The Saints have seemed adamant that Jameis Winston attends to play on Sunday, but the walk isn’t matching the talk.
Winston, who is battling a back injury that has hindered him through the first three games of the season, missed his second straight day of practice after Dennis Allen called Wednesday a timely “rest day” and Winston said not practicing wasn’t his choice.
Instead, Andy Dalton took first team reps while Taysom Hill worked with the second team.
Dalton, of course, is no stranger to the field as a starter. He started six games for the Bears last year and nine for the Cowboys the year before, not to mention his extensive history as the face of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Winston, who missed the back half and then some of last season with a torn ACL, has completed a solid 63.5 percent of his passes. However, he has a league-leading five touchdowns to four interceptions this year, three of which came in a Week 2 loss to the Buccaneers. The Saints are 1-2 so far this year.
MORE: NFL picks, predictions for Week 4
What is Jameis Winston’s injury?
Winston is dealing with an injury in his back, which Lindsay Czarniak reported as a “transverse fracture” in last week’s broadcast.
Winston told Cznariak: “Every time it presses on his Psoas muscle it makes it really hard when he applies weight on his back foot.”
Czarniak also said Winston played with four layers of padding and a custom back plate to cope with the injury in the Panthers game, where he went 25 of 41 for 353 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions.
Winston was also listed with an ankle injury.
Dennis Allen said Wednesday when Winston was out that it was a rest day and not due to injury. Winston, for his part, seemed to have a different outlook on it. “They told me I wasn’t practicing. It wasn’t my choice,” he said, per WWL. “I’m preparing like every week — preparing to play.”
Winston missing a second day casts some aspersions on Allen’s assertions, and offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. was coy in talking about Winston’s status.
MORE: Get the latest injury updates on Tua Tagovailoa
“I think they’re just making what was the best decision for him today, and then obviously it was a plan last week kind of where he was going to be limited throughout the week, and so we’ll see where we are at tomorrow,” Carmichael said Thursday, per NFL.com. “But it was just part of the plan as the day unfolded. I think the plan was just kind of see where he was at day to day and then see if we could get him out there. So hopefully, that happens tomorrow.”
Who is the Saints backup quarterback?
The Saints signed Andy Dalton in the offseason, seemingly closing the book on the Taysom Hill experiment.
Dalton brings a veteran presence to the Saints offense, but he was also bitten by the injury bug last season, throwing nine interceptions in eight games.
Carmichael expressed confidence in Dalton should he get in the game.
“(Dalton) knows what we’re doing, what the plan is,” he said. “A lot of confidence in Andy.”
The Saints play the Vikings at 9:30 a.m. ET in London on Sunday. Allen is expected to address the media again Friday.
Hits: 0
