Packer Central

Spencer Rattler To Start for Saints; Here’s LaFleur’s History vs. Rookie Quarterbacks

Packers coach Matt LaFleur has an extensive history facing rookie quarterbacks, such as Spencer Rattler, who is expected to start for the Saints on Monday night.

Bill Huber

Spencer Rattler almost rallied the Saints past the Commanders last week.
Spencer Rattler almost rallied the Saints past the Commanders last week. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – It’s not official, but it might as well be: Rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler will start for the New Orleans Saints on Monday night against the Green Bay Packers.

The Saints’ four-time Pro Bowl starter, Derek Carr, suffered a broken left hand and concussion two weeks ago. He hasn’t practiced this week and, while Carr “wants to come back and play this season,” in the words of interim coach Darren Rizzi, the expectation is Rattler will make his fourth career start.

The Packers under coach Matt LaFleur have dominated against rookie quarterbacks.

In games in which a rookie quarterback has thrown at least 10 passes, the Packers are 11-1.

The one exception came recently, though. On a Monday night last December, Tommy DeVito completed 17-of-21 passes for 158 yards and one touchdown as the Giants upset the Packers 24-22.

Rattler, a fifth-round pick this year, is 0-3 as a starter in 0-4 when he’s played. He’s completed only 57.5 percent of his passes and averaged only 5.9 yards per attempt. However, he came off the bench during the second half last week and almost rallied the Saints to a victory over the Commanders.

“I think that tells you a lot about the guy,” LaFleur said. “He’s a talented guy. He was highly recruited coming out of high school and has been able to produce at the college level. He’s a natural thrower. I was impressed with him through the draft process last year. He’s got a lot of talent and he’s got some weapons around him.”

Against Washington, he was just 10-of-21 for 135 yards, but his last-play touchdown pass to tight end Foster Moreau gave the Saints a chance to win, but Rattler’s two-point pass was incomplete.

His four second-half possessions produced two touchdowns and two field goals. He has not been intercepted since his NFL debut.

“Coming off the bench with nothing to lose, kind of just running around and gunslinging, but that's kind of been his thing,” Rizzi said this week. “That's what's made him the guy that he is, it's kind of been his M.O. his whole career. So, hopefully, now he knows. He took all the reps with the 1s and we're going to get him ready to go out there.”

Other than last year against DeVito, the Packers have taken care of business against rookie passers.

Here’s the list:

Week 11, 2024: Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears.

Packers won 20-19. Williams was 23-of-31 for 231 yards, with zero touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 95.0 passer rating. Williams positioned the Bears for the game-winning field goal but Karl Brooks’ block saved the game.

Week 17, 2023: Jaren Hall, Minnesota Vikings.

Packers won 33-10. Hall started but didn’t last long. He was 5-of-10 passing for 67 yards with zero touchdowns, one interception and a 32.1 passer rating.

Week 16, 2023: Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers.

Packers won 33-30. Young had a big day during an otherwise-dismal rookie season. He was 23-of-36 passing for 312 yards with two touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 110.0 passer rating.

Week 14, 2023: Tommy DeVito, New York Giants.

Packers lost 24-22. DeVito’s short-lived folk-hero status got a boost when he went 17-of-21 passing for 158 yards with one touchdown, zero interceptions and a 113.9 passer rating. He went 4-of-4 for 53 yards on the game-winning drive.

Week 4, 2022: Bailey Zappe, New England Patriots.

Packers won 27-24 in overtime. Zappe came off the bench to replace injured Brian Hoyer and impressed, going 10-of-15 for 99 yards with one touchdown, zero interceptions and a 107.4 passer rating.

Week 14, 2021: Justin Fields, Chicago Bears

Packers won 45-30. Fields was 18-of-33 passing for 224 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions – one a pick-six by Rasul Douglas – good for a 70.8 passer rating.

Week 6, 2021: Justin Fields, Chicago Bears.

Packers won 24-14. Fields was 16-of-27 passing for 174 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a 75.2 passer rating.

Week 13, 2020: Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles.

Packers won 30-16. This was a changing-of-the-guard game, with Hurts replacing Carson Wentz in-game and taking over as the starter the following week. Hurts was 5-of-12 passing for 109 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a 67.7 passer rating.

Week 10, 2020: Jake Luton, Jacksonville Jaguars.

Packers won 24-20. Luton was 18-of-35 passing for 169 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a 62.7 passer rating. Back-to-back sacks in the final moments by Preston Smith and Rashan Gary saved the day.

Week 17, 2019: David Blough, Detroit Lions.

Packers won 23-20. Blough was a dismal 12-of-29 passing for 122 yards with zero touchdowns, one interception and a 39.7 passer rating. Still, the Packers needed a fourth-quarter comeback and walk-off field goal to win.

Week 14, 2019: Dwayne Haskins, Washington Commanders.

Packers won 20-15. Haskins was 16-of-27 passing for 240 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a 74.6 passer rating.

Week 13, 2019: Daniel Jones, New York Giants.

Packers won 31-13. Jones was 20-of-37 passing for 240 yards with one touchdown, three interceptions and a 49.4 rating.

The Packers won’t miss Carr. While he is 0-3 for his career against Green Bay, he had passer ratings of 119.2 with the Raiders in 2019 and 104.6 with the Saints last year.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.