When Dennis Allen announced in November that Michael Thomas and Marshal Lattimore had suffered “fairly significant” injuries, the New Orleans Saints coach indicated he didn’t think the injuries would finish their seasons.
However, nearly two months later, in the penultimate week of the regular season, Thomas and Lattimore have yet to return to practice — and time is running out for them to appear.
Allen stated that neither Thomas (knee) nor Lattimore (ankle) made enough progress in their rehab, and the ailments haven’t healed as quickly as the Saints had wanted as the club prepares for the season finale against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
“As we got through the first three or four weeks, we weren’t quite making enough progress as we’d thought,” Allen said. “I think both of those guys are getting closer, and obviously, there’s no crystal ball to know exactly how long an injury is going to take.
“We got a ballpark figure of, ‘Hey look, these injuries, very similar to ones we’ve seen in the past, this is typically the length of time it takes to recover from that.’ It just hasn’t quite happened as fast as us, or those players would have liked.”
The Saints only have one regular season practice left for Thomas and Lattimore to take the field. But Allen said Wednesday that Thomas is “not ready to go yet,” and while he didn’t mention Lattimore, that sentiment also likely applies to the cornerback.
There is perhaps a chance that Thomas and Lattimore could return if the Saints were to advance to the postseason, but that also remains unclear. For the Saints to even qualify for the playoffs, they need to beat the Falcons and for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to lose to the Carolina Panthers — or to beat Atlanta and for the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers to lose. In the latter scenario, New Orleans would sneak in as last Wild Card team in the NFC.
With their seasons likely over, Thomas will have finished with 39 catches for 448 yards and a touchdown, while Lattimore racked up 48 tackles, eight passes defensed and an interception. Both appeared in 10 games.
