Spencer Rattler’s first start was… (16 Viewers)

[DerrickB]

He had his moments but he looked like a rookie.

Mid

 

[Bayouboy]

First half - we have our next franchise QB
Second half - not so much

SR18's play gives me HOPE for the future. Carr isn't the answer. Maybe Rattler is. I think we find out where our team is going in 2025 under new coaching leadership.

 

[Colstonbaby]

I thought he did well given the talent around him. He couldn’t win the game on his own, but he didn’t lose it for us either.

I want to see more.

Very encouraging!!

A lot of rookie mistakes, but he was playing without 3 starting O linesmen, Chris Olave and Taysom Hill

I like his body language.

The last sequence before half time,

Saints have too many weaknesses, but Rattler may turn to be not one of them

5 out of 10

I don't think he sees the field well at all. Way too many wide-open receivers in his line of sight that he didn't get the ball to. His best plays were single reads. Once they took those away, it got ugly. He doesn't scramble like a guy who is going to be a dynamic playmaker. He's undersized. Very hot and cold with his accuracy.

The interceptions and short-fields helped him a lot in that first half. It could have been much worse.

The response will be that he's a rookie. True. Maybe he gets better or maybe he doesn't. But if we are talking about today's game, nothing said to me he should start the rest of the year and be the future of the team. That's undecided.

Still think we need to draft a top talent instead of hoping we are one of like five teams in the last two decades to find a franchise QB in the 5th round or later.

He just had good body language ....he did not allow 51 pts!! I think his performance, as imperfect as it was, was one of the silver linings of this game...

The other being, that DA has one foot outta door now....

 

[Elvis]

Disagree. Carr could have easily had a Falcons-type game today against that defense. There were guys open all day and Rattler just didn't have the experience to find them.

But I might as well be talking to a wall. I get it. No one likes Carr and people want Rattler to be the guy. So it doesn't matter.

The plays Rattler made out of the pocket would have put us behind the chains with Carr. It's a total trade off. Yes, Rattler missed some guys and didn't get us ahead of the sticks as much as he could have, but Carr would have had us in 3rd and 18 half of the game.

 

[BoNcHiE]

Those open guys weren't thrown to because there was no time to get the ball to them. Carr would not have changed that.

That's just not true for every play.

 

[St. Widge]

you shouldnt force a rookie to drop back 40 times

There wasn't much choice given that they were behind late in the game and couldn't run the ball. They tried to protect him with the running game for most of the game, but they could not run the ball and once they were 10 points behind they had to throw.

 

[El Caliente]

what? He was not good. He missed wide-open receivers downfield (that is, didn't see them), threw multiple picks, and showed less scrambling ability than was advertised. In what universe did he play well?

In the universe where people can judge a rookie quarterback as a rookie quarterback.

 

[AARPSaint]

Not only would I be fine with it, I think they need to do it. This team isn't going anywhere and Carr will be no better behind this OL so they should see what they have in Rattler.

The problem with that is that his confidence can erode if he’s not given the requisite support for success. When you have a team whose only good unit is special teams, that situation is not going to help a young quarterback very much.

Many believe that lack of support doomed David Carr’s career. I wouldn’t like to see a repetition of that with Rattler.

 

[St. Widge]

That's just not true for every play.

That's true. But some of them were and he was in his first start. And I think some of the plays he did make were plays that Carr could not make so in the end it evens out. I really don't think Carr would have done any better and maybe would have done worse given the amount of pressure and no running game. Carr's strength is play action and you can't really do that when you have zero run threat.

Anway, Carr is who he is and that's not going to change. Rattler on the other hand has the talent to develop into so much more so even though he will struggle at times and will miss some plays that Carr would make, it's time to find out who Rattler is and if he is a QB you can build around. I think he is, but it's certainly time to find out for sure. This team isn't going anywhere this year.

 

[Mojomajik9]

He looked good, IMO. No run game. No Olave. An historically bad defensive performance. And yet they scored 20 points (Sheed got 7 on the return) and did enough to keep it close until the defense just **** the bed. He missed some WRs and left plays on the field. But that’s normal stuff for a rook. He made good plays with his arm and feet and was building a nice connection with Bub. Rattler has a ton of potential

 

[Boy_of_wonder75]

In the universe where people can judge a rookie quarterback as a rookie quarterback.

So as long as you ignore the bad things, sure, he played well.

 

[St. Widge]

The problem with that is that his confidence can erode if he’s not given the requisite support for success. When you have a team whose only good unit is special teams, that situation is not going to help a young quarterback very much.

Many believe that lack of support doomed David Carr’s career. I wouldn’t like to see a repetition of that with Rattler.

I know that's always been the conventional wisdom. But I think in the modern game you can protect a young QB while also letting him play and get experience. You just have to plan to run the ball even if it's not working and not put things all on the young QBs shoulders. At some point all young QBs are going to struggle. The guys that are great overcome it. Time to find out if Rattler can be great.

If it starts to go south and he is taking a beating then you put Carr back in or Haener if Carr is not healthy. But you kind of have to find out this year because you need to know if you are going to have to be aggressive in finding a young QB. Even if you think Carr is good enough, at his age you have to start making your succession plan.

 

[tenordas]

pretty good. He made some good reads, delivered the ball well on most of his throws, and made some rookie mistakes, which is to be expected.

Anyone expecting him to come in and be an instant phenom doesn't understand the talent at the NFL level.

What really counts, though, is what he does this week in learning from the mistakes he made, building on the things he did well, and what adjustments he makes to the way he reads defenses and how he reads what his receivers are doing. The potential of him is about to be shown in the next couple of weeks.

 

[tpayne12no]

The plays Rattler made out of the pocket would have put us behind the chains with Carr. It's a total trade off. Yes, Rattler missed some guys and didn't get us ahead of the sticks as much as he could have, but Carr would have had us in 3rd and 18 half of the game.

Carr would have gotten us 16 points: 3 FG's, 1 hopeful Shaheed 45 yd TD.

 

[NatureBoy]

Rattler has poise and talent. He looked like an NFL QB at times, others he looked like a rookie running for his life. Both are factual.

He was right at .500 passing, which I expected and had a TD and a couple of turnovers. About what you’d expect from a reasonably talented guy starting behind a makeshift OL with UDFAs, late round picks and other teams practice squad fodder.