The New Orleans Saints spent the buildup to Monday night hearing about what their rivalry with the Atlanta Falcons meant to the city 20 years earlier. When their opportunity arrived to create another memorable moment, Tyler Shough acknowledged that New Orleans simply didn’t deliver.
Atlanta spoiled the Saints’ Domecoming celebration with a 45-24 victory at the Caesars Superdome, dropping New Orleans to 1-3. The Falcons jumped ahead 14-0 in the first quarter and carried a 24-7 advantage into halftime, forcing the Saints to spend most of the night trying to climb out of a significant hole. Shough didn’t attempt to minimize how badly the result hurt afterward.
“Yeah, it’s extremely disappointing. It’s embarrassing,” Shough said. “You can’t say enough about the fans showing up, the entire process, what this game meant, and we fell short as a team to not get that win.”
Tyler Shough Takes Responsibility for Saints’ Failure
Shough’s comments carried additional weight because of everything surrounding the game. New Orleans was commemorating the 20th anniversary of its emotional return to the Superdome following Hurricane Katrina, when the Saints defeated the Falcons 23-3 in 2006. This time, Atlanta flipped the script and controlled the night almost immediately.
Shough completed 30 of 48 passes for 286 yards and one touchdown without an interception. The numbers weren’t disastrous, but New Orleans struggled to generate points when the game remained within reach. Shough’s lone touchdown pass, a 3-yard connection with Devaughn Vele, came with just over a minute remaining and Atlanta already leading comfortably.
Rather than point toward the Saints’ defensive struggles or anything else that went wrong, Shough started with himself.
“That was my mission and that’s my message, and we didn’t win,” Shough said. “It was a team loss. We got to do better on all fronts and, as an offense, starting faster when it comes to another really good offense. We need to do our part. We have to do a lot better there, and it starts with myself.”
That’s the uncomfortable reality facing Shough and the Saints. New Orleans has now lost consecutive games and sits at 1-3 with another home matchup against the undefeated Minnesota Vikings approaching. Shough cannot fix everything that went wrong against Atlanta by himself, especially after the Falcons ran for more than 200 yards and scored five times on the ground.
But the Saints quarterback wasn’t interested in excuses. On a night that meant considerably more than an ordinary regular-season game to New Orleans, Shough admitted the Saints failed to deliver. And he put himself first in line to take responsibility.
Tyler Shough Doesn’t Hide From Ugly Truth After Falcons Spoil Saints’ Domecoming