Thursday Night Football this week is the battle of two battered teams. The New Orleans Saints will be without four players on offense and one key player on defense.
On Wednesday, one day before the Saints take on the also-injured Arizona Cardinals, Dennis Allen said that the team would be without Marshon Lattimore, Michael Thomas, and Jarvis Landry as well as Andrus Peat and Adam Trautman.
This means that the Saints will be down two of their three starting receivers, one of their tight ends, one of their starting offensive linemen, and their starting cornerback. He also said that the quarterback decision will be made right before the game is set to begin.
#Saints HC Dennis Allen says Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, Andrus Peat, Adam Trautman, Marshon Lattimore will all be ruled out.
— Erin Summers (@ErinESummers) October 19, 2022
Says they will wait til game time on who is the starting QB #Saints
Saints Injury Report for Week 7
The quarterback decision is only a decision because Andy Dalton was added to the injury report this week with a back injury. When speaking to the media, he said he feels good. This leads me to believe that Dalton is probably going to be the starter and Allen is keeping it a "secret" to throw the Cardinals off the scent a bit.
#Saints QB Andy Dalton says he is feeling good, “short week little things to deal with but feel good” (was on injury report with a back injury)
— Erin Summers (@ErinESummers) October 19, 2022
Fortunately, the Saints are getting Chris Olave back after he missed last week. Trautman's loss isn't big in the grand scheme of things, as Juwan Johnson has been the better tight end out of the two.
Lattimore's loss is probably the biggest. Bradley Roby and Paulson Adebo were good last year but Adebo is having a sophomore slump and it's troubling, to say the least. Not having a shutdown corner like Lattimore is going to allow DeAndre Hopkins to put up some big numbers this week.
The Cardinals are also dealing with injuries though and that's why this game between two 2-4 teams is totally up in the air.