All of these injuries in the secondary have the New Orleans Saints flirting with disaster. Cornerback Marshon Lattimore exited Sunday’s win over the Seattle Seahawks with an abdomen injury suffered when he tried to help defend a touchdown pass in his own end zone targeting another player. Iinstead, the pass was completed for a score and he fell in a pile with several others. The team initially said Lattimore was questionable to return, but didn’t clear him to get back in the game.
On Monday, Saints coach Dennis Allen acknowledged that they could be without Lattimore in Week 6’s home game with the Cincinnati Bengals. It all hinges on how his body responds to treatment over the next few days.
“He’s going to be okay,” Allen said, echoing his past comments on running back Alvin Kamara, who missed two of the next three games after Allen’s previous reassurances. Allen continued, “We’ll just have to see how he responds this week in terms of his availability.”
That’s not exactly encouraging, but at least Lattimore’s season isn’t over. Their top corner has played exceedingly well this season. He’s only come up small in one matchup during Week 4’s loss in London to the Minnesota Vikings — and his primary opponent in that game, Justin Jefferson, is arguably the best receiver in pro football. There’s no shame in that. What’s important is that Lattimore has dominated four of his five games so far.
And what’s more important is how big his loss would be against Cincinnati. The Bengals lean hard on their three-deep receiving rotation of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd (though Higgins is managing an ankle injury), and having Lattimore go against Chase would be the easiest path towards slowing him down. If he can’t go on Sunday, the Saints would be starting Paulson Adebo and Bradley Roby outside with Justin Evans covering the slot. Well, if Evans isn’t filling in for Marcus Maye at safety. If Maye misses his fourth consecutive game, veteran slot corner Chris Harris Jr. is likely called up from the practice squad again. Injuries have hit the Saints defensive backs hard this year. Let’s see how they respond.