Canal Street Chronicles
The 2024 preseason finale offered plenty to discuss as the season now gets underway.
The New Orleans Saints rookie QB was all the rage in the Superdome on Sunday. Rattler completed 7 of 13 passes for 105 yards and a TD, while Jake Haener started the game and completed 8 of 17 passes for 87 yards on the first two drives. In my opinion Rattler should easily be the QB2 on this roster over Haener. All four of Rattler’s drives ended in points for the Saints on Sunday, while Haener only led the Saints to one field goal on six drives. He has much more upside and is more likely to be the QB of the future in New Orleans. Rattler firmly has the support of the fanbase as well, as there are many among them who would even suggest starting him over Derek Carr right now. I’m not sure I would cross that bridge quite yet, but who knows what may happen as the season goes along.
The Saints defense let the QB roadshow of Will Levis, Mason Rudolph and Malik Willis complete 21 of 27 passes for 274 yards and 2 TDs on Sunday with no interceptions and only 2 sacks for 9 yards. While no starters played for the Saints defense, most of the second-string players did play, and this game was not the best of showings for the second team defense. Injuries are inevitable, so there is a good chance some of these players will see action this year.
This one goes for the entire preseason (and all of last season for that matter), not just the game Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Hedley has not improved from his lackluster rookie season, a season in which he ranked dead last in the NFL in average punt yards, averaging just 43 yards per punt. He averaged 43.7 yards per punt during the preseason, while rookie Matthew Hayball has averaged 50.3, which would have been the 6th highest average in the league last year. While the sample size is small for Hayball, the sample size is big enough for Hedley to know he is not the best option here. The Saints should not even think about this decision and go with Hayball as their starting punter this year.
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