The absence of Saints star cornerback Marshon Lattimore has been a noticeable and impactful one, but is he finally close to returning?
The answer: It's tough to say. That's effectively what co-defensive coordinator Kris Richard relayed this week regarding Lattimore, who hasn't been in action since he went off the field with an abdominal injury late in the victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
"That’s the difficult part with internal injuries," Richard said. "Nobody knows his body better than him. And then the difficult part is trying to throw him out there without having pure contact and expecting him to be able to tackle and perform at a top-notch level that we’ve been accustomed to. … It’s delicate because we don’t know."
The injury occurred as Lattimore was trying to get over the top of Tyler Lockett, who came down with his second long touchdown of the game on the play. Lattimore went to the ground first, with Lockett tumbling over him. As that happened it appeared Lockett's knee collided with Lattimore's lower back. He stayed down on the field in clear discomfort before making his way over the the sideline. The result was significant injuries to the star CB's kidney and ribs that kept him out of practice for more than a month.
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Lattimore never went to IR, but his return also never felt all that possible until recent weeks. He was practicing in a limited capacity prior to the Week 13 game against the Bucs and listed as questionable, but was inactive on gameday. Fast-forward to Week 15 and that question still remains. Lattimore has been a limited participant in the first two days of practice, but there's still no clear picture of whether he can return.
As Richard mentioned, a lot is up to him. Trainers can't see inside his body to identify the state of a kidney or ribs. The only one who really knows is Lattimore and at this point the biggest question is contact. Lattimore can't be a full go until he and the team are comfortable he can hit and be hit at a level commensurate with live NFL football, and simulating that in practice isn't always easy. Teams don't hit at full speed in practice.
“It has to happen at some point in time. We can’t expect his first contact, his first physical contact to be out there in the game and then expect results from that," Richard said. "We’re doing little things in practice to make sure we’re ramping that up and getting him comfortable and prepared.”
There's also the question of whether it makes sense to push him back for a final four games that might ultimately not matter with the Saints currently in the cellar of the NFC South standings.
We'll likely have to wait until Sunday morning as the team faces down the Atlanta Falcons in the Caesars Superdome to get the answer to that question.
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