Darren Rizzi and the New Orleans Saints came up short in Sunday’s 20-19 loss to the Washington Commanders.
They didn’t stick with the same quarterback for the entirety of the affair, either. The team went with former Fresno State signal-caller Jake Haener out of the gate, but that is not who the team stayed with.
The Saints brought in former Oklahoma and South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler near halftime after Haener had completed four of his 10 passing attempts for 49 yards without a touchdown but with a singular interception.
“We did not play the game we wanted to play in the first half. That wasn’t all on the quarterback,” Rizzi said after the game. “I just felt like and the offensive coaches felt like we needed a spark.”
Rattler seems to pretty instantaneously bring a new sense of energy to the New Orleans offense even if it did not fully win the game for the Saints. There was a marked turn of tide though, as New Orleans took it to the house for the first drive of the third quarter with Rattler at the helm.
It came on quite the trick play as Cedric Wilson found star running back Alvin Kamara to the cut the Commanders lead to 17-7.
It will be interesting to see what Rizzi decides to do at quarterback moving forward with Carr once again still sidelined due to a major injury — the second time that has happened this season.
Rattler ended his day by completing 10 of his 21 passing attempts for 135 yards with one passing touchdown.
He hasn’t made it clear who he will opt for, but one thing that does remain clear is that this is still anyone’s game between Rattler and Haener.
