Where in the world is Christen Miller? The New Orleans Saints picked the former Georgia Bulldogs standout with the No. 42 overall pick in this year's NFL draft, but he was a healthy scratch against the Atlanta Falcons, but fans haven't seen much of him after Miller missed a week of training camp and a preseason game with an injury. Then he was sidelined again after Week 1's loss to the Detroit Lions
.Miller has been unavailable with a toe injury since playing 25 snaps in the season opener, but he was cleared to play on Monday night. The Saints just chose to keep him on the bench. Head coach Kellen Moore said he wasn't ready after being limited at practice on Thursday and Friday before participating fully on Saturday. With the Saints set to play two
games in six days, Moore sidelined Miller so he can get a full week of practice reps in before dressing out.
“He was just coming back from an injury,” Moore told reporters on Tuesday. “I thought he had a good week of practice, but you know, with the time on task with those other guys, I felt like it's the right decision for us.”
That's debatable. Instead of playing the run-stopping defensive tackle the team spent a second-round pick on, they gave up 205 rushing yards (their second-most since Moore and Brandon Staley were hired, after yielding 222 on the ground to the Chicago Bears last year) and staggering five touchdown runs. Starting defensive linemen Nathan Shepherd and Davon Godchaux were both given veteran rest days during the week but were pushed around in this game. Godchaux saw 21 snaps before exiting with a groin injury. Shepherd led the group with 33 snaps played and was pancaked by Atlanta's blocking tight end Charlie Woerner. Khristian Boyd (25 snaps) was penalized for a defensive holding foul and Vernon Broughton (30) had his second consecutive game without a single quarterback pressure. Colby Wooden (22) at least had a couple of stops, but John Ridgeway III didn't make an impact on 11 snaps, 10 of them in run defense.
At a time when the Saints' defense is old, slow, and getting gashed on the ground, benching the 22-year old they invested a top-50 pick in because he only had one full practice instead of two deserves scrutiny. It's just poor roster and resource management. Hopefully Miller is active next Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings and making a splash. The Saints can't afford another embarrassment like what happened on Monday night.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints made a mistake benching rookie DT Christen Miller vs. Falcons
