CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New Orleans Saints rookie quarterback Tyler Shough earned his first career win Sunday, completing 19-of-27 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns in a 17-7 victory against the Carolina Panthers. It was the 2-8 Saints’ first win since they defeated the New York Giants in Week 5.
“It was a great feeling in the locker room I think, with everybody just kind of dancing, you’re having fun in there, but it just kind of came down to just playing complimentary football and we played together,” Shough said. “For me, it’s just been so fun just kind of learning every single day … the formula for success and obviously we’ve got to keep competing and keep repeating.”
Shough became the first Saints’ quarterback to start and win a game as a rookie since Dave Wilson in 1981. Shough’s win ended the longest active streak without a win by a rookie quarterback. In addition to Wilson and Shough, rookies Spencer Rattler, Ian Book and Danny Wuerffel lost a combined 11 games in that span.
“It’s a great honor just because of this organization,” Shough said after the game when told of the statistic. “But at the end of the day, I think we’ve got a lot more to go in the tank and that’s a good step. I think we can continue to progress.”
Shough, the Saints’ second-round pick this year, took over in Week 8 when Rattler was benched midway through a 23-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He made his first career start last week in a 34-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Saints coach Kellen Moore said before the Rams game that Shough would be the starter for the rest of the season and Rattler would back him up.
The Saints went into this game down three starting offensive linemen after trading guard Trevor Penning to the Los Angeles Chargers last Tuesday. Right tackle Taliese Fuaga did not play because of an ankle injury and starting center Erik McCoy is out for the season. The Saints also played their first game without wide receiver Rashid Shaheed, who was traded to the Seattle Seahawks.
Moore said that Shough took an “awesome” step forward in his development Sunday. Shough had four of the longest plays in Sunday’s game — completing a 62-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Chris Olave, a 52-yard pass to tight end Juwan Johnson, a 30-yard touchdown to Johnson and a 26-yard pass to running back Alvin Kamara.
“I thought he made some big-time plays, some off-schedule plays,” Moore said, citing the deep passes to Johnson as examples. “I thought he hung in that pocket really, really well [and] delivered.”
The Saints’ 266 net passing yards was a season high, and Olave’s 104 receiving yards was his most since Week 8 of last season. Olave’s season ended in Week 9 last year after he was transported out of Bank of America stadium on a backboard due to a concussion. Johnson’s 92 receiving yards were also a career high.
“Man, he’s a hell of a player. Me and him talk a lot and that scramble drill helped us a lot, especially on that first drive, that deep one to Juwan helped us a lot, but we’ve been seeing that all year, he’s been running the scout team really good,” Olave said. “I’ve been watching him closely try to see what type of quarterback he is. He excels in his scramble drill, so he had a lot of plays like that today and just him sitting back there taking those hits, they got a really good defense. So sending him all those blitzes, he got sacked a couple of times, but he still stayed in there and delivered us some good balls.”
The Saints have a bye next week and will play at home against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 12.
