Tyler Shough: I was trying to be too perfect early vs. Lions

Published September 17, 2026 10:22 AM At halftime of the Week 1 matchup between the Lions and Saints, New Orleans was down 7-0.The Saints had moved the ball a bit, but quarterback Tyler Shough was 10-of-22 for 85 yards with an interception.Then in the third quarter, the Lions got up 21-0 and the game seemed like it might be over.But that’s when things changed, with New Orleans eventually tying the game at 24 with Shough’s 9-yard touchdown to Juwan Johnson with 1:07 left in regulation.Then Shough hit Noah Fant with an 8-yard touchdown in overtime. New Orleans could have tied it up again, but instead elected to go for the victory with a two-point conversion. But Shough’s pass to rookie Bryce Lance fell incomplete. What was the difference after the slow start?“There was a lot to clean up just as a whole offensive unit, especially myself,” Shough said in his Wednesday press conference. “I wish I would’ve just kind of gone through my operation and had cleaner feet earlier on. My feet were too quick and I was trying to be too perfect. Like I said after the game, they did a good job early on. But I feel like once I settled in — and it’s the first game, I’m not going to be perfect, there’s going to be new stuff. But I just kind of took that pressure off myself and just played football and that’s part of it.“I’m still pretty early when it comes in to that aspect of it, and I had a lot of fun being able to kind of have some adversity — some of that stuff just happened. So it was good to build off that. And the whole offense, we kind of were not on the same page [in the first half] and we were able to get things going.”Shough finished the game 35-of-56 for 410 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions and a lost fumble.While the Saints will again be on the road in Week 2, Shough will try to keep the momentum rolling against the Ravens.