The New Orleans Saints are in a difficult situation: It's a divisional game that feels like a must-win scenario to end a three-game skid, and they're looking at a rookie quarterback to get it done.
Oh, and the Bucs have had extra time to prepare, albeit from New Orleans this week as they've been displaced by Hurricane Milton. So what are the keys? Here's how WWL Radio's Deuce McAllister broke it down.
Listen to the full breakdown from Deuce in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
“[Baker Mayfield] will give you some opportunities, and if you advantage of those opportunities, you give yourself a chance,” McAllister said.
“This defense has to be good, but they’ve got to get some turnovers. We talked about that against Kansas City and they weren’t able to do that. You have got to get some turnovers.”
We've seen that fact play out this season pretty clearly. The Saints have won the turnover battle in each of their two wins with a +3 overall margin. In the games they've lost, the turnover conversation has been even. It was most glaring against the Falcons when both turnovers resulted in touchdowns for Atlanta in a game that came down to a 58-yard field goal.
The need for defensive impact plays will be all the more important with the Saints turning to Spencer Rattler, just the third rookie starter for the Saints in more than three decades (Ian Book, 2021; Danny Wuerffel, 1997).
Deuce has some advice for the kid ahead of his first start, specifically as it pertains to his cell phone from Saturday morning on:
"Turn it off. You’ve got all the calls, you’ve got all the congrats. You know, everybody has text you, you know, your phone, your social has probably been blowing up. Turn it off. Now it becomes truly, truly locking in and focusing, I mean, because for him, don’t allow the moment to get too big, but enjoy the moment. It’s your first start. It’s your first start, so you should embrace it, but I’ve got to be able to focus on football, too. The one thing that you don’t want to do is get in the huddle and I’ve got 10 other guys looking at me like, come on, man, give me the play. You know, what’s the play, and so for him to go in and have command of the huddle and he will, I feel now, I’ve never been with this staff so I don’t know."
For Rattler, there will be two games to worry about. The first is the one the coaches have prepared him for and the scenarios they're expecting, the second will be the things Rattler is seeing for the first time and how he reacts to those scenarios. The coaching staff also has to make sure he has as many answers as possible before stepping onto the field.
"I feel fairly confident in him having the first maybe 10 plays, 12 plays, and they may not be in order, but hey — this situation, this is what we're going with. Third down, this is what we're going with, you know — fourth down call, X, Y, Z, this is what we're going with. I want you to focus on this. When you get this look, this is where I want your eyes to go, not to say I want you to force a football to any certain player, but get the football to a playmaker," McAllister continued. "The job of the other 10 players that are on that field with him is to make his job easier."
The Saints (2-3) host the Bucs (3-2) on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. Catch all the action on WWL and Audacy.
