Getting your NFL start against a division rival is a great way to start your NFL career, and finding yourself in a touchdown jailbreak is an even tougher challenge.
Spencer Rattler made his professional debut for New Orleans on Sunday and a promising start ended under a flood of Tampa Bay points. The Saints allowed the Bucs to advance with runs of 17 and 27 unanswered points, and Tampa Bay easily snagged the division rivalry in New Orleans, 51-27.
Rattler, a five-star recruit from Rivals out of Arizona, played college ball at Oklahoma and later South Carolina but never quite lived up to his billing. The Saints selected him in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft as a backup to incumbent Derek Carr. When Carr suffered an oblique injury last week against Kansas City, New Orleans selected Rattler over fellow backup Jake Haener.
Let the record show that Rattler’s first play as an NFL quarterback was a 27-yard pass to Juwan Johnson. And that record will show that Rattler fumbled the snap on his second play, and on his third, Chris Olave caught a pass from Rattler, then got hurt on a helmet-to-helmet hit that turned into a fumble and a scoop from Tampa Bay. en-score.
Rattler’s first possession in the NFL was a lot like his college career: brilliance and catastrophe, maddeningly inconsistent from both extremes.
After losing 17 straight points to start the game, Tampa Bay seemed to find another gear, Rattler and the Saints scored 27 points (20 of them unanswered) in the second quarter alone.
Whatever adjustments the Buccaneers made for Rattler at halftime worked to perfection: In the second half, the Saints punted four times, Rattler threw two interceptions and New Orleans was three-and-out on three of seven possessions. The Saints managed just 48 yards of total offense in the second half before a two-minute foulout with Tampa Bay leading by 24 points.
The lowlight – or backbreaker, choose your description – came early in the fourth quarter, when Rattler threw a crucial interception to Tampa Bay’s Zyon McCollum. The Saints trailed by just four points at the time of the interception, but one five-play, 63-yard drive later the Bucs extended their lead to double digits, effectively ending the game.
Rattler finished the day with 243 yards on 22 of 40 passing, with one touchdown and two interceptions. He also scrambled for 27 yards.
Rattler is miles behind fellow rookie quarterbacks like Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, but he had that 20-point second quarter, and there’s something to build on from that. With Carr expected to be out for several weeks, Rattler could get more opportunities to prove he belongs in the league.
