Spencer Rattler starts hot, sputters in debut as Bucs thrash Saints in NFC South showdown

Starting your NFL career against a division rival is a real eye-opener, and finding yourself in a touchdown jailbreak is an even bigger challenge. Spencer Rattler made his professional debut for New Orleans on Sunday and a promising start ended under a deluge of Tampa Bay points. The Saints allowed the Bucs a series of 17 and 27 unanswered points, and Tampa Bay easily escaped its division rivals in New Orleans, 51-27.

Rattler, a Rivals five-star recruit out of Arizona, played college ball at Oklahoma and later South Carolina but never quite lived up to his billing. The Saints selected him in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft to back up incumbent Derek Carr. But when Carr suffered an oblique injury last week against Kansas City, New Orleans chose Rattler over fellow backup Jake Haener.

Records show Rattler's first play as an NFL quarterback was a 27-yard pass to tight end Juwan Johnson. And that record will show that on his second play of the game, Rattler fumbled the snap, and on his third, Chris Olave caught a pass from Rattler and then was injured in a helmet-to-helmet hit that turned into a fumble and a Tampa Bay Scoop converted and score:

In other words, Rattler's first possession in the NFL was very similar to his college career – brilliance and disaster, but woefully inconsistent due to both extremes.

After Tampa Bay gave up 17 straight points early in the game, Rattler and the Saints seemed to find a new gear, scoring 27 points in the second quarter alone – 20 of which were unanswered. But whatever adjustments the Buccaneers made for Rattler at halftime worked perfectly – in the second half, the Saints scored four times, Rattler threw two interceptions and New Orleans made three-pointers on three of its seven possessions. The Saints managed just 48 total yards of offense in the second half before a two-minute miss and Tampa Bay had a 24-point lead.

The low point – or the backbreaker, however you want to describe it – came early in the fourth quarter when Rattler threw a crucial interception to Tampa Bay's Zyon McCollum. The Saints were only four points behind at the time of the interception, but a five-play, 63-yard drive later, the Bucs extended their lead to double digits and effectively ended the game.

Rattler finished the day with 243 yards on 22 of 40 passing, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also managed 27 yards on the day. Obviously Rattler is miles behind other rookie quarterbacks like Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, but he actually had 20 points in the second quarter and there's something to build on there. With Carr expected to be out for several weeks, Rattler could get more opportunities to prove he belongs in the league.