Saints’ Rattler, Shough quarterback decision should already be made

By Ross Jackson

NEW ORLEANS, La. – During the third quarter of the New Orleans Saints’ 23-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, head coach Kellen Moore made a bold move. After six turnovers and six sacks over the previous six quarters, Moore made a change at quarterback.

After a second half opening offensive drive yielded negative yardage, quarterback Spencer Rattler was taken out of the game and rookie Tyler Shough was given his chance to ignite the team’s struggling offense.

“We’ll obviously make that evaluation here quickly and make some decisions moving forward,” Moore said on whether or not the quarterback change is permanent. “But this had more to do with the whole offense just not playing well enough and hopefully trying to generate some form of a spark there.”

Moore said that he and the staff will evaluate things over the next 48 hours to decide how to best move forward at the position, however, it feels like the decision may already be made.

If the intent of turning things over to Shough to “generate some form of a spark,” it seems counter-intuitive to reverse that decision. Having now benched the starting quarterback, enough of an evaluation would have to have already been made.

The team was stringent on the fact that Rattler would not have to look over his shoulder and that flip-flopping quarterbacks wasn’t in the team’s future, a sentiment that was reconfirmed after Sunday’s loss.

Now that the 1-7 team has made an in-game shift, it feels like maintaining that change moving forward will be their best course of action.

If for nothing else but to have a real evaluation of both of the potential starters on the roster before heading into the offseason. 

Rattler started eight games this season and spent six games as a starter last year. Giving Shough the last nine games of the season would get the Saints quite a bit of exposure to decide if the guy they want to build around at the position is indeed in the Big Easy already. If not, going back to the quarterback pool in the offseason for a veteran bridge or drafting an additional option could make a lot of sense.

New Orleans is currently on pace to land the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Even picking top-three would be a major opportunity for the team. But without clarity at the team’s most important position, it could all be wasted or come up short. New Orleans should take their opportunity to get a full evaluation of both passers after already making the decision to show Rattler the bench.

Rattler has shown a lot of promise early in the season, despite his recent downturn. Throwing him back out on the field after reducing his role for a half isn’t likely to get the best out of him. The Saints made a decision, now it’s time to ride it out.