The New Orleans Saints can be described in a lot of different ways this season, but boring is certainly not one of them.
For the second time in a span of three weeks everything came down to the final moments, deep in the opponents' red zone and trailing by 7. This time it was a rookie who pulled off the touchdown, but couldn't hit on the 2-point attempt to win the game.
The Saints could've simply kicked a PAT and gone to overtime, but that's not these Saints. That's not the Rizzi Saints.
I agree with the decision, which would've been the same call against the Rams. We just never got to that point.
I write all this to say: I can't be mad about this game, even in a losing effort. Normally I'll start losses with the stock down and spend more time on the negatives, but the Saints went into this game as 7.5-point underdogs and with a backup QB. The backup QB got benched at halftime. A lot of good things had to happen for the Saints to get their one shot at a win, and that's what I'm going to lean on for this breakdown.
With all that in mind, here are my stock up and stock down players after a 20-19 loss to the Commanders that effectively ends the Saints' faint postseason hopes. We'll start with the obvious.
1. The Rattler Hype
Was the showing perfect? By no stretch of the imagination, the stats bear that out. As strong a showing as it felt, Rattler hit on fewer than 50% of his passes. One of the touchdowns in the rally was thrown by Cedrick Wilson Jr. -- and it was pretty.
There were also a pair of drives deep into Commanders territory that bogged down in field goal range. Pay off one of those for six and this game might be very different.
The confidence came with the poise. Rattler looked like he'd taken the lessons from his three-game stint earlier this season and applied them well. He hung in the pocket when he needed to and used his legs when it was available and/or necessary. He got the ball out of his hands quickly and avoided negative plays. He wasn't sacked in this game after absorbing 14 of them in his three starts.
There was also this dime to MVS.
It was all the things you'd hoped to see from Jake Haener when the Saints opted to send him in there (more on that below). Rattler got the news just before halftime that he'd be taking over in the third quarter, and he was trailing 17-0 when he first took the ball. Rattler delivered and showed the image of a young QB overflowing with talent that the fans should be excited about.
I simply can't stress enough just how well executed the 2-minute drill was at the end of the game. The Saints got the ball back with 1:55 and a timeout, needing 64 yards to get into the end zone, preferably with as little time remaining as possible. No problem. Here's how it went:
- 1st & 10: Kendre Miller run/right guard, +12
- 1st & 10: Spencer Rattler to Juwan Johnson right sideline, +3
- 2nd & 7: Miller run/right guard: +6
- 3rd & 1: Rattler to Kevin Austin Jr., short right: +8
* out of bounds at Washington 35, 1:00 remaining
- 1st & 10: Miller run/left tackle, +12
- 1st & 10: Miller TFL, -2
*Saints final timeout, Washington 17, 0:38 remaining
- 2nd & 12: Rattler to Johnson, short middle: +8
- 3rd & 3: Rattler incomplete to Pettis, n/a
- 4th & 3: Rattler short right to Foster Moreau, +7
*ball spiked at Washington 1, 0:03 remaining
- 1st & goal: Rattler short right to Moreau, TD
We'll end it there because that's where the 2-minute drill ended. The Saints got what they needed. They did it with zero seconds on the clock. Nails. 6-of-7 for 26 yards and a touchdown.
Now, the 2-point conversion didn't work. It was a half field read and only one real option as Rattler rolled that way. It was still a good throw that had a chance.
There’s still a long way to go. Coming on in relief is a different animal than starting and playing well, we’ve seen that exact scenario play out with Haener. In a season that's, let's face it, going nowhere, young players having big days is always going to be a big stock up.
2. Kendre's day, again
I'll keep talking about this as long as I can: Kendre Miller, when healthy, is a good football player. You can see it, you can't not see it.
His issue, as always, will be staying on the field. That hasn't been the case the past two weeks. Kendre has gotten some of the higher usage of his career and he's taken advantage of it. The numbers again weren't eye-popping, but his 46 yards on 9 carries led the team (5.1 yards per carry).
What he also did was get yardage in chunks. He had a long run of 17, and also gains of 6, 8 and 12 yards, the latter two helping to set up the Saints 2-minute drill touchdown.
