IRVINE, Calif. — Before the New Orleans Saints decamped for Southern California, Tyler Shough missed an opportunity to make a big play during a scrimmage at the team’s Metairie facility.
The rookie quarterback rolled to his left and saw receiver Rashid Shaheed flash open to his right in the end zone. Shough squared his shoulders to throw and tried to squeeze the ball through a window that was never really there. Linebacker Nephi Sewell read what was happening and drifted back toward the middle of the field, easily intercepting the throw and killing a red-zone opportunity.
Now flash forward to a more recent practice on UC-Irvine’s campus: There was Shough, rolling to his left and seeing a receiver flash open in the end zone. This time, Shough threw the ball high toward the back of the end zone — what he described as a “top-shelf” throw. If it was off the mark, it would’ve sailed harmlessly out of bounds. Instead, receiver Kevin Austin high-pointed it for a touchdown.
“The best lesson I've learned is, you're going to have to accept failure sometimes and keep going,” Shough said.
Plays like those illustrate the growth that has been evident lately. Shough learned from the bad interception and a week later applied the knowledge to earn a positive outcome.
Shough’s start to training camp was fairly bumpy. He played half a tick slow, he struggled with pressure, he sometimes looked unwilling to show off his arm with aggressive throws and instead opted for check-downs. But as things have progressed, the No. 40 overall pick appears to be finding his footing and is making a strong push to claim the team’s starting quarterback job.
It has helped that the Saints have been playing what Shough described as “realistic football” in recent practices. While New Orleans is still doing some scripted periods, it has shifted more heavily into “call-it” mode, in which the offensive and defensive play-callers are calling plays live depending on the situation.
Shough has appreciated this his play-caller, head coach Kellen Moore, is a former professional quarterback who understands the benefit of having practice follow a game-like flow.
“Whenever we're going in the actual football scenarios, I think that's when I perform the best,” Shough said. “We're out there, and I'm just operating and feeling it and getting out there on the move and all those things. That's where I feel most comfortable.”
Moore has said repeatedly that one of the traits he likes about Shough is his maturity and the way he’s demonstrated an ability to respond to adversity. In college, that meant navigating several serious injuries. Through training camp, it has meant bouncing back after a mistake on the practice field or in a preseason game.
That was evident in the preseason opener, when Shough threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown.
“It’s not what we want; it’s a low moment for any quarterback,” Moore said. “But the way he responded was excellent.”
The response was a five-play, 82-yard touchdown drive. Shough went 4-for-4 for 80 yards on that drive, with the final throw being a 54-yard thunderbolt to Mason Tipton for a score.
That is the sort of stuff Moore is looking for out of his young quarterback, and it is why Moore has been generally optimistic about Shough even while he was going through his growing pains earlier in camp.
“This is Tyler’s first NFL training camp; you cannot rush to judgment,” Moore said. “You’ve got to go through this whole process. He’s going to get better each and every day; there are a lot of things that are first-time trial and error, and then you get better the second time. You don’t see a lot of the same mistakes.”
Shough said incremental improvement was his goal going into this training camp. While he entered it with some expectations — he is the highest-drafted quarterback the Saints have had since Archie Manning — he wasn’t necessarily placing those expectations on himself.
He is going to try to play perfect football, and he’s going to critique himself harshly when he makes mistakes. But he’s allowed himself some grace, because those mistakes ultimately generate the growth he’s looking for.
“I mean, I'm not going to be Tom Brady or Drew Brees in training camp right now,” Shough said. “I want to aspire to continue to grow, and I think the coaches have done a good job of just facilitating a lot of these practices.”