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Spencer Rattler will start Sunday while Derek Carr is out with an oblique tear

Spencer Rattler will start Sunday while Derek Carr is out with an oblique tear

The Saints will use rookie Spencer Rattler at quarterback Sunday against the Buccaneers, coach Dennis Allen announced.

“Spencer will be the one Quarterback for this gameAllen said via team video. “We talked a lot as a team about what we thought was best for us and what gave us the best chance of winning the game. “That was a decision we made and we're happy he made it Gets an opportunity to get in there and we’ll let him play and see what he can do.”

Starter Derek Carr injured his oblique muscle late Monday night in the loss to the Chiefs. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Carr has a tear in his oblique area.

Allen said that the Saints do not expect to place Carr on injured reserve and that Carr will return as the team's starter when healthy.

Allen has only ever had one rookie quarterback as a head coach before, with the Raiders and Saints.

“Derek Carr,” he said, smiling.

Jake Haener replaced Carr late in Monday's loss to the Chiefs, but the Saints list Haener and Rattler as co-nos. 2 quarterbacks. Rattler was the third emergency quarterback on Monday.

In the preseason, Rattler completed 20 of 38 passes for 202 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He also ran for 26 yards and a touchdown. Rattler has not yet played in the regular season.

“We just talked about it a lot internally and thought he would give us the best chance to win in this particular game,” Allen said. “Both he and Jake have been training extremely hard and preparing to be the starter. It was kind of a conversation we had at the beginning of the year that Jake would be the (No.) 2 guy starting, but it's basically going to be a week-to-week deal and we just had Fancy this game, he wanted to give us the best opportunity.”

Allen said the team will reevaluate the quarterback position after this week, calling the decision “week by week” until Carr returns.

“We just felt like this was the right time for Spencer to take advantage of his opportunity,” Allen said.

Rattler will be the fifth rookie quarterback to start this season, with Drake Maye scheduled to start for the Patriots this week. Jayden Daniels, Bo Nix and Caleb Williams have started for their teams all season.

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