Tyler Shough led the New Orleans Saints to their second victory of the season in only his second start of his career. If there was one blemish on what was an all around inspiring day, it was Kellen Moore’s incessant usage of Taysom Hill, specifically at quarterback.
Hill took more than half of his offensive snaps on Sunday as the quarterback. The 13 snaps easily set his season high in that specific role. Fans love Hill, but there's no reason he should displace Shough that many times. Shough was on the sidelines, not as a body at wide receiver, on most of those snaps.
Shough missing out on snaps is the biggest concern, but Hill's designed runs also haven't been as successful. It used to be guaranteed to pick you up a a few yards even when the defense knew it was coming. That's not the case anymore, yet Moore continues to keep the threat of it heavily infused in the gameplan.
Taking Tyler Shough out for Taysom Hill is a bad habit Kellen Moore must break
Taking Shough off the field in favor of Hill was questionable for a couple of reasons on Sunday, but it was concerning for one. Kellen Moore did the same thing last week. Two games in a row gives the appearance that this is something Moore likes to do.
Against the Rams, Moore put Hill at quarterback for three snaps in a row. The first play was a success and gave the Saints a first down on first down. Maybe Moore viewed that as riding the hot hand. It’s not like the Saints were getting anything else going in the game. His response was to keep Hill at quarterback for two more plays, but those yielded much more modest results. Shough had to come in and attempt a third and long.
It was one thing when it felt like you were just reaching for answers last week, but Shough was dealing this week. He quickly began to fire on full cylinders, and dedicating this many snaps to Hill at quarterback ran the risk of disrupting the flow Shough was forming. Ultimately, it didn’t happen, but taking the “all is well that ends okay” approach is unacceptable and isn’t in sync with what the Saints are telling us.
If this is a developmental year, then the process is more important than the results. Taking your potential franchise quarterback off the field when he’s picking up steam to let Taysom Hill take snaps doesn’t feel like the best process for the young guy.
Shough dodged the impact of it this week, but keeping him within a flow should be paramount moving forward.