Playing in the second half, rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler returned to his hometown Saturday night and in his NFL debut led the New Orleans Saints to a 16-14 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
Is it fair to say he wasn’t rattled? (Is that even worth a drum roll? Maybe not!)
The Pinnacle High School product who was drafted in the fifth round this year by the Saints, scored a on a four-yard touchdown run to give the Saints a 13-7 lead in the third quarter and then drove the team 56 yards on 12 plays for the game-winning 37-yard field goal with five seconds remaining.
“It was a fun first game,” he said. “We could have done a lot more things cleaner and made it easier for ourselves. We kept it tight until the end and you couldn’t have asked for a better finish in a two-minute situation.”
Although he was 9-for-17 for 70 yards in his two quarters of action, in the winning drive, Rattler completed 6-of-9 passes for 44 yards with one third-down conversion.
He said overall, “We had zero issues with the operation. The operation went super-smooth. We could have had better execution here and there; that is what first games are for to work those kinks out. First live game I was happy to go in there and play ball, put my foot on the gas and come out with a win.”
“I thought he executed with poise,” head coach Dennis Allen said. “I thought he made some plays. I thought he was able to create a little bit with his feet when things didn’t go exactly how you wanted it to. I thought he did a good job, I thought (Jake) Haener did well. I thought he came in and executed his job. I was pleased with what we were able to accomplish there with those two players.
“We’re going to go back and we’re going to look at the tape and we are going to make the corrections that we need to make. There’s some things we have to be better at, but I thought overall for our first preseason game and this being Spencer’s first shot out, I was pleased with what I saw.”
Haener, who was a fourth-round pick in 2023, was 9-for-13 for 107 yards, including a 58-yard play to wide receiver A.T. Perry that set up a field goal at the end of the first half.
“Not bad for a guy with a weak arm,” Haener said. “I just had to step up in the pocket and give my guy a shot and I think I got it down there pretty good.”
Noting the scoring drives at the end of each half, Allen said, “You can never get enough of that type of situational work and I think in particular for those young guys to be put in those situations I thought both of them responded well.”
Haener played in the game after having 32 stitches to remove a cancerous growth on his face earlier in the week.
He said, “They got it all out. It didn’t spread to my nerves. They’re all fired up about that. They had to go a little deeper. So, just got it taken care of and they stitched me up good. They didn’t want me to practice all week, but you kind of have to when you’re in (this) role. So we had to get it done, and go out today and just cover it up. The stitches should be out on Monday.”
Meanwhile, asked about controlling his emotions with people he knows in the crowd, Rattler said, “It was awesome to be back and see everybody, obviously. My mom (Susan) is a second-grade teacher out here (Paradise Valley School District). All her students came out and a lot of my friends and family. It was fun.
“I thought I handled it well, sitting out that first half. Really getting to see and watch every play and see the flow of the game then go out the next half and play ball.”
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