METAIRIE, La. — Andy Dalton will remain as the Saints starting quarterback despite the fact that Jameis Winston, who started the season as the team's QB1, is now healthy and fully participating in practice, head coach Dennis Allen told the media Wednesday as the team returned from five days off after the Thursday night loss to Arizona.
Allen was on a teleconference and told the media that Dalton was the quarterback "moving forward."
"It's an offensive decision," he said, according to NOLA.com. "What I mean by that is the last four weeks we're one of the top offenses in terms of moving the ball, we're one of the top offenses in terms of scoring points."
Dalton seemed to struggle in that game, throwing an interception in the end zone that deprive the Saints of at least three points and then throwing back-to-back pick sixes, though the first of those went right off of the hands of receiver Marquez Callaway.
Dalton has completed 63.4 percent of his passes this season, has 7 touchdowns and 4 interceptions and a passer rating of 90.1. The team is 1-3 in games he has started.
Winston had completed 63.5 percent of his passes this season and had 4 touchdowns and 5 interceptions and a passer rating of 79.5. The team was 1-2 in games he started.
The Saints have been operating the past few weeks without several starters in the receiving game and Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry's status for this weekend's game with the Raiders is still undecided.