On Monday, the New Orleans Saints became the first team this season to be shut out in an embarrassing 34-0 loss to the Green Bay Packers. And afterward, Saints rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler placed the blame directly on himself for the team’s poor showing.
The Saints didn’t show up on either side of the ball. But particularly on offense was where the Saints were largely exposed by their superior opposition, putting up just 196 yards of total offense with two costly turnovers that left them scoreless in the game.
Spencer Rattler was thrust into a starting spot yet again due to the hand injury to Derek Carr. And unfortunately for Rattler, he simply didn’t play up to his expectations, which has become a trend for him this season.
“Just embarrassing,” Rattler said of the team’s performance, via Nola.com. “Embarrassing loss. I put it on myself. I did not play well at all, in my opinion. I just didn’t have any answers, I have to go to make more plays, protect the ball and I’ve just got to be better.”
To be fair to Rattler, he hasn’t exactly been given many pieces to work with. Especially in Week 16 where the team was without the likes of Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Taysom Hill, who all missed the game due to injury.
It is still valuable experience for a player in Rattler who had flashed NFL upside throughout his impressive collegiate career at Oklahoma and later South Carolina.
For the Saints, they perhaps hope Rattler can use this unexpected playing time to grow as a player. But thus far, this game certainly has to rank as a lowlight of his NFL career.
Regardless, it is rather impressive to see a rookie like Rattler taking accountability for his poor performance. Especially considering all the other problems that the team had on Monday that were out of his control.
It will be interesting to see whether Rattler will be the team’s starter for the remainder of the season.
At 5-10 on the year, the Saints don’t have all that much to play for. So perhaps Rattler can remain the starter and end his rookie season in a more positive light than his play on Monday night.
[Nola.com]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.