Spencer Rattler on facing Dennis Allen’s defense, Caleb Williams | New Orleans Saints

Spencer Rattler on facing Dennis Allen’s defense, Caleb Williams | New Orleans Saints

after uh looking at the the tape from last week’s game. I mean, how much of a step forward do you think you took uh against New England? I think it’s just another week, you know, um still building, still working. Um felt sharp. Need to finish in the red zone as a group better, but it’s just another week. You’re watching that that defense on Monday night with Chicago. One thing that that stood out was the turnovers. Is that kind of the same thing in terms of just like what this defense can do? Sure. I mean, yeah, I think they’re first in the league with creating turnovers, so we got to respect that and we got to be on be on our agame protecting the ball um you know, in all positions. So, that’s a main focus this week, especially, you know, playing these guys and uh we’re going to have to be dialed in. Spencer, like, how do you when you’re looking at this offense, you’re doing a lot of things well, just not necessarily clicking in certain areas, like how how do you how do you view that? like when you’re you’re doing things well but it’s not all kind of coming together like whether it’s red zone, third down, whatever the case may be. Um it’s a group thing, you know, um we know we got to fix it. We know we got to clean up in those areas and uh make it happen on game day. You know, we get down really good within the the 20s, you know, it feels like and then we get down and kind of stall out, you know, if it’s on whatever it is with penalties, you name it. Um, you know, I think back to the game, we had just a couple couple penalty penalties that, you know, we could have possibly scored on and then, you know, a couple missed opportunities um, in the running and pass game. So, we just got to clean it up overall. Um, but, you know, just keep keep playing. What’s it like going up, you know, against Dennis Allen, you know, former coach here? Could there be any, you know, advantages of that, maybe knowing him a little bit better and whatnot? And what do you think of his defense? Yeah, I mean, you know, I was only here a year with him. Um, you know, obviously he’s a great defensive mind. Does a lot of different things. Um, been doing it a long time. He’s really smart. I mean, I remember, you know, last year in camp and stuff like that, you know, with having to deal with all those looks, so he’s not going to make it easy, that’s for sure. Um, it’s going to be a challenge. Um, you know, we know he’s going to bring it, so we got to be on our aame. Spencer, obviously you going up against against Bears, Caleb’s going to be on the other side. Um, what did you take from from that moment a couple years ago when you know when when they put Caleb in the game and you know your past kind of diverg from there? Like did that was that ultimately part of what got you here to this point? I wouldn’t say so. I mean I think it is what it is. You know we we all have our own paths and you know we got to do our best with our own path. So it is what it is. Um you know the past is the past. we’re focused on the present and the future. But, uh, you know, I would say, yeah, that that definitely led me to South Carolina and it was a blessing in disguise, you know, that I got to play with the Gamecocks and develop there and, you know, get ready to go to the league after that. What have you got to learn about yourself? Um, I mean, just how to deal with adversity. You know, I think, you know, that’s not the first time a quarterback has had to go through that, so I’m not the only one. But, um, you know, adversity, it’s the quarterback position. It’s what comes with the job. and uh you got to deal with it and move on to the next. Do you have like a friendship relationship out with with Caleb or is just kind of Yeah, just kind of curious. Gordial, you know, um I’ll say what’s up to him at the game, but I got respect for him. Good player. I’m going to ask you something that’s probably impossible to answer, but where do you think your pocket feel comes from? Like it seems like it’s like one of your that is that just that’s you were born with like you got out there and you that was you or did you did you build that? Well, I appreciate that. Um, you know, I think since playing as a kid, you know, being able to run around a little bit, feel the pocket. Um, obviously a lot of years of work and still got a lot of room for improvement. You know, um, just wanting to feel that time clock in your head. You know, you got to play with a time clock, especially at this level. Um, you know, you don’t got much time to get the ball out. So, you got to play fast. You got to play, uh, with good tempo, have good feet, and, uh, try to get the ball out. But, you know, it’s just that natural feel, I guess you could say, on top of a lot of reps and, uh, just working it throughout drills and practice. like when it starts breaking down like does your heart rate go up or you just ice cold like just it’s normal like sometimes you know you get a little you know you want to run around a little bit make something happen but you know you got to stay somewhat controlled um I feel like last year I got a little too frantic in some situations in the pocket and then that turns to sacks or negative plays so if you can eliminate those negative plays which I think we’ve done this year pretty well um within the pocket and getting the ball to back to the line of scrimmage or making something