterback who can create out of structure will keep this offense afloat. That’s one thing we know Rattler can do (even if he does so inconsistently).
Beyond Rattler’s out-of-structure creativity and a handful of aggressive downfield passes, there’s just nothing of interest happening for this team right now. Head coach Kellen Moore has been all right so far, but mediocrity combined with this bad roster is a recipe for losing a dozen games.
4 comments
I agree with 28ish. I’ve been very critical of Rattler, but after some poor decision-making he came out in the second-half with something to prove. Unfortunately, our lack of talent just couldn’t keep up. Fuaga and Yiadom were embarrassing and just got absolutely bullied, and we have a 30 million dollar TE with concrete blocks for hands.
I disagree with a lack of talent. We have some glaring holes at CB and our right side of the oline, but we are talented everywhere else. Rattler is playing well enough to win games if we can clean up the sloppy play. We are top 5 in penalties, and we aren’t good enough to overcome those.
And even with all that, we had 2 winnable games. I wish we would have stuck with the run in the first half against the 49ers like we did in the second half. Hopefully that’s a sign of the offense to come, which has no identity at the moment.
Idc about rankings, but we’re in the bottom 3rd somewhere. There’s a handful of bad teams who I think are worse than us, but nothing matters if we don’t win games. If we clean up the mistakes, I think we can be a middle of the pack team this year, trending upward into next year.
Ratter has been behind horrible offensive lines for a long time now. The guy hasn’t had a consistently clean pocket since he was at Oklahoma.
The Ringer, LOL! What “Rattler generally not good” means, when he threw for 73% and 3Tds? Also, how Moore is “mediocrity” after two games into his first stint? LOL. Dat lazy writer!