Michael Thomas ruled out for Saints’ MNF game vs. Raiders
New Orleans Saints’ superstar wide receiver Michael Thomas has been ruled out for the team’s Monday Night Football showdown with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Michael Thomas has been officially ruled out for the New Orleans Saints’ Monday Night Football game. It was looking like Thomas may play through his high ankle sprain as he was reportedly feeling “fantastic” earlier this week.
It will be interesting to see how the Saints react to not having their primary playmaker on the field. Thankfully, no Thomas will just mean more touches for three-time Pro Bowler Alvin Kamara who just signed a massive new extension.
It will have several other implications.
Offseaosn addition Emmanuel Sanders will likely get more targets as he wasn’t involved much in Week 1.
Those that were involved quite a bit like Taysom Hill, Jared Cook and Alvin Kamara may also see increases in targets from future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees. While Brees will miss his star receiver, playing through the adversity may be good for the team as a whole.
That said, this was the right decision for Thomas. Ankle sprains are nothing to mess with and not letting it recover fully could easily lead to reinjuring it. He needs to take the time necessary to let it heal.
This should, with or without Thomas, be an easy win for the Saints. The Raiders are coming off a 34-30 victory over the Carolina Panthers, a team entering the season as the favorite to finish last in the NFC South.
While Josh Jacobs is a real threat and the Raiders are no team to look down upon, the Saints should prove to just be too talented.
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While Thomas is a large part of their offense, he’s not Christian McCaffrey. This offense will carry on at a high-scoring level without him, and with an elite defense on the other side of the ball, the Saints should be just fine in their first primetime matchup of the season.