A lot of the time staying healthy is more about luck than anything else, but it looks like he's gotten his bad luck out of the way, and much like last year Alvin Kamara is dealing with an injury. The Saints will be headed up to Green Bay, where Miller made his NFL debut last year, and I can assure you this team will be abundantly cautious with Kamara's injury. If he can't go or is limited, it's going to be time for Miller to get all he can handle. The last two weeks have made it seem like that number could be high.
Whatever happens it's nice to see it even get to this point. There was a time this season I wasn't sure it would. The Saints have three games left, and Kendre Miller has three games to show that the RB room is in good hands with a Kamara/Miller tandem next season.
3. Defensive line is feasting
Maybe it's a Week 15 thing? Last year the Saints hosted the Giants at the Dome and took down rookie Tommy DeVito 7 times, their high sack total on the year.
Fast forward a year and it's a much higher profile player at QB in Jayden Daniels and the Saints teeing off again, this time for 8 sacks.
OK, first let's be honest: There were six true sacks. The other two were credited to linebackers Willie Gay and Demario Davis when they took down a scrambling Daniels a matter of inches shy of the original line of scrimmage. They'll go onto the Saints' total, but the idea here is the defensive line causing havoc, and those examples don't really count.
Daniels is certainly a player that likes to extend the action with his legs, but he'd still only been taken down 29 times in his 13 starts heading into the game, an average of just over 2 times a game. The Saints defense had some breakdowns, it's inevitable, but this felt like a proof of concept game. It's the first time in a long time that I felt like the Saints stopped a mobile QB from doing whatever he wanted.
Now, keep in mind Washington's star rookie still had a game-high 66 rushing yards. He didn't turn the ball over and completed 80% of his passes. Make no mistake, he was the reason the Commanders won this game. But limiting in key situations, particularly in the second half, is what put the Saints in position to have one play to win the thing.
Chase Young is playing his best football in a Saints uniform right now. He logged 2 sacks, 2 QB hits and two TFLs. Granderson had a sack (should've had two), a QB hit and a TFL. Cam Jordan had a pair of sacks, 2 QB hits and two TFLs. Jayden was under constant duress, just like Drew Lock last week.
We'll see what happens with Young over the offseason and if there's a hefty market for his services. If the Saints can afford him, I think this team is very pleased with how his season has gone.
Honorable mention
Foster Moreau. Am I the only one that saw that redemption arc playing out in real time? Last season Foster was the guy who dropped what would've been a game-tying TD. He's a New Orleans kid, that tore him apart. That's what made me appreciate even more that it was him making the clutch grab this time around in the same endzone (though on the opposite side) of where that not-so-happy moment happened. Sure, the enjoyment was short-lived, but when you grow up envisioning that exact moment for the hometown team, then miss out on it, it's kind of cool to see a guy get a second chance. Foster also had an excellent game overall. 4 catches of 4 targets, 39 yards and a TD. He's very quietly had an excellent season as a pass-catcher for this team. ... Ugo Amadi. You want to talk about taking advantage of opportunities? This is a guy who got cut out of training camp. There was no role for him, but he stuck around on the practice squad and kept working. He's now an integral part of this Saints defense and I can't help but feel like he's been an asset in the nickel DB spot. I wouldn't say he's an upgrade from Alontae, but he's certainly getting the job done. You need a player with a feisty streak who can tackle, isn't afraid to stick his nose in and hit, can blitz the DB, all that stuff he's been doing and doing it well. Since taking over the slot in Week 9, Ugo has 43 tackles, 4 TFLs, 5 passes defensed and a sack. Not too shabby. Don't be surprised if he's back in that role next year. ... Matt Hayball pinned a punt inside the 5 for the first time in his NFL career. It was a nice one. He also had another downed inside the 10. I felt like he was having a rough go the last month or so, and he got ripped to shreds by Darren Rizzi last week, so it was nice to see him respond positively. ... Speaking of kickers, Blake Grupe bounced back from a pair of long misses last week -- his first such misses of the season -- with another clutch 50-yarder in the Dome to keep the Saints within range. He's now 22-26 on the year, 6-8 from 50-plus. ... Cedrick Wilson Jr., he's got an arm. He knows how to use it.
STOCK DOWN
1. The Haener Train
Listen, I'm not going to sit here and trash Jake Haener, just like I wasn't going to sit and trash Spencer Rattler after Week 6. I just wish things went better.
