Tyler Shough was off to a rough start to New Orleans Saints training camp. He was struggling to stack days and had some fans questioning if all the offseason hype was a rush to judgement. Shough answered the call against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he delivered again in joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys.
Red zone was a common issue for the Saints last season and in training camp, so it was naturally a heavy point of emphasis in each of the first two joint practices. Shough has excelled both times and threw two touchdowns from within the 20 against the Cowboys.
Shough's success goes beyond just red zone production. He was cutting up the Cowboys defense in all areas of the field. There was a question of whether or not Chris Olave, who also had a monster day, caught one pass in particular, but there's no debate that Shough threw an absolute dot right over the top of Caleb Downs' head.
Tyler Shough is bringing back that optimism even with Saints' injuries
Injuries to Jordyn Tyson and Alvin Kamara before the season even gets started certainly isn't the most inspiring way to lead into the season, but it's the cards the Saints have been dealt. The weight of the receiver and running back room didn't rest on the shoulders of those players, though they are heavy blows.
Fans wanted to see Shough stack days in camp, and he's doing one better. He's stacking joint practices.
Shough only had three incompletions in practice against the Cowboys, and there were some pretty passes packed in there. We already looked at the pass up the sidelines to Olave, but he also had a perfectly placed ball in the back corner of the end zone to Noah Fant.
The biggest reason for optimism is always going to be the quarterback. There were weapons on the team last year, but they didn't have the quarterback play for most of the year to maximize it. Shough should be able to do that even better in Year 2.
Fans just needed to see that he was taking a step forward, and that appears to be the case based on how he's played against other competition. Joint practices were always going to be the biggest test of how any player was performing, and Shough is acing the test so far. Pair that with Olave looking great and the Saints have restored the optimism from the offseason despite the injuries.
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