But it was Tyler Shough who ultimately got more reps with the first-team offense, fresh off his preseason debut in Sunday’s loss to the Chargers. During that outing, Shough got 30 snaps to Rattler’s 29, but the rookie’s reps came entirely with the backups.
On Tuesday, Rattler ran with the starters during the Saints’ scripted team drills — meaning the offense knows which plays to run and what concepts to work on ahead of time. But in New Orleans’ “call-it” period, when coach Kellen Moore dials up plays in the flow of the moment to simulate a real game, the order flipped, with Shough leading the first-team offense against the second-team defense and Rattler leading the second-team offense against the starting defense.
Between them, Shough again looked like the better quarterback. That’s been the trend of late, as the rookie appears to be hitting his stride. In the first of two “call-it” drills, Shough led the offense on a 12-play drive of about 60 yards that saw him spreading the ball around to a variety of targets. His best throw came on the seventh play of the drive when the Saints faced about a fourth-and-8. Standing comfortably in the pocket with excellent protection from the offensive line, Shough stepped up and hit Rashid Shaheed in stride for the first down.
Shough’s ability to lead drives that result in points might be what is starting to separate him from Rattler.
Moore said there were no "wow” moments from Rattler’s performance against the Chargers, and that’s a good description of how his game has been lately. He threw for less than 5 yards per attempt against the Chargers. During Tuesday’s practice, he often settled for check-downs and safe throws.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but unfortunately for Rattler, he’s not leading the Saints on scoring drives. During Tuesday’s session, Rattler led a whopping 16-play drive that inched down the field. Starting at the offense’s own 20, Rattler dinked and dunked his way to get New Orleans in the red zone by completing 7 of 10 passes during that stretch.
But like in Sunday’s game, when the Saints got into favorable field position several times, Rattler didn’t finish. He tried to hit Dante Pettis on a slant that bounced off the wide receiver’s hands and was intercepted by safety Julian Blackmon.
The play wasn’t entirely Rattler’s fault — his pass looked more than catchable — but it was reminiscent of the strip-sack that resulted in a fumble against the Chargers. The turnover ruined a promising drive.
Rattler’s confidence has been his defining trait throughout camp, but his performances as of late seem to indicate that Rattler might be rattled.
Here’s a look at the stats from Tuesday’s session:
Rattler: 8 of 16 with an INT (100-150 overall)
Shough: 10 of 14 (94-148)
Jake Haener: 2 of 3 (73-108)
