Mike Thomas, Marshon Lattimore weren’t supposed to have season-ending injuries. What happened?

Dennis Allen, the coach of the New Orleans Saints, stated he thought the injuries suffered by Michael Thomas and Marshon Lattimore in November were not fatal to the team.

Time is running out for Thomas and Lattimore to make an appearance, though, as they have yet to even return to practice in the last week of the regular season, nearly two months later.

Allen said neither Thomas (knee) nor Lattimore (ankle) made enough strides in their rehab, and the injuries haven’t healed as fast as the team had hoped as the Saints prepare for Sunday’s season finale against the Atlanta Falcons.

After the first three or four weeks, we weren’t really progressing as much as we had hoped, Allen said. “I think that both of those people are getting closer, and it’s evident that it’s hard to say for sure how long an injury will take to recover.

“Look, these injuries are remarkably similar to ones we’ve seen in the past; this is the approximate amount of time it takes to recover from that,” Just not as fast as those folks would have liked, or as rapidly as we 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.