New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough (6) passes against the Los Angeles Rams in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Gregory Bull
We came to watch a debut. Instead, we saw [a demolition](https://www.nola.com/tncms/asset/editorial/607c2136-f95c-4854-990c-5097cf0c6fc5/).
Rams 34, Saints 10.
Few expected the Saints and Tyler Shough to knock off a Super Bowl contender like the Los Angeles Rams on their home field, but we certainly expected a more competitive affair than what we witnessed at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.
This was a complete and utter annihilation. The Saints were outplayed, outcoached and outclassed from start to finish in a beatdown so thorough and authoritative that it overshadowed Shough’s debut and rendered his performance moot. We’ll have to wait another week to make a realistic evaluation of the rookie second-round draft pick.
Shough simply had no chance Sunday. The game was over almost before it began.
The blowout was a grim reminder of just how far the Saints have fallen — and how far they need to go to compete with the league’s elite.
The Rams tripled the Saints in first downs (30-10) and nearly doubled them in total yardage 438-224. They controlled the ball for nearly 44 of the game’s 60 minutes.
In the teeth of this carnage, Shough was forced to operate and execute. Predictably, it wasn’t good.
The Saints went three-and-out on his first three drives. On those possessions, Alvin Kamara tried four runs and gained a total of 9 yards. By the time Shough gained his initial first down, the Rams were leading 14-0, making it the sixth time in nine games the Saints have fallen behind early and failed to lead for a single minute.
“Obviously, if there is a solution (to the slow starts), we haven’t found it yet,” Saints coach Kellen Moore said.
Forced into a game of catch-up against one of the league’s best pass rushes, Shough struggled to find rhythm or success. He finished 15-of-24 passing for 176 yards.
The highlight of his performance came just before halftime, when he executed a beautiful two-minute drill and capped it with his first career NFL touchdown pass, an 11-yard strike to Juwan Johnson to cut the margin to 20-10 and give the Saints brief life.
On the drive, Shough exhibited many of the traits the Saints liked about him coming out of college. He flashed arm strength on a 13-yard dart to Rashid Shaheed to start the march. He displayed mobility by eluding the Rams' rush and hitting Chris Olave for a 27-yard gain while scrambling to his right. And he showed toughness by shaking off a massive helmet-to-helmet hit by Byron Young on a sack that led to a roughing-the-passer penalty. One play later, he found Johnson in the left flat for the score.
“I thought he handled some adverse situations and didn’t let those other factors impact his play,” Moore said of Shough.
If there was a silver lining, it was that the game did not get too big for Shough. He played with poise and confidence. He was decisive, fairly accurate and did not look like a rookie for most of the game.
“I thought he threw it well,” Moore said. “Operationally, I felt like he was very calm. He executed pretty well.”
In the end, though, it wasn't nearly enough to prevent the Saints' fourth consecutive loss and their third straight setback by a double-digit margin.
Things got so bad, the Fox Sports broadcast crew started filling time with Dodgers’ World Series content midway through the second quarter.
As the rout played out in the second half, the only suspense that remained for New Orleans fans was trying to determine whether the Saints would lose by an even larger margin than the Pelicans, who were thrashed 137-106 by the Thunder on Sunday.
The Saints are now 1-8. It’s their worst start in 45 years. The last time they began a season this poorly was 1980, when they went 1-15, and the Aints and bag heads were born.
At least one Saints fan was spotted with a bag head in the SoFi crowd Sunday. You can bet the number will multiply in the days and weeks ahead as this grim season continues.