The Washington Commanders are coming off a much-needed bye week before continuing their playoff push against the New Orleans Saints in Week 15. Cornerback Marshon Lattimore could make his Washington debut against his former team.
But who will play quarterback for the Saints?
Starting quarterback Derek Carr suffered a “significant fracture” in his left hand in Sunday’s win over the Giants and will be out for several weeks. Interestingly enough, New Orleans chose not to put him on injured reserve — at least for now — with only four weeks remaining in the regular season.
At 5-8, the Saints remain in the playoff hunt but are three games behind Washington for the NFC’s No. 7 seed.
With Carr out on Sunday, who will start for the Saints? Interim head coach Darren Rizzi isn’t quite ready to reveal if it will be second-year quarterback Jake Haener or rookie Spencer Rattler.
“I think this is new ground, if you will, so we’re going to press the reset button here, it’s a clean slate, and make a decision,” Rizzi said via John Sigler of Saints Wire. “Again I’m not ruling Derek out, and I’m not declaring a starter just yet. We’re going to kind of put it all on the table and see what we feel. But I think both guys, I go back there purposefully with the look squad every week, and Jake and Spencer both have really done a great job at practice. So I think both guys bring positivity to the table.”
Haener, a 2023 fourth-round pick, relieved Carr in games where he was injured. However, when Carr missed three games, Rattler, a 2024 fifth-round pick, started.
Rattler completed 59 of 99 passes for 571 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. The Saints lost all three games, and, most alarmingly, Rattler was sacked 14 times in those starts.
So, with Haener handling QB2 duties all season, does that mean he will be the backup against Washington?
“That’s been the case the entire season,” Rizzi said. “He’s been the number two in every game we played whether Derek or Spencer was the starter. We felt like, the offensive staff felt like, that was the (best) situation.”
Rizzi does not need to tip his hand this early in the week. It will be interesting to see which quarterback receives the most snaps with the first-team offense in practice this week.
