The New Orleans Saints spent their bye week stewing over a loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 10 and will be back in action this Sunday to take on the Atlanta Falcons in an important NFC South division game.
The Saints have been a bit of a rollercoaster throughout the 2023 NFL season as they’ve yet to put together a complete game on both sides of the football field.
Some of that has to do with their injury luck as they’ve missed some key players almost every week this year.
For example, Derek Carr was forced out of a game due to a concussion and that put the onus on Jameis Winston to try and lead a comeback.
New Orleans continues to endure injuries as they recently placed Michael Thomas on injured reserve as he hurt his knee early in the first quarter against Minnesota.
Aside from Thomas, the team also announced they’ve placed star defensive back Marshon Lattimore on injured reserve and brought up defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul from the practice squad via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
Pierre-Paul will make his Saints debut on Sunday.
The #Saints are placing CB Marshon Lattimore on injured reserve and elevating DE Jason Pierre-Paul for Sunday’s game vs. the #Falcons.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 25, 2023
Lattimore hurt his ankle in the fourth quarter against the Vikings and was eventually carted off to the locker room.
Head coach Dennis Allen didn’t rule out placing Lattimore on IR earlier in the week and it seems that the team decided that the ankle injury was serious enough for him to miss at least four games.
Losing Lattimore at this junction of the season is a huge blow, so the rest of the secondary is going to have to step up in his absence.
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Saints Place Former All-Pro On Injured Reserve