Tyler Shough said he expected fewer jitters heading into Week 2 vs. the Ravens. He backed it up by walking right into elite franchise history.
After a sluggish first half that left New Orleans playing catch-up, Shough sparked the turnaround. His 21-yard touchdown pass to Chris Olave finally got the offense moving.
That lone touchdown pass is the main highlight, but the bigger story is what Shough is doing over a full four quarters.
Tyler Shough Makes More History, Giving Drew Brees a Run for His Records with Saints
He’s up to 662 passing yards through his first two career starts—the most for a Saints quarterback to start a year since Drew Brees threw for 669 back in 2009, according to Bleacher Report.
It’s a continuation of what he flashed in Week 1, when his 410 yards against Detroit were the most by a New Orleans passer since Brees threw for 439 in the 2018 opener.
The Saints are still figuring things out under Kellen Moore, but Shough is delivering every time his number is called.
And it isn’t just numbers with Shough either. Moore’s slow start is costing the Saints precious chances to score and instead racking up penalties.
Moore took accountability for the fatal flaw pattern evident from their last game.
“We got some penalties early on that killed us,” Shough told CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala. “We were shooting ourselves in the foot, but we were able to clean that up. So the only person that was stopping us was ourselves, and we’ve got to be able to start better.”
“There was a lot to clean up just as a whole offensive unit, especially myself. I wish I had just kind of gone through my operation and had cleaner feet earlier on,” Shough said Wednesday before the Ravens kickoff. “My feet were too quick, and I was trying to be too perfect.”
Still, the Saints quarterback started his season with a staggering 56 pass attempts vs. the Lions in Week 1, the highest pass attempts recorded in the NFL in Week 1.
Can Saints Fix Their Fatal Flaw?
The only question that now remains is how quickly the Saints can stop bleeding in the first quarter.
If Kellen Moore and the Saints do ever figure out how to stop sleeping through the first quarter, this offense holds all the resources to absolutely terrify the NFC.
Shough’s historic yardage totals (662 through two weeks) are coming back-to-back games of digging out of early, sluggish first-half holes. They still have time to fix that considering its still early in the season, but they need to hurry it along just to prove that their win against the Ravens was not just a fluke.
They host the Las Vegas Raiders next week for their home opener, and they are coming off with two back-to-back wins against the Dolphins and the Chargers.
“We’ve just got to play better in the first quarter, simple as that. It’s not a time on task thing, it’s a design and execution thing for all of us,” Saints coach Kellen Moore admitted last week.
That change is yet to be reflected, and the sooner it does, the more the Saints will benefit from it.
New Orleans Saints take on the Las Vegas Raiders next in Week 3 at home.
Tyler Shough Matches Another Drew Brees Saints’ Record in Week 2 vs. Ravens