“You got a moxie man”

— Sean Payton to Spencer Rattler pic.twitter.com/npH71QzQNu

— Saints Film Room (@SaintsFilmRoom) October 18, 2024

Sean Payton is no stranger to the growing pains of starting quarterbacks.

He’s in the middle of helping someone currently in transition with Bo Nix, who has had some ups and downs not only in his first season in the NFL, but also in his first year as an NFL starter.

New Orleans Saints rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler is going through a bit of that himself, unexpectedly thrown to the Wolves as a starter while veteran Derek Carr is currently sidelined due to injury.

Payton made a point to go up to Rattler after the game and praise him for some of the poise he showed despite the Saints coming out far from the result they wanted in a 33-10 loss.

“You got some moxie, man,” Payton said to Rattler.

Rattler dealt with poor offensive line performance and the loss of two of its best wideouts, Chris Olave (concussion) and Rashid Shaheed (knee).

He finished the game 25 of 35 passing for 172 yards, also with five carries for 34 yards. The former South Carolina quarterback couldn’t get his team into the end zone and could barely stay on his feet as he was sacked about six times.

There was some confusion as to whether Rattler was benched toward the end of the game when Jake Haener came in at quarterback, but it later became clear that the decision was made to save Rattler after he suffered a “hip pointer” injury .

That’s probably a good decision by the Saints, considering how the injury bug is just one of many issues that have contributed to New Orleans’ fall from grace.