positive about it I That’s the key to keeping the chains moving. Is that just the point of development? You know, when you know, maybe something’s taking a route taking a little longer to develop than than you expected and you have to kind of just buy time inside the pocket. Is that kind of a point of development for you in in year two? Um, I think just more reps, more experience, you know, seeing things a little better, feeling a little more comfortable um in the game, but yeah, I mean, you do have to buy some time at times. You know, I know, you know, as quarterbacks, we’re taught be at, you know, 10 yards in that pocket so you can step up and let your tackles do do the job of washing them by, which I think they’ve done a great job, but sometimes you might have to get to 11 and then step up um just to create a little time. So, I think it’s all just based off feel and um if the pockets’s clean or not. It seems like you guys are like pushing it a little bit more in the socks game. Is that is that like do you want to like push it more or like is that up to you? Like how does that how does that balance kind of work? Yeah, you know, you love to push it down the field. um you know, if it’s uh play call in the huddle, if it’s tempo, you know, you love to keep the defense on their heels and and try to take your shots at your guys down the field one-on-one, see if we can make a play. Um you know, as a quarterback, you you love that and definitely want to do more of that and give my guys more opportunities down the field. to the point of the, you know, not being frantic in the pocket, like you always hear guys say they want to play in the preseason to feel a hit or like how real is that to feel one get up and like does that settle you down at all? Um, I wouldn’t say it settles you down. Um, maybe for some guys, but I mean I think it’s just sometimes you got to take one to get one, you know, down the field like like you know, that’s what we say, you got to take one to get one sometimes. And um but a lot of times, you know, you want to protect yourself. I think you don’t want to take any dumb hits, any bad hits where you can get injured. So that that comes with getting the ball out on time, comes with the O line blocking well and uh route timing, depth, all that ties into one. So it’s a lot more detail than people think. Spencer, do you notice anything different about Kendra this year’s teammate after is it just is getting healthy for him or is it like a mentality shift or anything like that? I think a little bit of everything. He’s always been a great player. you know, I know he’s a little banged up um last year and um you know, with that whole deal, but it’s like a fresh start for him ever since camp or OTAAS. He’s been full go and um you know, got the system down, you give him the ball, he he’s going to make something happen. So, I think his confidence level is high and he’s a really good player. You know, we got to keep getting him the rock. That’s just kind of going back to Oklahoma today. Is it crazy you think about just the run of quarterbacks that came to that program through that span with you? Yeah, I mean there’s a lot of guys in the league for sure. That’s, you know, pretty funny. But, uh, yeah, a lot of guys from OU in the league uh, playing quarterback. So, pretty pretty funny stat. You played one obviously in game last week and you played Caleb this week. Whether fair or unfair, people are always going to look at that 24 class. How do you look at that? Do you mind if people measure Jaden and you and and the guys from that class together? Yeah, I mean I think it’s a really good class. We have a strong class. Um I want to say all of us are starting and um you know I I I like to put myself up with any of those guys in that class. You know, I’ve been competing with those guys since high school ball. Still doing it to this day. So, um, you know, I I love to compete against those guys and definitely want to, you know, be in that, uh, you know, want to be mentioned in that in that group, you know, cuz I feel like confidence-wise, I’m I’m up there with those guys and we could all play. Spencer, we’re doing a story about um the wristbands quarterbacks wear during games and what have been the pros or cons of wearing that for you this season? Um, we wore it last year as well. Um, or just in general, like what you like about it, if there’s anything you don’t like about it. I think it’s really just good for the super wordy play calls, uh, where you can get in and out. It might be a 25word play call. Um, just makes the communication a little clearer for everybody. Um, but if you know, we we don’t have to use a wristband, but I think it’s a good, uh, bonus to have. The offensive line group, you know, just being able to go week to week with the same five person group. How helpful is that for you or does it does it matter to you? change anything? Um I think you can see numbers wise we’re doing really well with limiting sacks and um negative plays in the pocket. Um they’re doing a great job up front, you know, out wide in the middle. Um thought Caesar played really well last week. Trevor, you know, is back feeling good and um you know, we we lean on those guys. We trust in those guys and they’ve been doing a great job. Thank you.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler speaks with the media from the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Wednesday, October 15, 2025 ahead of Week 7 at the Chicago Bears.
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