Since starting the season with blowout wins at home vs. Carolina (47-10) and at Dallas (44-19), the New Orleans Saints (2-5 straight up, 3-4 against the spread) have lost five games in a row after getting thumped 33-10 by Denver and former head coach Sean Payton on Thursday night.
Dennis Allen’s team went into the game without starting QB Derek Carr, starting WR Chris Olave, starting WR and All-Pro kick returner Rashid Shaheed, TE Taysom Hill, LB Pete Werner and three starting offensive linemen. All eight players were ‘out’ due to injuries.
During the loss to the Broncos, star CB Paulson Adebo sustained a broken femur that required surgery this morning. The soon-to-be unrestricted free agent went down in the second quarter.
Adebo, a 25-year-old fourth-year veteran out of Stanford, has recorded 52 tackles, an NFL-best 10 passes broken up, three interceptions for 68 return yards, one tackle for loss and one QB hit through seven games.
Adebo has started 51 times in his 52 career games, producing 254 career tackles, 10 interceptions for 150 return yards, 43 PBU, seven TFL’s, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and one QB hit.
Shaheed had season-ending surgery on his meniscus earlier this week. In six games this year, he had 20 receptions for 349 yards and three TDs.
Shaheed has started 19 times in his 33 career games since joining New Orleans in 2022. He has 94 career catches for 1,556 yards and 10 TDs.
Shaheed also has 123 career rushing yards and one TD with a 7.2 yards-per-carry average. He’s averaged 28.5 yards on six kick returns this season and 15.9 yards on nine punt returns with one TD.
Shaheed had a 76-yard punt return for a TD in 2023.
In his second career start last night vs. Denver, rookie QB Spencer Rattler completed 25-of-35 passes for 172 yards. He had 34 rushing yards on five attempts to hook up his backers on ‘over’ bets for his total of 21.5 rushing yards.
Rattler, who played his last two seasons of college ball at South Carolina after transferring from Oklahoma, did cough up a pair of fumbles, though. Jake Haener replaced Rattler late in the fourth quarter and connected on 3-of-4 passes for 38 yards and one TD without an interception.
When asked about the potential for injuries to be demoralizing for his team, Allen said, “It certainly can be, and that’s something we have to be able to fight through. That’s the tough part of our business is seeing things like that. It can be difficult.”
The Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas has New Orleans listed as a six-point road underdog at the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 8.