Rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler will get the start in Week 16 when the New Orleans Saints travel up to Green Bay to take on the Packers Monday night. Temperatures are expected to be below freezing, so Saints quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko took extra measures in preparing the first-year signal-caller from South Carolina.
"This morning, Janocko took us in the cafeteria freezer, where it was like 10 degrees, and we're just going through the whole script in there, and so just doing that, that helped a lot," Rattler said Saturday, via ESPN. "So hopefully it's not 10 degrees, but we'll be ready."
That's right, the Saints QBs coach took his guys into the cafeteria's walk-in freezer to run through plays. Janocko said he got the idea from "Cool Runnings," the 1993 comedy film loosely based on the first Jamaican national bobsleigh team. Not only did those athletes have to prepare for a sport foreign to them, but also for the frigid conditions of Calgary, Alberta.
"I think there's something we said about just preparing for [the cold], so you're not shocked and it's not something surprising," Janocko said. "It's something that you deal with as far as you prepare for the opponent and prepare for the venue. So I just thought it was good to do something a little different. At this time of the year, it's fun to do different stuff. It's a long season and sometimes other than just sitting in a meeting day after day after day, just doing something different, changing up the scene. Guys thought it was hilarious. The cafeteria workers think I'm out of my mind."
The Packers are 5-2 in Green Bay this season, but that homefield advantage becomes different in the month of December. Janocko knows this, as he's coached for both the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears.
Rattler led a second-half comeback vs. the Washington Commanders last Sunday after replacing Jake Haener. The Saints are hoping he can provide a spark for the offense this week -- even in the cold conditions.
