With the excitement high going into the first preseason game of the season, a loss like the Saints had against the Chargers can be very disappointing. The good news is that it is preseason, and there are many positives to take away, even from a bad loss. In this game, the Saints’ defense looked strong in areas, some unexpected players shined, and the QB play was fine.
Spencer Rattler was the starter in this game and played for most of the first half. Going into this matchup, the hope was that the second-year QB could show signs of development since his rookie season, and potentially make some big plays here and there. Consistency has been the main positive when talking about Rattler’s game throughout training camp, and that is what we saw against the Chargers. He looked confident in the pocket, progressed through his reads, made smart plays, ran for first downs, and made some difficult throws. This was all good, but none of these positives earned points. When Rattler was playing, the Saints won the time of possession and had zero points to show for it. To play devil’s advocate, the pass blocking was horrible when the backups came in. Still, Rattler never stepped up and made that extra play to get the Saints into position to score. In the end, it was a fine day from the young QB, but as the title hints, that was not enough for this game.
When the second quarter was coming to a close, many believed that Spencer Rattler would lead the 2-minute drill to end the quarter, but instead, the Saints put in Tyler Shough to have his first minutes in the NFL. This was a surprise to say the least, but to give head coach Kellen Moore credit, it was actually a great decision to allow the rookie to warm up. In 2-minute drills, the defense will play off the wide receivers to prevent big plays from happening. This allows the QB to find open players and consistently complete short passes. The drive ended in a field goal, which is not a bad way to start your career. Although this was great to warm up Shough for the rest of the game, it may have also done some harm. At the start of the third quarter, Shough threw an ugly pick-six. The throw was clearly the first option and pre-determined, which tends to be what happens in a 2-minute drill. Shough was never going to throw in a different direction on that play. This can be put down as a rookie mistake, but if Shough did not bounce back from this (which has been a focus from the coaching staff all offseason), then this situation would have been much worse. Well, Shough did indeed bounce back and threw a beautiful deep pass to WR Mason Tipton on a 54-yard touchdown. These were the last points that Shough led the team to before getting subbed out.
With both QBs’ days being done at this point, the comparisons started, and Shough may have won the day. He looked more willing to make big plays, was not too distracted from pressure (which was a big worry), and led the Saints twice to scores. Rattler had a fine day, looked consistent, and made improvements from last season, but there was nothing to really separate him from the rookie QB. This is just the first game of the preseason, and much can change, but as of now, the gap between Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough has been minimized.
Final stats of Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough, per ESPN
Spencer Rattler: 7/11, 53 yards, 1 fumble, 3 sacks, 75.2 passer rating
Tyler Shough: 15/22, 165 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, 2 sacks, 86.4 passer rating
