Spencer Rattler had one of his strongest practice performances yet in Friday's scrimmage held on the campus of UC Irvine, but it only served to emphasize a decision made earlier in the day: Spencer Rattler will be QB1 in the Saints preseason opener.
Saints head coach Kellen Moore communicated that news to his quarterbacks ahead of the practice session and formally announced it to the media on Friday. The Saints face the L.A. Chargers at 3 p.m. (central) Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
“We had a couple different options as we went through this," Moore said. "I think certainly [Rattler] earned his way as we’ve gone through this."
The decision doesn't come as a surprise, considering Rattler has taken the most first-team reps in camp to this point and has only had one day with the 3s. He also took the first-team reps in both scrimmages held by the team to this point and he's looked the most decisive and in control throughout camp.
“Super excited, you know, awesome opportunity, excited to get out there with the guys and try to play some clean ball," Rattler said, "try to score some points and have some fun with the guys out there.”
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After Rattler it'll be rookie Tyler Shough, with Jake Haener expected to close things out. It's unclear exactly how long the starters will stay in the game, but there will be roughly a half-dozen players on both offense and defense that will sit out the game. That group will include RBs Alvin Kamara and most likely players currently dealing with injuries, including RB Devin Neal (hamstring) and WR Chris Olave (ankle).
While the decision is certainly a positive result for Rattler, Moore did make it clear that this is not a culmination of the QB battle and simply the next step in the process. Shough also had a strong day with a pair of touchdown drives and has appeared to take strides over the past week.
“It’ll be another piece of the puzzle as we go through this, obviously an important piece," Moore said." There are games and there’s tackling and sacks and all the things you’ve got to deal with when the game is a full go, so it’ll be a great evaluation piece for us, but by no means is it any bigger than the collection of all these practices that occurred.”
The Saints will be stating out in California after the preseason opener for three more practices before returning home on friday ahead of a preseason game against the Jaguars.