Marina del Rey, Calif. – Some names will change for the New Orleans Saints’ second preseason game, even as the mission remains the same.
When the Saints face the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., New Orleans will rest its starters for a second straight preseason game. After joint practices against the Cowboys (Aug. 18) and Rams (Aug. 20) this week in California, where the starters logged heavy workloads, New Orleans’ frontliners are expected to spend Saturday observing and mentoring. The reps they received Tuesday and Thursday likely dwarfed what they would have been asked to provide Saturday.
But injuries and performance may have shifted the roles for some in this preseason game.
For instance, quarterback Zach Wilson, who has been No. 3 behind starter Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler this offseason and entering the preseason opener, played well enough against Jacksonville (11 of 16 for 145 yards and a touchdown) that he earned snaps with the second-team offense in the Rams joint practice. He could open the preseason game at quarterback, after Rattler (8 of 11 for 42 yards) started the first preseason game.
“Both those guys are playing some good ball,” Coach Kellen Moore said, while not revealing which quarterback will start Saturday. “Just timing of the game, mix and match — we’ll just kind of talk through the rotations of everyone. Our focus was really this practice and then (Thursday) afternoon, we’ll kind of get into what’s the game is going to look like for everyone.”