The New Orleans Saints lost starting left tackle Terron Armstead during Sunday’s game with the Carolina Panthers to a high-ankle sprain, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Monday morning. Armstead is managing his injury on a week-to-week basis and is already ruled out for Thursday night’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. High-ankle sprains can sideline players for as long as a month, though it’s not uncommon for them to return sooner.
It’s obviously a huge loss for the Saints offensive line. The step down from Armstead to his backup, Patrick Omameh, is as wide a gulf as there can be found in the NFL — when healthy, Armstead is an All-Pro talent and one of the best left tackles in the game. Omameh is a journeyman with more NFL experience at both left and right guard than left tackle. The Saints also have an option in rookie left tackle Ethan Greenidge, an undrafted free agent out of Villanova who has been a healthy inactive all year.
This injury compounds a bigger issue for the Saints offensive line, which is the absence of starting left guard Andrus Peat. Peat is expected to miss about four more weeks after having his broken arm surgically repaired. He’s normally the top option to fill in for Armstead at left tackle, but he’s off the table and replaced by backup left guard Nick Easton.
Hopefully things stabilize for the Saints soon, but for now, it appears they’re going into the late-season stretch with both their starting left tackle and left guard sidelined by injuries. Their next opponent is the Atlanta Falcons, who sacked quarterback Drew Brees six times just a few weeks ago, when both Armstead and Peat were in the lineup. New Orleans has to make some quick adjustments on the fly.
