When head coach Kellen Moore named QB Spencer Rattler the starter, one of the main points that Moore spoke about was that the QB competition would not continue in the season. Making sure to say this makes sense so that the team can rally behind one guy, but in reality, a competition is still happening. Each of Spencer Rattler’s performances will be evaluated and compared against the potential of starting rookie second-round pick Tyler Shough. The New Orleans Saints are trying to find their next franchise
QB, and wasting time is not an option. With this in mind, I did a bit of my own evaluating of Rattler and looked at all of his throws this past Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
Here is what I noticed.
Conservative first-half play calling
One of the stories of the game was Spencer Rattler not throwing deep. Besides the interception that got called back, which I’ll get to later, Rattler continued to throw short and slowly drive. The main question, though, was whether this was the play calling or Rattler not being able to push down the field. At least in the first half, it looks like the play calling may have been the reason. This seemed to be a clear game plan by Kellen Moore to get the offense and Rattler in a rhythm to start the game, so later they can open up the playbook a bit more. Doing this could suppress the potential big plays that Rattler could make, but it also makes the young QB more comfortable for the rest of the game. This is precisely what happened, and Rattler did really well, hitting the open guys in the first half, but the second half is where the issues were glaring.
Rattler avoided the second-half deep shots
I mentioned before that I would talk about the near interception that Rattler had in the first half. This play looked like a bad throw, but it actually was a miscommunication between Rattler and his WR. On this play, Shaheed faked that he was going inside, but stayed on the outside. The issue was that Rattler threw to the inside, thinking Shaheed was going there. A play like this goes down to communication, but it could have hurt the confidence of Rattler for the rest of the game.
After a conservative first half, Kellen Moore clearly opened up the playbook more and dialed up some potential big plays. The first play came from first down, an incomplete short pass to Juwan Johnson with 9:09 left in the third quarter. The pocket was very clean (besides a falling defensive lineman to the right of Rattler), and Rattler decided to throw quick to Johnson. If he looked to the left of the field, Chris Olave was going to be open up the sideline for a deep touchdown. The only thing that could have been an issue was Budda Baker lurking in the back, but his attention was on Rasheed Shaheed, who was flying through the middle for his own deep route. This was a perfectly called play by Kellen Moore, but Rattler didn’t even look his way and missed a big play. That was just one play, but there’s another that I wanted to point out.
This play happened with 7:03 left in the third quarter on second down. Rattler throws a short pass to Juwan Johnson for a 6-yard gain, making third and short. A play like this is perfect fine for Rattler, and he hit the open player for a short gain, but it could have been game-changing if he went with a different option. On each side of the field, Chris Olave and Rasheed Shaheed had one-on-one matchups that both took advantage of with speed. The safeties were playing a bit shallow, and there was little chance they could recover. Both WRs had their defenders beat, but the next factor is the offensive line. Looking at the pocket, there was a defensive lineman who was going to hit Rattler if he waited a second or two longer to throw that ball. Considering this, Olave would not have been an option because Rattler was looking right, but that still leaves Shaheed blasting past his defender.
These are just two examples of Rattler having the option to throw deep, and looking at the film, there were other times Rattler should have gone deep.
The offensive line had a fantastic game, but Spencer Rattler left clean pockets way too early
The Saints had an excellent game in the trenches, specifically the offensive line. This was a far cry from what Spencer Rattler had to deal with last season, but it may have exposed a big issue in Rattler’s game. The first instance that comes to mind is early in the third quarter when the Saints gave up their only sack in the game. On this play, Rattler drops a bit too deep (another issue so far) but still has time to step up and hit a wide-open Juwan Johnson for a significant gain. Instead, Rattler sees Baron Browning rush towards him and tries to spin (I think) away from him but ends up just running into Browning. At least there was some pressure on this play, so I understand a bit about getting worried and making a mistake. Still, in the second half, the offensive line was legitimately playing lights out, but Rattler would drop too deep and cause blocking issues, pass way too fast and not let the play develop, or leave a perfect pocket and try to extend a play that did not need to be extended. This is something QBs get away with in college football, but not in the NFL.
Final thoughts
For Spencer Rattler’s first game of the season, it was a fine performance that was filled with ups and downs. Rattler still looks poised in the hurry-up offense and throwing short. Still, as a second-year QB, unwilling to throw deep, dropping back too far, and not taking advantage of clean pockets are issues that must be fixed sooner rather than later.