The coaching staff put its confidence in the second-year pro, and I think they expected a higher baseline. Haener projects confidence, he executes the offense well in practice -- that didn't translate to the game. There were drops, there were penalties, he never settled in or looked comfortable. At one point, trying to make a play on third down, Haener tried to force a ball to Alvin Kamara and it got picked off. The play set up the Commanders in excellent field position for their second TD of the day.
If I'm Jake I'd be a bit ticked off that I didn't get a chance to play through the game. The coaching staff decided at the end of the first half to make the change to Rattler. If I'm Haener, I believe that I was going to go into the locker room, regroup and come out firing in the second half the way I didn't in the first. It's happened before, if you're playing with confidence you can find a way.
The problem is I'm not Jake Haener, I'm just watching Jake Haener. And what I saw was a player who looked jittery, who wasn't trusting his projection and several times his own reads. The goal of limiting sacks? Nope. Haener got sacked three times in the first half alone for -11, -9 and -9. Those are drive-killers. The player we saw getting the ball out quickly and moving the offense against the Chargers was replaced with a guy who looked a lot more like an overwhelmed rookie.
And here's the thing: That's effectively what Haener is, from the perspective of reps. He was the QB3 last year and never attempted a pass in the regular season. A guy needs to play to improve. The problem is the Saints have already suffered through their positive but painful rookie learning on the job quota. It's tough to do that with two different guys, particularly in a game that effectively eliminates you from the postseason with a loss. You have to pull out all the stops, you have to try everything.
Rattler got in the game and looked like a player who wasn't overwhelmed by the moment. It's a lot easier to be that way since it wasn't his first moment.
Haener will get his fair share of negativity, and also probably an unfair share for a guy in his situation. At the end of the day my read is still the same. Spencer Rattler has a chance to be an NFL starter, while Jake Haener's ceiling feels more like a career backup (Taylor Heinicke comes to mind).
Rizzi will have to navigate that situation, but it's hard to imagine you don't go with Spencer if Derek Carr misses more time.
2. The offensive line
We saw flashes in this game of a group that could get the job done, but only flashes.
For the second consecutive week the Saints struggled mightily to run the ball against a team that has been gashed on the ground all year. Miller ripped off a few nice runs, but Kamara was held to 12 yards on 5 carries before leaving with an injury.
A week after getting stopped behind the line of scrimmage more than 10 times, the Saints got stopped for TFLs 7 times by the Commanders. If you include the sacks, it's the second consecutive week the Saints had 10-plus plays going in reverse -- they only ran 51 plays total!
The pass blocking seemed to improve as the game went on, but there were struggles there, too. One one drive the Commanders ran the same twist-stunt in their pass rush on back-to-back plays and the Saints didn't stop it either time. The right side of Trevor Penning and Cesar Ruiz has been flailing a bit. But it's a five-man operation and a five-man struggle.
The next three games will be a good litmus test to see just how significant the investment will have to be on the OL. The question to answer, if you were picking a team in Madden and you had to choose a Saints starter or the league-average create-a-player, which would it be? I only see 2 positions right now where I'm definite that I'm sticking with my guy.
3. Kick coverage
I don't know exactly what the plan was on the kick coverage, but maybe it's time to start kicking the ball out of the end zone?
The Saints have been one of the better cover teams in the NFL all season, but that's gone away recently. The Saints didn't score in the first half, so they didn't kick off, but they did so four times in the second half. Here's where the drives started
- Washington 32 (29 yard return)
- Washington 32 (23 yard return)
- Washington 37 (34-yard return)
- Washington 36 (29-yard return)
It doesn't sound like a massive difference, but starting a drive at your 37 instead of the 30 is significant. The Saints made it easier on the Commanders offense repeatedly by allowing them to return it at all.
A few more
The Saints didn't cover Terry McLaurin all day. His line was huge as it was: 7 catches, 72 yards, 2 TDs, but it should've been a lot more. Jayden missed Terry on two plays where he was simply wide open. There was another play that Shemar Jean-Charles recovered to make a nice play on, but Terry still had a shot. If even one of those comes down, this game probably isn't close at the end. It seems like Kool-Aid McKinstry has been getting rooked a bit the last few weeks, that's an inevitability when you hand extended reps to a rookie, but it's got to be noted.